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THE CONGO STA

THE CONGO STATE

FEB Ih

The Growth of CiviHsation

in Central Africa

DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER

AUTHOR OK "history OF CHINA" " THE LIFE OF (lORDON "
ETC. ETC.

W/T-// A PORTRAIT IN PHOTOGRAVURE OF
II. M. THE KING OF THE BELGIANS
FIFTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP

London: W. THACKER & CO., 2 Creed Lank, E.G.
Calcutta and Simla: THACKER, SPINK, c^v: CO.
1898

Rights Reserved]

CONTENTS

ciiXr. I'AOK

I. THE CONCEl'TION OF THE CONGO STATE .... 1

II. THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS .... 20

III. THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE ..... 40

IV. THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS .... 71
V. THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS . . . .93

VI. THE EARLIER CAMPAKiNS . . . . .108

VII. THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOllAMI .... 132

VIII. THE SECOND RRUSSELS CONFERENCE AND THE KING's WILL . 146

IX. THE ARAB CAMPAIGN ...... 161

X. T'HE later DIPLOMATIC A1!RAN(;EMENT . . . 185

XI. THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE . . . 197

XII. THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE . . . . . 21 ]

XIII. THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE ..... 225

XIV. THE BATETEIiA MUTINIES ..... 242
XV. THE STATE ADMINISTIi ATIOX ..... 258

XVI. THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE . . . 273

XVII. RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO . . . 297

XVIII. THE PEOPI,ES OF THE CONGO STATE .... 319

XIX. THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS .... 341

XX. BELGIUM AND THE CONGO ..... 377

.\PPENDIX — GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE . 393

INDEX OF SUB.IECTS . . . . . 409

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

H.M. THE KINU OF THE BELGIANS
BARON VAN EETVELDE .
BARON LAMBERMONT

SEA VIEW AT MOUTH OF THE CONGO
M. EMILE BANNING
TWO VIEWS ON THE CONGO
A RIVER VIEW .
A STEAMER ON THE CONGO
NDOLO, ON STANLEY POOL
A STERN-WHEEL STEAMER
BASOKOS

SULTAN DJABBIU
GROUP OB' WOMEN (DJABBIR)
VAN KERCKHOVEN
A NATIVE VILLAGE (SEMIO)
HAUSSAS

M. CAMILLE JANSSEN
LIEUTENANT BODSON
BARON DHANIS .
A CONGOLESE SOLDIER .
VIEW ON THE UPPER CONGO
STANLEY FALLS .
KASSONGO

THE CONGO POSTMAN
A SCHOOL ON THE CONGO
A CONGO SCHOOL — FIELD WORK
COMMANDANT CHALTIN .
CONGO MILITARY BAND .
RECRUITS FOR THE PUBLIC FORCE
CONGO FORCE^FIRE DISCIPLINE

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

rAOE

CONGO FORCE — TARGET PRACTICE ..... 229

FORT AT CHINKAKASSA ....... 231

THE CONGO POLICE ....... 232

PUBLIC FORCE — A ilARCH OUT ...... 233

BARRACKS AT BOIIA ....... 236

PUBLIC FORCE — A SALUTE ...... 237

CONGO FORCE — INSPECTION . . . . . . 238

CONGO FORCE — A PARADE ...... 239

COM3IANDANT HENRY ....... 249

COLONEL WAHIS ........ 259

COMMANDANT WANGERMEE ...... 260

.AN AGRICULTURAL STATION OF THE STATE .... 282

TIMBER OF THE CONGO ....... 284

A FORE.ST ON THE CONGO ...... 285

A COFFEE PLANTATION ....... 286

CONGO STATE NOTE (100 FRANCS) ..... 290

OFFICIAL STAMP (100 FRANCS) ...... 291

PIER AT BOMA ........ 293

MATADI — GRAND PLACE ....... 298

DINING-ROOM AT LEOPOLDVILLE ..... 299

THE PALLABALLA ROCK ....... 303

THE LUFU BRIDGE (CONGO RAILWAY) . 307

BRIDGE AT BOMA ....... 317

BATEKAS ........ 322

NATIVE FESTIVAL ....... 327

GENERAL VIEW OF BOMA ...... 331

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BOMA ...... 334

SCENE ON BOMA PIER ....... 335

HOSPITAL AT BOMA ....... 336

RARIMI — LAKE ALBERT EDWARD .... 353

MAP OF THE CONGO STATE

BAKOX VAX EETVEI.de
Secretar;/ of Stnfe .for the 1 niicpeudcnt Stale nf the Congo

THE CONGO STATE

^ CHAPTER I

The Conception of the Congo State

If it be permissible to apply to modern affairs the Biblical
imagery that the man who successfully plants a tree
where none grew before has done a good life's work, then
it is true to say that the happiest monarch should be the
one who founds a new State. That happiness must be
enhanced by the fact that his creation is no fleeting
achievement won by the sword, but that it is firmly
based on what ought to be permanent claims to respect
and security in the welfare of the subject race as well as
the credit of the ruling power. How much greater, then,
should be the happiness and the title to fame when the
interest of the monarch and the benefit of the people can
be shown to harmonise with, and indeed to form part of,
that human progress which must within the geons of
coming centuries place, according to our limited powers
of comprehension, man, irrespective of creed, colour, and
climate, on something like an equality before the God of
all!

To this credit there will never be any difiiculty in
showing that Leopold, the second King of the Belgians of
that name and of his House, is entitled. His prescience,
energy, and courage have erected to himself a monument
I

THE CONGO STATE

that Avill uot pass away, and tliat, unlike memorials of
stone and brass, seems destined to acquire increased im-
portance and magnificence with the lapse of time. Yet
the future historian will surely marvel that it should
have fallen to the lot of two succeeding princes, father
and son, to accomplish on two different continents of the
Old World practically the same feat, one which Xapoleon,
despite all his military triumphs, never achieved.

The Belgian nation owes to Leopold the First, who
but for the unkind decree of fate would have figured
amono- the wisest of British rulers, the fosterino- care of
its freedom and independence. When he accepted the
crown of the youngest and most perilous throne in Europe,
he said, in the appropriate words that never fail to flow
from true eloquence, " Human destiny does not offer any
nobler and more useful task than to be called upon to
found the independence of a nation and to consolidate its
liberties." It may be said, in his case, that Europe
assigned the task, to which it was his proud distinction
to prove that he was more than equal. But in the case
of Leopold the Second no such qualification can be made.
The founding of the Congo State, the opening of its
territories to all the beneficent enterprises of civilisation,
the moral and material improvement of its native races,
marked out by King Leopold when he first gave definite
form to ideas that he had expressed years before, and that
at the present moment are well advanced on the road to
realisation, represent an achievement very similar to that
accomplished by his illustrious father and predecessor.
The one converted " the cockpit of Europe " into the most
prosperous State of the Continent ; the other has founded
in Central Africa a vast dominion, where the only serious
and promising attempt has as yet been systematically
made to redeem the nea^ro race from the curse of ao-es.

From a very early period of his career King Leopold
the Second liad shown a deep and intelligent interest in

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

distant regions, and had fully grasped the fact that the
manufacturing countries of Europe would decline from
their high prosperity owing to the growth of population,
unless they discovered fresh markets for their manufactures
and colonies for their surplus population. No country was,
or is, more actively and intelligently devoted to industry
and manufacture than Belgium ; in none also was, or is, the
population increasing at a greater annual rate ; and the few
clear-sio;hted men who looked ahead — and amono- these
King Leopold ii. is entitled by universal admission to the
first place — realised the inevitable consequences at some
future date. But among many admirable points in the
Belgian character is not included the spirit of adventure
that founds great colonies or carries the trade of a State
into remote regions. The typical Belgian would rest con-
tent with what he possessed, indifferent to what might
happen in some future generation. Caution controls his
courage, and, left to herself, Belgium would have been the
last State of Europe to found a colony or to participate in
the division of a continent. Fortunately for her, she has
possessed a ruler whose larger views have supplied the
main defect in the national character. The courasre of her
King has proved equal to the accomplishment of a task
that would have tested the strength of the greatest of
colonising Powers, while his sagacity has known how to
eliminate from the undertaking, one by one, the dangers
that might well have thwarted his plans and nullified all
his enterprise.

If the first origin of what resulted in the Congo State
has to be discovered, it would perhaps be found in the
speech which the now reigning King of the Belgians
delivered, as Duke of Brabant, before the Senate on 17th
February 1860. In that speech, which was no doubt the
result of his own observations during the tour he had then
recently made in the Far East, he said, " The possession
of coasts and of 'a magnificent port, perhaps unique in

THE CONGO STATE

the world, are the elements of wealth w^liich we could not
exploit too much, and which all the peoples who have
enjoyed great fortune have largely made use of." Having
laid down this general proposition, the Duke went on to
use the memorable words, " I claim for Belgium her share
of the sea." In subsequent speeches he pointed out the
urgent need there was for his country to procure fresh
markets, and, with the view of stimulating national effort
and confidence, he recalled the brief but brilliant deeds of
the Company of Ostend, which was deemed such a formid-
able rival by the East India Company that its suppression
formed part of one of the treaties of alliance between
Great Britain and the old empire. It was not with words
only that the young Prince strove to induce his country-
men to take up schemes beyond the narrow confines of
their State. From an early period he devoted himself to
the improvement of the ports of Ostend and Antw^erp, and,
during a reign that has now covered more than thirty
years of ever-increasing national prosperity, he has contri-
buted largely to the remarkable but little appreciated
development of the port of Antwerp as an outlet for the
commerce of Germany as well as of Belgium.

There is reason to think that at the beg-innino; of his
reign King Leopold held the view that the new markets
for his country would be discovered in Asia. Africa was
still " the Dark Continent," and the least promising of the
divisions of the globe ; but the progress efiected in the
elucidation of its mysteries, in the acquisition of definite
knowledo;e concerning the new^ world of inner Africa,
found in King Leopold the most attentive and, as it has
proved, the most appreciative student and observer.

The discovery of Lake Tanganyika by Sir Eichard
Burton and Captain Speke in 1858 may be regarded as
the first act in the revelation of the region which occupies
our present attention. A few years later Speke and Grant
discovered the sources of the Nile and Lake Victoria.

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

These travellers all proceeded inland from Zanzibar. Sir
Samuel Baker, acting as the Khedive's lieutenant above
Khartoum, completed their work on the Nile by the dis-
covery of Lake Albert and of the section of the river
connecting that lake with Victoria. At a much earlier
period David Livingstone had explored the valley of the
Zambesi and appeared before the blacks as a messenger of
good tidings, healing the body and the soul, preaching
peace and goodwill, and teaching them respect for life and
the love of labour; but it was not until 1866 that he
reached the Congo region and placed his name among its
discoverers by adding Lakes Moero and Bangweolo to the
map. The finding of Livingstone by Mr. H. M. Stanley
in November 1871 ; the death of Livingstone, the dis-
covery of the fact by Commander Lovett Cameron, and
the conveyance to Europe of his remains by that officer ;
the second departure of Stanley at the end of 1874 to
explore the Dark Continent and to complete the geo-
graphical labours of Livingstone, — these were the conclud-
ing geographical incidents of the period when the King
of the Belgians first took up the subject before the world.

But the explorers and the missionaries had done more
than add to geographical knowledge. They had thrown
a lurid light on the horrors of the slave trade. They had
tracked the evil to its root, and shown the inhumanity
and devilish cruelty with which the slave hunters prose-
cuted their raids among a population of millions, unarmed
and unable to defend themselves. The only export from
that region was "black ivory," as human beings came to
be termed, and each successive traveller harrowed the
feelings of the reader with tales of tlie barbarities inflicted
on the unfortunate captives. The soul of Christendom
and civilisation revolted against these outrages, and the
suppression of the slave trade in Central Africa came to
be regarded as a solemn duty imposed on the charitable
public of Europe and America. The Governments which

THE CONGO STATE

bad decreed universal freedom could not feio;n indifference
to proceedings that defeated their own laws, and brought
a common pressure to bear on the ruler of Egypt so that
he might be induced to adopt repressive measures on the
Upper Nile. "With that object, Samuel Baker, and after
him Charles Gordon, were appointed Governors of the
Soudan, and in the time of the latter it at last became
true in the year 1879 to say that the pursuit of slaves
had been suppressed between Khartoum and the Ecj[uator.
This result, however, had not been attained in 1876 at the
time of the first Brussels Conference, when the corner
stone of the Congo State was laid, and south of the
Equator to as far as the Zambesi the slave trade flourished
uncontrolled and unchecked.

It will be convenient at this point to sum up the
considerations which determined the views generally
held at the moment of the first Brussels Conference.
The desire to fill up the dark places of the map had
resulted in great geographical discoveries in the interior
of Africa. AVhat had been discovered justified the
view that what had still to be reA-ealed would prove of
permanent importance. Already enough was known to
encourage the belief in the existence of inland navigation,
and that Europeans would find life supportable on the
Equator. The desire to evangelise the blacks had long
been felt amono- Christians of all creeds, and the labours
of Livinostone and others had shown that success was
possible, and perhaps easy of attainment. The missionaries
and the explorers had also made clear the imperative duty
of the free and happy nations to deliver their unfortunate
brethren from the terrible sufferings under which they
passed through life. To release Africa from the slave
trade was admitted, even by the sceptic, to be necessary
for the removal of a stain from the escutcheon of civilisa-
tion. These fticts appealed to the religious and the
philanthropic.

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE 7

But it would not be right to eliminate from our survey
other considerations of a more self-interested character.
The exploration of Africa had given rise to the desire to
absorb it. The old view that Africa was a continent of
no value had been shaken, and was on the eve of passing
away. The opinion was fast spreading, that Africa might
prove, as a centre of trade and as a possible seat of empire,
not less important, to say the least, than Australia and South
America. Three of the European States — England, France,
and Portugal — were already established on its soil ; Italy
was known to covet Tripoli, if not Tunis ; and Germany was
already meditating over the creation of colonial depend-
encies. The demonstration that Central Africa was inhabit-
able by the white man marked the first step towards its
absorption within the zone of civilisation. The proof that
it was a fertile and prosperous region, with immense latent
wealth of every kind, hastened the process of absorption,
and made it inevitable. The remarkable feature in the
transfer of African territory to the hands of Europeans,
was that Belsfium should have been able, with the general
assent of the Powers, and with their solemn sanction, given
beyond the possibility of retractation, to obtain so large
a part — indeed the whole, geographically regarded — of
Central Africa. The manner in which this pacific and durable
triumph was achieved has now to be described ; but it was
due to the remarkable prescience and promptitude with
which the King of the Belgians saw that the psychological
moment had arrived to take the lead in solving what had
become one of the great international problems of the
time. He was able to stand before the world in this ques-
tion as the representative of civilisation, and at the same
time to pave the way for the accomplishment of his long-
sought purpose in providing his country with new markets
and a promising outlet for her excessive population.

In the summer of the year 1876 King Leopold addressed
a letter to the most eminent geographical authorities and

THE CONGO STATE

the leading geographical societies, invitiug them to take
part in a geographical conference at Brussels. The King
said in his letter : "In almost every country a lively
interest is taken in the geographical discoveries recently
made in Central Africa. Several expeditions, supported
by individual subscriptions, which prove the desire to
attain important results, have been, and are being, under-
taken in Africa. The English, the Americans, the Ger-
mans, 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 civilis-
ing 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 land-
marks, 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."

The King's invitation met with a ready response in
the six great States of Europe to which it was addressed,
and from each of them the most distinguished persons in

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

the field of geographical science were deputed to take part
ill the Brussels Conference. Great Britain was repre-
sented by Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Sir
Rutherford Alcock, Sir Leopold M'Lintock, and Com-
mander Lovett Cameron. Germany sent Baron von
Richthofen, and the celebrated travellers, Naclitigal,
Schweirifurfch, and Rohlfs. France deputed Admiral de
la Ronciere le Noury, the illustrious Ferdinand de Lesseps,
and the Secretary of the Geographical Society of Paris.
Austria provided two worthy representatives in the enter-
prising Count Zichy, and M. de Hochstetter, President of
the Vienna Geographical Society. Russia and Italy sent
only one member each to the Conference — M. de Semenow
and the Che^'alier Negri, respectively. Belgium sent
eleven representatives to the Conference, prominent among
them beino" the distinguished Baron Lambermont. The
other ten were — MM. Banning, Edmond de Borchgrave,
Couvreur, Count Goblet d'Alviella, E. de Laveleye, Saincte-
lette. Smolders, Van Bieroliet, Van den Bosche, and Van
Volxem ; and of these, M. Emile Banning acted as Secretary
of the Conference. The Conference was held in the Royal
Palace at Brussels, and lasted for three days — from the
12th to the 14th September 1876. The King opened it
in person, when he made the following speech : —

" Gentlemen,— 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.

" The subject which brings us together to-day is one
that deserves in the highest degree to engage the atten-
tion of the friends of humanity. To open to civilisation
the only part of the globe where it has not yet pene-

THE CONGO STATE

trated, to pierce the darkness shrouding 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 pubHc sentiment is in favour of its accomplish-
ment. The current is with us.

"Gentlemen, among those who have the most closely
studied Africa, a good many have been led to think that
there would be advantage to the common object they pur-
sue if they could be brought together for the purpose of
conference with the object of regulating the march, com-
bining the efforts, deriving some profit from all circum-
stances, 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 to
Brussels 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 than to serve her
well. But I will not go so far as to declare that I should
1)6 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 Ijecome in some
way the headquarters of this civilising movement.

" I have, then, allowed myself to believe that it would
1)6 convenient to vou 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

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

of the greater number that makes success ; it is the sym-
pathy 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 everyone for whom a franc is little or nothino-
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
encourao-ement.

" Among the questions which have still to be examined
the follow^ing 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. 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 lioht on them.

" My desire is to serve, as you shall point out to me,

THE CONGO STATE

the great cause for which you have ah-eacly done so much.
I phaee myself at your disposal for this purpose, and oft'cr
you a cordial welcome."

The Conference disclosed a remarkable and gratifying-
unanimity of view and sentiment among the distinguished
meml)ers. The example of the King of the Belgians pro-
moted a sentiment of disinterestedness, and the advance-
ment of geography and philanthropy was on that occasion
undisturbed by the intrusion of ambitious motives. After
three days' discussion and the examination of much inter-
esting matter, the Conference drew up the following-
Declaration on the subject submitted for its consideration
and decision.

" In order to attain the object of the International
Conference of Brussels — that is to say, to explore scien-
tifically the unknown parts of Africa, to facilitate the
opening of the routes Avhich 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 :

" (l) 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 Egyjitian territory and the inde-
pendent 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, Xyangwe, and
other points already known, which it would be necessary
to connect by intermediate stations."

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE 15

These excellent observations might never have pro-
duced any practical result if the Conference had not gone
on to sketch, and in a certain degree to provide, the
machinery necessary for the conduct and success of the
philanthropic and civilising campaign which it decreed.
It proposed the creation of an Association bearing the title
of " The International Association for the Exploration and
Civilisation of Central Africa," and on that Association
devolved the task of realising the declaration made by
the Geographical Conference at Brussels. The Inter-
national Association was to be carried on by means of an
International Commission, and l)y National Committees
dependent on it in each country. The International
Commission was practically a Parliament of all the Com-
mittees, but its executive power was entrusted to an
Executive Committee composed of the King as President,
Sir Bartle Frere, Dr. Nachtigal, and M. de Quatrefages.
When Sir Bartle Frere became Governor of the Cape he
resigned his seat, and his place was taken by General
Sanford, long United States Minister at Brussels. Colonel
Strauch, of the Belgian army, was appointed Secretary.

Committees were rapidly formed in all the countries
of the participants in the Conference and in some that
had not been included. In Austria the Archduke Rudolph,
heir to the Austrian throne, became President of the Com-
mittee in his country ; and among the States that had not
sent delegates to Brussels it may be mentioned that in
Spain the King, and in Holland Prince Henry of the
Netherlands, became Presidents of their nation's Com-
mittees. In the United States of America also a Com-
mittee was formed. But if in other countries the matter
was taken up watli warm and encouraging sympathy, it
was in Belgium that the executive power remained. The
Executive Committee was a select body through which the
real originator of the whole movement could continue to
work for the accomplishment of the purposes he had

THE CONGO STATE

clearly defined. The Belgian Committee also was the
most promptly organised and the most in earnest of all
the National Committees. The Count of Flanders, the
brother of the King, became its first President, and the
more active members of the Belgian nobility and the
leading; men of science were soon enrolled on its lists.

Six weeks after the close of the Brussels Conference
the first meeting of the Belgian Committee was held on
6th November 1876, and, with the view of encouraoing
the movement by every means in his power, the King-
attended in person and delivered the following speech on
the scope of the work that had now to be performed : —

" Gentlemen, — 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.

" 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 manse to forced
labour in perpetuity, have deeply moved all those who
have even partially studied this deplorable situation, and
they have conceived the idea of uniting together, and
concerting, in a word, for the founding of an International
Association to put an end to an odious traflic 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 Execu-
tive Committee to carry into execution its declarations
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

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

members from each of them to form part of the
International Committee, will popularise in their respec-
tive 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 accumula-
tion 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 commence-
ment, to forbid itself a too extensive programme. Sus-
tained 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 introduc-
tion 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 Inter-
national 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

THE CONGO STATE

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."

In this manner was the King's idea given a practical
form, and what may be called a start towards the goal it
was destined and deserved to reach. At the moment
when other countries were hesitating or indifferent in
their views about Africa, he had foreseen that the uplifting
shadows over the Dark Continent would reveal a land of
promise. By heredity and position the friend of civilisa-
tion and the advocate of progress in the world, it was
only natural that the questions relating to the future of
Africa, which interested every intelligent mind that had
been attracted to the subject, should, in a very special
decree, absorb the notice of the ruler of the Beloian
people. While the general admission can surely be
allowed that no one could read of the horrors of the slave
trade without an involuntary desire that no effort should
be spared for its suppression, the King, with a deeper
sense of responsibility, and with perhaps the hope that
circumstances would admit of Europe making him the
chief leader in this campaign of civilisation — the Gode-
froid de Bouillon, as it were, of the nineteenth century
crusade — marked the evil and pondered over the means
of its abatement and removal. As someone has well said,
he contemplated achieving the work of a Titan with the
means of pigmies ; but courage, confidence, and address,
directed, let it not be forgotten, by the highest motives
and the spirit of a great humanising mission, have earned
success where far greater power and resources less skilfully
employed might have failed.

The germ of the origin of the Congo State may perhaps
be discovered in the views set forth by the King when
Duke of Brabant as to his country's need for fresh markets
and a share in the sea. But its history begins with the

THE CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO STATE

founding of the International Association for the explora-
tion and civilisation of Central Africa, by the declaration
of the Brussels Geographical Conference. In its name, in
the sympathy it commanded, the Association was inter-
national, but the executive power, the seat of influence as
it were, remained in Belgium. It had to discharge its
duties in the eyes of the whole world, it had to win
universal sympathy by the loftiness of its ideals, and at
the same time it had to husband its limited resources so
that it might not be wrecked at an early period by their
exhaustion. But the justification for this laborious under-
taking, for this sustained eftbrt in watching over the
cradle of what long seemed a delicate infant, was that, in
addition to the general good of civilisation, a great
national need would be supplied and an undoubtedly
patriotic work accomplished. The more powerful mem-
bers of the Brussels Conference might have left the table
with the intention of urging their Governments to throw
themselves with greater resources and with readier means
into the breach, and leave King Leopold nothing but the
barren honour of having been the first to indicate the
way. There would have been no want of faith in such a
course, for all were pledged to promote the common cause ;
and as the principle of altruism has not yet been admitted
in the domain of practical afi"airs, the only conclusion is
that no one then appreciated with the same correctness
and clearness as the Kins; of the Belgians the task of
civilisation and its reward in the dark and vast regions of
Central Africa.

CHAPTER n

The First Belgian Expeditions

The first expeditions equipped from Belgium for the
practical execution of the proposals of the Geographical
Conference at Brussels, which have now to be described,
were all despatched inland from the East Coast of Africa,
and had their base in the territory of Zanzibar. It is
true that, before any of them had started, Mr. H. M.
Stanley had crossed the continent from east to west,
and established the important fact that the Congo for a
great portion of its course was a navigable river. But
the application of his discoveries to the opening of Central
Africa was deferred to a later period, and for the sake of
clearness it may be mentioned that all the experimental
expeditions undertaken by Belgians operated from the
East Coast, and in regions which now form no part of the
Congo State.

On 15th October 1877 the first expedition sailed from
Ostend, and arrived at Zanzibar on 12th of December.
The command was entrusted to Captain Crespel, and
with him went Lieutenant Cambier (both officers of the
Belgian army). Dr. Maes, and an Austrian, M. Marno,
who had entered the service of the Association. At
Zanzibar the expedition was to organise the means of
reachino- the interior ; and as the then reio-nino- Sultan,
Seyyid Burghash, was completely amenable to British
control, and had moreover recently signed an anti-slavery
convention with Sir Bartle Frere, there was no difficulty

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

ill procuring the necessary escort and supplies. But mis-
fortunes soon befell this pioneer force. Dr. Maes con-
tracted a fever, and died one month after arrival. Captain
Crespel was incapacitated from the commencement, and
died a few days after Maes. Before his death he had
despatched MM. Cambier and Maruo into the interior.
The difficulties of the route, the loss of all their cattle
through the attacks of the tsetse fly, and the marshy
character of the region, hindered their progress and
rendered any considerable success impossible. After an
absence of nearly two months Lieutenant Cambier re-
turned to the coast, and all that he could boast of was
that he had not lost a man. Lieutenant Cambier was
appointed chief of the expedition in place of Ca|)tain
Crespel, and a reinforcement was sent to him from
Belgium in the persons of Lieutenant Wautier and Dr.
Dutrieux.

In the autumn of 1878 the three Belgians made a
fresh journey, starting on this occasion from Bagamoyo,
and Lieutenant Cambier succeeded, despite frequent dis-
putes with his carriers, who several times deserted him
en masse, in crossing the desert plateau of Mgonda-
Mkali, and in effecting an alliance with the great chief
Mirambo, who scarcely deserved, however, his title of
" the Black Napoleon." He was the first native potentate
with whom a Belgian officer took the oath of blood ; and,
as that represents the most solemn oath of Central Africa,
and must frequently be referred to in the course of this
work, it may be well to describe the manner in which it
is performed. The two persons about to be declared
brothers by the oath of blood sit down facing each other ;
two chickens are then killed, and their livers are taken
out and grilled ; a slight incision is then made in the
chest or arms of the two persons, and a few drops of
blood are collected on freshly-gathered leaves ; the blood
is then sprinkled over the livers, which are eaten by the

THE CONGO STATE

ineu at the same moment. The oath of mutual support
is then taken, and it is said that the negroes believe ori'eat
misfortunes will fall on anyone breakinsc this oath. In
every region and under every phase of society, superstition
has been invoked to make men keep their word and tell
the truth. The negro system of establishing the sanctity
of treaties is not quite so imposing as the modes of
civilisation, but the testimony of experience is that the
engagements are kept quite as well, if not better, under
the primitive ceremony of the exchange of blood.

While M. Cambier was establishino- relations with
^lirambo, his lieutenant, M. Wautier, was engaged in the
task of keeping open communications with the coast. In
the midst of those labours, rendered especially difficult by
the torrential character of the rains. Lieutenant Wautier
died, making the third victim Belgium had offered in the
cause of African exploration. A Swiss traveller, well
acquainted with the country (M. Broyon), then attached
himself to the expedition and rendered useful services.
M. Gambler's main object was to found a station on Lake
Tanganyika, and, after receiving the necessary supplies
from his comrades at Tabora, he started alone for the
accomplishment of his mission. The distance from that
place to the margin of the lake is only one hundred and sixty
miles, but the region to be traversed presented still greater
difficulties than those between it and the coast. His
carriers deserted him along the march 1)y fifties at a time,
and it was largely due to the hospitality and assistance
of the chief of Siml)a that the Belgian officer accom-
plished his purpose. M. Cambier reached Karema on the
Lake Tanoanvika on 12th Auoust 1879, and fixed there
the site of the first station of the Association. By a
treaty with the local chief, he obtained the grant of five
thousand acres of land, in the midst of a salubrious and
productive region abounding in game. Having established
this inland post, the Belgian commander returned to the

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

coast, where lie found that a second expedition had
arrived from Europe.

The second Belgian Expedition reached Zanzibar in
May 1879, and was composed of the following officers : —
Captain Popelin, of the Headquarters Staff, in command,
Dr. Van den Heuvel, and Lieutenant Dutalis ; but the
last-named was compelled by ill-health to return at once.
The most interesting point in connection with this second
expedition was the experiment made in providing a new
mode of transport. Lieutenant Canibier's experience had
shown that conveyance by carts and oxen was practically
impossible, and he sent in a report advising that some
other means should be tried. Some one, not unnaturally
perhaps, suggested elephants, and the King decided to
incur the very considerable expense of importing four
trained elephants from India ; and two Englishmen,
specially experienced in the treatment of those animals,
were eno-aoed to conduct them to Karema. Two of the
animals died on the way to Tabora, and the other two
very soon after their arrival at Karema. The failure of
this costly experiment produced only temporary dis-
couragement, but did not retard the founding of the
station on Lake Tanganyika. To complete the- misfor-
tune, it may, however, be mentioned here that the two
Englishmen were some months later murdered Ijy
brigands, who attacked them on their way to the coast.

Li the meantime M. Cambier and Captain Popelin
had joined hands, and founded the station of Karema,
in wliicli all the stores were collected, and a small negro
force was organised for its defence.

The third Belgian Expedition, consisting of MM. Burdo
and Roger, arrived about this time, but a war between
Mirambo (" the brother " of M. Cambier) and the friendly
chief of Simba produced such bloodshed and confusion
that the Belgians had to divide their forces — Cambier
remaining at Karema, and Popelin taking up a position

THE CONGO STATE

at Taboia. Their strength was weakened at this jimction
by the death just mentioned of the two Englishmen who
brought the elephants, and by the compulsory return
through ill-health of M. Burdo to Europe.

At this critical moment the arrival of the fourth and
strongest expedition from Belgium put a better aspect on
the face of affairs. It was under the command of Captain
Ramaeckers, who was accompanied by two lieutenants of
the Belgian Artillery, MM. Becker and De Leu. A photo-
grapher was also attached to the expedition, but his health
gave way immediately on arrival. It was while he was
struggling across the belt of difficult country that news
reached Ramaeckers of the perilous state of Cambier and
Popelin. He hastened on, and the reassembly of the
Belgian officers on the shores of Tanganyika was one of
the earliest triumphs won in the name of the Association.
Lieutenant De Leu had, however, succumbed to fever at
Tabora. On the lOtli December 1880 Lieutenant Cambier
resigned the command to Captain Ramaeckers. During
his three years' command Cambier had done excellent
work, of which the admirable station of Karema was the
outward token and prize.

After his departure, his colleague Popelin carried on
the objects of the mission by navigating a boat on the
lake, but in May 1882 his career was concluded by a
sudden attack of the fatal malarial fever. A few months
later, Ramaeckers followed his comrades to the grave ; and
of Ramaeckers great hopes had been entertained, because
he was an experienced African traveller, who had known
how to find the way to the black man's heart. Of him
the following affecting story of devotion is told : — While
in Tripoli he had a black servant named Bamboula,
whom he left behind on returning to Belgium. Bamboula
had become so attached to him that he declared he could
not live apart from him, and left his home in Tripoli to
find his old master. He worked his way as a sailor from

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

Tripoli to Marseilles, where lie arrived without a penny.
He then worked there until he had saved the sum to
carry him to Brussels, and one morning Ramaeckers was
surprised to see Bamboula walk into his room, with the
observation : "I could not live away from you, master,
and therefore I have come to rejoin you." The man who
inspired that devotion must have been a worthy champion
of civilisation.

After the death of Ramaeckers, Lieutenant Becker
held the post in the presence of many difficulties, until
he in turn was relieved by Lieutenant Storms, who had
been sent from Europe with the special object of founding
a new station on the western coast of Tanganyika. Storms
crossed the lake and founded the station of Mpala, on its
western shore, almost immediately opposite Karema. He
made this station as important as Karema, and he also
established relations of confidence and cordiality with
the chief of the district named Mpala. Storms described
him as the most sympathetic negro he had ever met, and
on his deathbed Mpala commanded liis people to obey the
white man, and to accept the chief appointed by him as
his best successor. This was the beginning of the political
influence of the Belgian officers on the west coast of
Tanganyika, where it has endured ever since, and is now
firmly established. In two and a half years Storms com-
pleted the work of his countrymen on the eastern side
of Tanganyika, and may be said to have l^egun that on
its western side. He was the last of the Belgian officers
to labour in that field, for the rearrangement of the
spheres in Africa deprived Belgium of that opening on
the eastern side, in obtaining which some valiant men
had given their lives. Yet, for their labours and loss, it
will always be impossible to overlook the four or five
Zanzibar expeditions, which began with that of Crespel
and ended with that of Storms.

The first of these expeditions had not started, when

THE CONGO STATE

Mr. Stanley appeared at the mouth of the Congo with
the fresh information he had procured during his wonder-
ful journey across Africa. In one of the letters published
in the Daily Telegraph after his return to Europe, he
called prominent attention to the importance of the
Congo ; and the following passage merits (juotation : — " I
am persuaded that this mighty river-way will become in
the course of time a political question. Up to the present
time no European Power has asserted the right to control
this river. Portugal, it is true, lays claim to it because
she discovered the mouth of this body of water, but the
Great Powers, England, France, and the United States,
refuse to admit this pretension. If I did not fear to
chill, by the length of my letters, the interest which you
entertain for Africa and this superb river, I could adduce
many arguments to prove that the immediate solution of
such an important question would be an act of high
policy. It would be easy for me to show that the
Power which makes itself mistress of the Congo must
absorb, despite the Cataracts, all the commerce of the
immense basin which expands itself behind that river.
This water-way is, and will remain, the great commercial
route, towards the west, of Central Africa."

The King of the Belgians was very much struck by
that passage, and grasped at once the full significance of
the discovery of the Congo. He caused an invitation to
be sent to Mr. Stanley, who proceeded to Brussels. After
some discussions, in which a considerable number of
geographical authorities and of men distinguished in the
world of commerce and finance took part, a plan of
action was decided on, and its execution was entrusted
to Mr. Stanley. The work was to be carried on by a
distinct body from the International Association. This
new organisation bore the title of the Committee for
studying the Upper Congo, but before long it was
changed into the International Association of the Congo.

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS 27

It possessed a nominal capital of £40,000, but this sum
was very soon expended, and the King defrayed out of
his own private fortune all the heavy expenses of the
undertaking over a long period of years.

Stanley's plan was, briefly put, to establish along the
banks of the Congo a line of stations which would serve
as bases for further operations, and as the means of con-
trolling and capturing the commerce of the Congo basin.
Commerce was to be the agency employed for the sup-
pression of the slave trade, and at the same time it was
to bring some tangible reward in its train. Stanley left
Belgium at the end of January 1879 for Zanzibar, with
the view of collecting there his comrades on the earlier
journey, while the expedition fitted out in Belgium was
directed to the mouth of the Congo, there to await his
arrival. This expedition was composed of two steam-
boats, En Avant and the Royal, two screw-steamers,
La Bclgique and the Hope, one screw- barge, the Young
Africa, and two steel lighters, all of which rendered
excellent service in establishing steam navisxation on the
Congo. The personnel of the expedition was composed
of five Belgians, two Englishmen, two Danes, and one
Frenchman. The black force numbered sixty - eight
Askaris from Zanzibar and seventy - two Kabindas.
Carriers were engaged as required along the river. For
the first few weeks Boma remained the headquarters of
the expedition, while Mr. Stanley proceeded up the river
on board the Hope, to ascertain the highest point of
navigation below the Cataracts. The result of this recon-
naissance was the founding of the station of Vivi, for
which the sum of eight hundred francs was paid down in
cloth, and a rent of fifty francs per month was guaranteed.

Great care had to be taken not to offend the Portu-
guese, who then held the mouth of the Congo, and Vivi
was only fortified with a few Krupp mountain-guns to
make it secure against any sudden attack on the part of

THE CONGO STATE

the natives. Six months were occupied in the completion
of the station at this phice. The next task proved still
more arduous. It consisted in constructing a cart-road
from Yivi to Isanghila, over fifty miles higher up the
river. It re(|uired twelve months' incessant labour to
construct the road and to convey along it the steamers in
sections and the merchandise and stores of the expedition.
At Isanghila Stanley founded another station similar to
that of Vivi, and, availing himself of the short section of
navigable river between that place and Manyanga, he
Hoated two of his steamers and reached Manyanga by
water. There he founded a tliird station, while the task
of opening up the last link from Manyanga to Stanley
Pool, where the open water-way begins, was in the first
place entrusted to Lieutenant Braconnier, a Belgian officer.
The arrival of Mr. Linders, a German contractor, with
some workmen, greatly facilitated the completion of the
work, and Stanley soon attained striking evidence of the
perils of any delay, by learning that M. cle Brazza, the
French traveller, had appeared on the northern shores of
the Pool, and founded Brazzaville in the name and under
the flag of France. This step was promptly answered hy
the founding of a station on the plain of Kintamo, close
to the margin of the lake, and destined to become tlie
administrative capital of Central Africa. To this head
station was given the appropriate name of Leopold ville.
in honour of the promoter of the whole undertaking.

The year 1882 had now commenced; and as Central
Africa was no longer an object of indifference, but might
even be termed extremely coveted by several European
Powers, or at all events their representatives, the para-
mount consideration was speed in the floating of the
Association's flag on the Upper Congo. In April 1882,
therefore, Mr. Stanley left Leopoldville on board the
En Avant, and steamed as far as the territory of the
chief Gobila, " the most sympathetic chief of the Congo."

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

With him he signed a treaty allowing the formation of a
station at Msuata, forty miles above the Pool ; and this
task was given to M. Janssens, one of the Belgian officers.
On his way, Mr. Stanley had hecn struck by the appear-
ance of the Kassai, one of the chief affluents of the Congo,
and he determined to explore it, despite the sinister pre-
dictions of the })lacks. The trip up the Kassai River
resulted, through the explorer following the Mfini instead
of the main branch, in the discovery of the lake, to which
he gave the name of Leopold the Second. With this
terminated the first part of Stanley's mission on the
Congo; for ill-health, and the desire to report personally
as to the dangers that might ensue from M. de Brazza's
plans, induced him to return to Europe.

Durino; his absence the command was entrusted to
Captain Hanssens, who established new stations at Bolobo
and Kuamouth ; and with the view of preparing for
eventualities, many fresh places were nominally seized or
occupied in the Kuiliu basin, north of the Lower Congo.
But as it would only tend to confuse the reader, there is no
necessity to enter into the details of operations which had
no permanent influence. Li February 1883 Stanley was
back at his post, and, having put together three steamers on
Stanley Pool, prepared to carry the flag of the Association
far beyond the limits it had attained. But at this moment
a series of misfortunes clouded the affiiirs of the under-
taking. Two stations, those at Bolobo and Kimpoko, were
burned to the ground, and their garrisons slaughtered.
Janssens, one of the most promising of the Belgian lieu-
tenants, perished in a flood on the Congo. Notwith-
standing these reverses, Stanley continued his journey,
founding stations at suitable points like the crossing of
the Equator, and the mouths of important rivers like the
Aruwimi, and finally halting at Stanley Falls, where he
succeeded in purchasing the island Usana Rosani, which
seemed to ofl"er a secure station. From this place Stanley

THE CONGO STATE

ciddressed u letter to the Belgian officer at Karema, the
station established, as has been seen, on Lake Tanganyika
from the side of Zanzibar. With this incident Mr,
Stanley's work on the Congo was brought to a con-
clusion. He had in the course of five years founded a
number of stations (some unsuitable, as experience showed,
some of the greatest value, between Vivi and Stanley
Falls), and he had set an example of indefatigable energy.

In January 1884 the arrangement was completed, by
which General Gordon, in fulfilment of a promise given
many years l)efore to the King of the Belgians, accepted
the command on the Congo, and the date of his departure
had l)een fixed when, in an evil hour for everybody con-
cerned, that heroic soldier was induced to ask the Kino-
to concur in his further postponing the execution of his
promise, so that he might proceed to Khartoum. In the
spring of the year Sir Francis de Winton was appointed
to succeed Mr. Stanley on the Congo. Durinof this
period the two Belgian officers. Captain Hanssens and
Lieutenant Coquilhat, rendered signal service in con-
solidating the position on the Congo. The former was
for some time in actual command, and displayed an
ability, energy, and high-mindedness that secured for him
gene]-al admiration. L^nfortunately, he fell a victim to
excessive zeal and sense of duty. On one occasion he had
pacified a hostile tribe by moving amongst them with
nothing in his hands but his pipe and tobacco-pouch, and
by shaking the blacks by their hands. His colleague,
Coquilhat, was a man of the same type, and did excellent
work amonof the warlike Banoalas, besides writino- an
admirable account of Life on the Upper Congo. Coquilhat,
unlike Hanssens, returned to Europe, when he contributed
much to the general knowledge of the Congo ; but, on
being sent out again as Vice-Governor-General of the
Congo, he had the misfortune to contract a fatal illness
before he commenced his work. These men, and many

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

other Belgian officers, contributed with their lives to the
creation of the great national work on the Equator.

While this progress towards peace and prosperity was
being effected on the Congo itself, an entirely new region
had l)een opened up by the navigation of the Kassai,
which shares with the Lomami the right to be considered
the most important affluent of the Congo on its left bank.
As already described, Mr. Stanley had steamed up part
of it, but, departing from its course, had followed the
Mfini to Lake Leopold the Second. The German Dr.
Pogge had also travelled along it to its junction with the
Lulua. At the end of 1883 it was determined to
thoroughly explore the river, and the King both pro-
vided the funds for the exploration and retained the
services of the German officer Wissmann, who had just
made a reputation by a journey across Africa from St.
Paul de Loanda to Sadani. Having made his way by
caravan route to the territory of Mukenga, the king of
the Balubas, he founded, with the co-operation of that
chief, the station of Luluabourg on the banks of the
Lulua. This important post, in the midst of a fertile
region, and occupying a salubrious spot on the sixth
parallel of south latitude, has been termed the Paradise
of the Congo. There remained for Lieutenant Wissmann
to establish the navigability of the river, and its connec-
tion, if not identity, with the Kassai. In accomplishing
this part of his task, the explorer was largely aided bv
the cordial co-operation of the African chief Mukenga
not only built a large canoe for the descent of the river,
but offered to accompany the white man himself.

In this canoe, escorted by twenty small boats, Wiss-
mann, with three other officers in the same service, made
the descent of the river to Kuamouth, the point of
entrance into the Congo. He passed on the way the
points of confluence between the Lulua and the Kassai on
the left hand, and the Sankuru on the right ; and still

THE CONGO STATE

lower down lie saw the entrance to the Mfini, up which
Mr. Stanley had proceeded. With the exception of the
Bakutas, a tribe of cannibals, AVissmann found the
iuliabitants peaceful and well-disposed. The discovery
of the navigability of the Kassai, and at least one of its
upper courses in the Lulua, was rightly regarded as of the
greatest importance, and Sir Francis de Winton despatched
the steamer Stanley up it to convey to their home the
Balubas, who had helped Wissmann to success.

The next move in this quarter was the despatch, in
1885, of Dr. Wolf, who had accompanied Wissmann, for
the purpose of exploring the Sankuru. Having founded
the station of Luebo, below the point of junction, he
steamed up the Sankuru on board the En Avant. This
stream was found to be perfectly navigable, and in places
two miles wide. He traced its course to the falls above
Mona-Kachich, where navigation ceases to be possible,
and which are now known by his name. During this
tour he met only one hostile tribe, the Basongos, who
threatened to capture the whole party, but who were
deterred from executing their purpose by the simple
expedient of firing off a pistol close to the ear of their
terrified chief ( )n his return journey he was rejoined by
Lieutenant Wissmann, and together they explored the
upper course of the Kassai, reaching the highest point of
navigation at Wissmann Falls, a little north of the sixth
parallel, and about sixty miles distant from the point
of junction with the Lulua.

Reference was made to the founding of Luluabourg,
and in 1886 Captain Adolph de Macar was sent to
establish the station which was to control this important
region. He succeeded with inadequate means in his task,
and the conditions under which he worked may be
gathered from the fact that for a whole year he did not
see a white face. His task was not altogether pacific.
He had to carry on Avarlike operations with several hostile

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

tribes, and, amidst constant perils boldly faced, to spread
increasing respect for the white man. In the midst of
his other work, he found time to explore the Sankuru for
upwards of three hundred miles, with a care and thorough-
ness not primarily attained, and he advanced the opinion,
for which much might be said, that in this stream was to
be found the true upper course of the Kassai.

If the course of the Kassai on the left bank of
the Congo was an important question, closely affecting
matters of commerce and administration, as well as of
interest to geographers, that of the Ubangi, the northern
affluent of the great river, was scarcely less important.
Dr. Schweinfurth's discovery of the Uelle, near Lake
Albert, had given rise to the natural supposition that it
might find its way into the Congo. The German traveller
had been content to make the easy suggestion that the
Uelle flowed into Lake Tchad, but Mr. Stanley had
rejected this, and identified it with the Aruwimi, while,
at the period of which we are speaking, a Belgian geo-
graphical expert, M. Wauters, had put forw^ard the theory
that the Uelle was the upper course of the Ubangi. It
is proper to state that both Schweinfurth and Mr. Stanley
came round to this theory long before it had been proved
a fact.

The task of solving this question was entrusted in
1886 to Captain Van Gele. He was met at the outset of
his journey by the protest of a chief on the left bank of
the river, who had placed himself under the protection of
France, but he was able to show that the same chief had
signed a treaty with Belgian officers tAvo years earlier.
The ■ Belgian officer then proceeded on his way. The
Ubangi was at the time in flood, and found easily
navigable, until at Zongo, near the fourth parallel of
north latitude, rapids were encountered, through which
the Belgian officer made a courageous but futile attempt
to force his way. Some months later he renewed the
3

THE CONGO STATE

attempt, wlien he succeeded in transporting his steamer
to above the Zoiigo Falls, where he again found a clear
course. On this occasion, Van Gele and his comrade
Lieutenant Lienart succeeded in reaching a point within
one degree of that attained by Junker, a Russian traveller,
on the Uelle, and they would have covered that section
also but for the hostility of the Yakomas, a tribe that
showed no fear of firearms. On the return journey all
the cataracts were easily crossed, owing to the f;ill of
the river. One of them was even too shallow to float
the boat, which had to be dragged through the bed of
the rivei".

In the midst of these successful explorations and dis-
coveries the Belgians experienced one considerable reverse
of fortune. Stanley Falls, the then presumed limit of
unbroken navigation from Stanley Pool, represented their
extreme station on the Congo. It was from it that Mr.
Stanley had sent the message to the officers on the Lake
Tanganyika, and before his departure he had established
there, on an island, a station that commanded the Falls. The
officer in charo-e of the station at the time of the occur-
rence was an Englishman named Deane, and his assistant
was a Belo;ian officer named Dubois. The neig-hbours of
this island were not negroes, but the Arabs, who were the
slave hunters and slave dealers of Central Africa. The
resources of the Belgians did not permit of their yet
declaring their intention to extirpate the slave trade, and
consequently a temporising policy had to be pursued.
As a matter of fact, their relations with their Arab neigh-
bours were excellent, and only an unforeseen event pro-
duced what was perhaps an inevitable collision. One day
in August 1886 a slave girl, who had been ill-treated,
claimed the protection of the station. Her Arab master
came to recover her, and, after exacting a promise that she
should not be ill-used, Mr. Deane surrendered her. Three
days later she again appeared in the station, sho\A'ing the

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

marks of horribly bad treatment. Again the Arab came
to claim his property. Mr. Deane attempted to arrange
the affair amicably by the purchase of the slave, but, on
the Aral) refusing to settle the matter in this way, Mr.
Deane very properly refused to surrender the girl to
further cruelty and certain death. In taking this step,
Mr. Deane was going beyond the letter of his instructions,
and it must also be recorded that there were special
reasons in his own position that might have justified
his giving way on this occasion, under the plea of ex-
pediency or necessity. The only steamer likely to arrive
for many months had arrived a few days ])efore, and
departed, and it had brought a reinforcement neither of
men nor of powder and shot. Still Mr. Deane did not
hesitate. He openly refused to give up the unfortunate
slave, and Lieutenant Dubois nobly supported him.

The Arabs, unlike the blacks, were afraid of neither
the white man nor his weapons. Five hundred of them
attacked the station, which was heroically defended by
the two officers and their handful of Haussas and Ban-
galas during three days. On the third day the ammuni-
tion was mostly exhausted, and the bulk of the garrison,
deserting their officers, escaped during the night in some
canoes. Mr. Deane, seeing no possibility of holding the
station, abandoned it, having first emptied all the oil in it
to make the building inflammable, and, having also laid a
train to the magazine, he, Dubois, and a few still faithful
Haussas, swam to the southern shore of the river. The
destruction of the station was complete, so that the Arabs
gained nothing by their success ; but Dubois was unfortu-
nately drowned in the attempt to reach the river bank.
Mr. Deane paid the following tribute to his colleague : —
"In the worst part of the struggle he used to send me
little notes, written on his knee, perhaps, to ask for fresh
ammunition or for something else. These notes were in
beautiful caligraphy, and showed no trace of the least

THE CONGO STATE

emotion. You may l)e proud to have such men in youi-
(the Belgian) army ; there are none better in any other."

The Belgians (Yu\ not attempt to recover Stanley Falls
for the time, ljut when Mr. Stanley passed through the
Congo region on his way to relieve Emin Pasha he was
authorised by the King to propose an arrangement with
Tippo Tip for the government of the Stanley Falls district.
Tippo Tip bound himself to prevent all slave hunting and
slave dealing below the Falls, and to prevent any attacks
on the natives. In return for this he received a fixed
monthly payment, but he had also to admit the residence
of a Belgian officer, who could carry on his correspondence
with Government and make the necessary reports. After
some hesitation, Tippo Tip — a name signifying " winking
the eye," conferred on this arch-merchant and slave dealer
from the habit he had contracted, but whose true name was
Hamed-ben-Mohamed — accepted the post, and the arrange-
ment worked well enough for some years. It enabled the
Government to husband its resources, and to postpone,
until it was ready to meet the emergency, the inevitable
struggle with the Arab slave dealers of the Upper Congo.

At the time of the murder of Major Barttelot, who
commanded the rear guard of the Stanley Expedition for
the relief of Emin, it was freely believed in England that
this murder was due to the treachery of Tippo Tip, but
the evidence clearly shows that in this matter Tippo Tip
was. maligned, and that he had nothing to do with it.
The delay in the arrival of the porters promised by Ti}»po
Tip at the camp at Yambuya gave rise to suspicion, but
the Arab governor ^\'as able to clear himself The inquiry
into Major Barttelot's murder showed that the gallant
officer did not understand the customs of his black
followers ; that he was easily irritated ; and that the noise
made by their accustomed dancing and singing at night
had so disturbed him that he had given orders prohilnting
it. It is not surprising that these orders were disobeyed,

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

and he was shot by a soldier whose wife he liad threatened
with punishment for such disobedience. The soldier was
subsequently shot by a court of which Tippo Tip was a
member.

At this point it will be convenient to close our sketch
of the early Belgian Expeditions in Central Africa. In
point of time it is correct to do so, because most of them
were carried out before the Berlin Conference and the
founding of the Congo State, and such of them as over-
lapped the period were so evidently the sequence of what
had already happened that it would have been incon-
venient to have excluded them. Moreover, the point of
division is clearly marked by the necessary halt in the
progress of Belgian authority up the Congo. It has
reached the limits of Arab power, and is not ready for the
death grapple with the enemies of humanity. It has to
bide its time, to temporise in its treatment of the problem
which, according to some, the Association and the State had
only been called into existence to solve, and, in the mean-
while, to husband and develop its resources. When the
story of Belgian military exploit and conquest in Central
Africa is renewed, the situation will be changed. There
will be no infirmity of purpose ; the consciousness of duty
will be not less clearly revealed than that of power, and
the Arab invaders will be treated as the implacable foes of
the black race and of civilisation until their swords have
been turned into ploughshares, and the passion of the
razzia appeals to them no more.

The practical lesson taught by the various expeditions,
passed very lightly in review, is that the only one of all
tlie Powers represented at the Brussels Conference that
was seriously in earnest, and that had a plan, was
Belgium, the smallest of them all. Very soon after its
conclusion, several Governments manifested a desire to
profit by what their explorers obtained. France was
glad enough to accept the spoil of M. de Brazza, Germany

THE CONGO STATE

of Lieutenant Wissmarm ; but their al:)sorptions signified no
gain to civilisation, for they were little more than colour-
ings of the map, and not in any degree coming under the
head of effective occupation. But the Belgians went to
work in a very thorough and systematic manner, establish-
ing their stations on Lake Tanganyika and along the
course of the Congo and its affluents. They thus took
root in the country ; and if their progress has sometimes
seemed slow, it has had all the advantages of tliorouoh-
ness and stability. Where they fixed their stations peace
followed, and with it came commerce, security, and cessa-
tion of the slave trade. It must alwa^^s be remembered
that they did not attempt what they had not some good
ground for believing they could perform. For this reason
they deferred the struggle with the Arabs. The national
caution here stood them in good stead, because a premature
war might have been fatal in two op230site manners. A
successful war might have been purchased too dearly Ijy
exhausting the resources, practically limited for many
years to the King's private fortune, and an unsuccessful
war would have been not only costly, 1)ut destructive of
the white man's reputation, while it would have greatly
extended the area of Arab control and incursion.

The work actually accomplished by the expeditious
between the years 1877 and 1885 must be pronounced
very considerable, and would alone give the Belgians a
strony; claim to be regarded as successful colonisers.
Their posts were established within that period from 5
degrees of north latitude to G degrees of south, while their
authority covered 10 degrees of longitude. From the
East Coast they had also laid a firm hold on Lake Tangan-
yika. The few steamers they had placed on the river
above the Cataracts had also established the farthest
points of navigation on some of the principal affluents
of the main stream, and the result had been to demon-
strate the existence of convenient water-ways in ever\'

THE FIRST BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

direction. The stations of Leopold ville and Luluabourg,
to mention only two of those that are to-day of the first
importance, had been founded. A carriage road, supple-
mented in parts by a Decauville railway, had been made
through the districts adjacent to the Cataracts in the lower
river. A trade had sprung up in ivory and rubber — the
two staple products of Central Africa. The black man had
been taught the lesson that the white man had come as
his friend, and would in the course of time deliver him
finally from his tyrants. The white man had learnt that,
although life was exposed to many uncertainties, it could
still be supported, and even enjoyed, under the Equator.
The Belgians had lost many promising officers, but others
took their places ; and the attempt to found a vast colony
was not abandoned in despair through either public or
private affliction. The King began to feel confident that
his great work would bear fruit, provided only that
Europe would permit his tree the necessary time to grow
and to strike deep its roots.

CHAPTER III

The Founding of the State

Whex the first Brussels Conference was held Europe was
indifferent to Central Africa, but a few short years had
worked a change. King Leopold had now to maintain
his possessions in the Congo region against the aroused
cupidity of the Great Powers. France had come down to
the Conoo at Brazzaville, Portuoal had resolved to assert
her pretensions to control the course of the river because
one of her navigators had hapj^eued to discover its mouth
in the fifteenth century, Germany had set her heart on a
dominion in East Africa, and even England's attitude was
more than doubtful, seeing that it had given its support
to the pretensions of Portugal. If these elements of
uncertainty were apparent in 1882, no one who looked
ahead could doubt that, as time went on. they would
increase in number and significance, until at last the
International Association of the Congo amid the Great
Powers would be as the earthen pot against the iron, and
would share the proverbial fate of the weaker. It there-
fore became clear to King J^eopold, that, having secured
for his idea a practical form and the chance of realisation,
he had now, and without delay, to obtain for his work a
definite existence, and the full recognition by Europe and
the United States of America of his right to carry it on,
and to retain what he accomplished. The inception of the
undertaking was his, and a solid basis for future opera-
tions had been acc[uired by the free expenditure of his

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

treasure. Was he to lose the just reward of his hibours,
or to see it redueed to a minimum, hy the arbitrary decree
of more powerful neighbours and rivals ? Political sagacity,
not to speak of ordinary prudence, dictated the measures
taken to clear up the situation which have now to be
described, and which resulted in the founding of the
Congo State.

The establishment of the French flag on Stanley Pool
was a significant event, but it did not stand alone. The
progress of Mr. Stanley on the Congo, founding stations,
purchasing territory, and signing treaties, — all of which
were drawn up in the most correct form by the King's
thoughtful prevision, — caused some heart-burnings in
France ; and there, above everywdiere else, the question
was freely raised and discussed : What was the status of
the International Association ? Was it qualified to exercise
sovereign rights ? Were its acquisitions mere purchases
of property, or did they represent absolute cessions of
territory according to the provisions of international law ?
If these questions had been answered by the Colonial party
in France, then the Kino- of the Belgians would not have
been accomplishing a patriotic work, for he would merely
have been acting as the avant-coureur of France, and doing
her work for her. It is true that precedents might have
been found to support the rights of the International
Association, and it would have been far from the first or
the last corporate body to exercise sovereign authority.
But when clashing views prevail, the safest course', if time
will allow, is to review the position, and to re-establish it
on a clear and generally recognised basis. In this case,
thanks to the King's promptness, there was sufficient time
to regulate the status of the Congo dominion.

The questions at issue with Portugal were more press-
ing. Portugal claimed her historic right over the whole
of the mouth of the Congo, and consequently the Inter-
national Association had no unfettered outlet to the sea.

THE CONGO STATE

Banana and Boma were Portuguese stations, and Vivi,
opposite tlie now more important ]\latadi, was the first
port of the Association. Portugal's claims in themselves
were inconvenient and an obstacle, but they might have
])een overcome. The unexpected conclusion — for Lord
(xranville had previously declared that he recognised no
rights held by Portugal over the mouth of the Congo — of
a convention between Eng-land and Portuo;al, recognising
those claims in an extended form, completely altered the
situation. In return for concessions elsewhere, Grreat Britain
recognised Portuguese authoritv between 5° 12' and 8°
of south latitude ; and had that convention Ijeen upheld
in its integrity, a death-blow would have been dealt the
International Association of the Congo. This convention,
dated 26th February 1884, was one of the most un-
fortunate diplomatic experiences of Great Britain, and
showed extraordinary ineptitude on the part of the
Foreign Office. It was attacked in Parliament and the
press, but its reception by the other Powers was still
more hostile. On the 13th March France declared that
she would not be bound by it, Germany followed suit on
IBtli April, and thus was laid the basis of that Franco-
German entente which was to control the Berlin Conference,
and to re-shape the map of Africa for the benefit of these
Powers. Great Britain had proposed to control the
navigation of the Congo by an Anglo-Portuguese Com-
mission. Germanv and France agreed on 5th June 1884
to combine for the purpose of placing the Congo under an
international control.

While tliese preliminaries were being arranged, the
King of the Belgians had made an appeal to the loyalty
of the British Government to suspend the ratification of
the convention, and had suggested the despatch of a
mission to the West Coast for the purpose of studying on
the spot the degree of validity that should attach to the
treaties concluded by His Majesty's representatives within

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

the region so lightly proposed to be handed over to the
Portuguese. To this very reasonable suggestion it was
impossible for the Foreign Office to object ; and General
Sir Frederic Goldsmid, a highly accomj)lished officer, who
had taken part in several frontier delimitations in the
East, and whose linguistic attainments were remarkable,
was sent on a mission of inquiry to the Congo. His report
was to the effect that he had found all the treaties sio-ned
by the Association with the chiefs holding the mouth of
the river in perfect order, and that the pretensions of the
Portuguese in that quarter were consequently without
the least justification.

If the policy of the Liberal Government was thus
shaken by the declarations of some of the other Powers,
and by the facts brought by its delegate to its own know-
ledge, other events were happening elsewliere to strengthen
the position of the Congo Association, and to show that
general opinion was opposed to any arrangement that
would permit of Portugal — the most backward and least
progressive of the colonising powers in Africa — fettering
the good work it had commenced. On the 22nd of April
1884 the United States of America signed a convention
recognising the Association as a properly constituted
State, thus setting an example which Europe subsequently
followed. B'rance was the first European Power to take
this step in an informal manner in April 1884, but the
difficulties of the hour were then so many and so pressing,
that in order to obtain it the Association made, by Colonel
Strauch's letter of 23rd April 1884, a declaration to the
French Government that "it would never cede its
possessions to another Power without a prior under-
standing with France ; and that, if it were compelled to
alienate any of its territory, France should have the
right of pre-emption." As it is impossible to suppose
that the Belgian nation will ever voluntarily decline to
take over the great and valuable colony which their

THE CONGO STATE

King has procured for them in the Congo State, this
convention is never likely to possess any practical value,
but its existence, subject to the waiving of the right in
favour of Belgium by the convention of 1887, must none
the less be noted.

A lull of some months followed, but Prince Bismarck
made, in the course of the spring, several statements to
the effect that Germany was sympathetic to "the Belgian
enterprises on the Congo which had for their object the
founding of an independent State." On the 8th of
November the German Government gave its formal recos-
nition to the Congo Association as an independent and
friendly State. By that time Germany and France had
come to a complete agreement on the subject, and, on the
same day as he formally recognised its existence and its
flasi:, Prince Bismarck sent invitations to all the Powers
to take part in an International Conference at Berlin, for
the purpose of regulating the African question. That
invitation was generally accepted, and the course to be
taken by the British Government had been simplified
by its own voluntary withdrawal on 26th June 1884
from the convention it had four months earlier proposed
to conclude with Portugal.

Fourteen Powders in all agreed to take part in the
Conference. They were, in the order of the protocol,
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain,
the United States of America, France, Great Britain,
Italy, Holland, Portugal, Eussia, Sweden and Norway,
and Turkey. Most of the Powers deputed only one
representative, but Germany was represented by four
members, including Prince Bismarck ; Belgium and
Portugal by two each ; and the United States also deputed
a second representative after the first sittings. The
first protocol bears, consecjuently, nineteen signatures —
the same number as the Final Act, which one of the
German representatives. Count P. Hatzfeldt, was prevented

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

by illness from signing. It is unnecessary to give all the
names of the delegates ; but it will suffice to say that
Germany was represented by Prince Bismarck, Count
Hatzfeldt, Herr Busch, and another ; France by Baron de
Courcel ; and England by Sir Edward Malet ; while
Belgium was represented by Count Van der Straeten
Ponthoz, the Minister at the German Court, and Baron
Lambermont, a statesman and diplomatist of great ability,
whose services in helping to found the Congo State were
of the highest value to his sovereign. As further
evidence of the preponderant part Germany and France
took in the Conference, it may be mentioned that the
three secretaries were the Councillor of the French
Embassy at Berlin, and two officials of the German
Foreio-n Office, one of them beino; Count William
Bismarck.

The Conference met on loth November 1884, and
concluded its sittings on 26th February 1885. There
were in all ten meetings of the Conference, of which the
first was in the main, and the last in its entirety, formal.
At the first sitting Prince Bismarck was unanimously
elected President, a post which he accepted, sul)ject to
the condition that if illness or his other work prevented
his being present, one of his colleagues should take his
place. As a matter of fact. Prince Bismarck presided
only at the first and final sittings, his place being taken
at first by Count Hatzfeldt, and subsequently by Herr
Busch. The direction of the Conference remained, there-
fore, in the hands of the German representatives.

Before describing the General Act resulting from the
Conference, the successive meetings and their protocols
may be passed lightly in review. At the first meeting
Prince Bismarck defined the objects of the Conference as
follows : —

" The Imperial Government has been guided by the
conviction that all the Governments invited here share

THE CONGO STATE

the desire to associate the uatives of Africa with civilisa-
tion, 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 Ijack 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 recom-
mend to the Powers to apply to Africa, in the form appro-
priate to that continent, the same regimen, founded on the
equality of the rights and the solidarity of the interests
of all the commercial nations."

Having made this admirable definition of international
rights. Prince Bismarck went on to say that there was a
perfect accord with France on this subject, and that the
central idea of the Conference was to facilitate access to
Central Africa. For the moment, the practical question
was to establish freedom of trade at the mouth and in the
basin of the Congo, and on that point the German Go^•ern-
nient had drawn up the project of a declaration as to the
freedom of trade in that part of Africa. There were to be
equal rights for every flag, no monopolies and no prefer-
ential duties. When Prince Bismarck concluded, Sir
Edward Malet rose and read an important declaration on
])ehalf of the British Government. If England, it said,
had taken little part in the inception of the Conference,

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

there was no Power in the world which had done so much
on behalf of the objects that the German Government
affected to have at heart, and the British representative
pointed out that the warm support of his country and
Government could be relied on for proposals which had
always formed part of their policy. At the same time he
was instructed to express the hope that the attention of
the Conference would not be exclusively given to matters
of commerce, but that the welfare of the natives would be
taken into account. Freedom of trade should be restricted
to legitimate articles of trade, or the natives would lose as
much as they would gain. The main difficulty of the
Conference, in the speaker's mind, would be, not to secure
a unanimous consent for general principles, but to provide
the means of carrying those principles into effect. It was
also necessary to make some reservations as to the for-
malities proposed, in order to establish the validity of
effective new occupations on the coasts of Africa.

At the second sitting the Portuguese representative
made a declaration to the effect that his country had
introduced the germs of civilisation into Africa, and
that his Government cordially hoped that the increase of
commerce would promote peace and the rights of humanity.
The Italian Ambassador proposed the restriction of the
importation of arms and spirits into Africa, and the
American representative called attention to the part his
country, in the person of Mr. Stanley, had played in the
opening of Central Africa, and to the fact that it had
been the first to recognise the work accomplished by
that great European philanthropist, the King of the
Belgians. Before the sitting closed, the question as to
" what territories constituted the basin of the Congo and
its affluents " arose, and was referred to a Commission of
the experts of the eight Powers directly interested in
Africa.

At the third sittino- the Conference ratified the follow-

5°

THE CONGO STATE

ing definitions : — " The basin of tlie Congo is delimited by
the crests of the contiguous basins, to Avit, 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." The Italian
Ambassador havino- suggested that some doubt mioht arise
in the future as to whether Tanganyika was included in

the basin or not, the Confer-
ence reaffirmed the fact that
the lake with its tributaries
was so included. Two other
questions were submitted for
preliminary discussion and de-
finition to the Commission of
experts presided over by Baron
de Courcel. Baron Lamber-
mont acted as reporter of this
Commission, and he Avas greatly
assisted in the discharge of this
part of his delicate and difficult
duties by his able colleague, M.
Emile Bannino- whose numer-
ous articles and political treatises on African questions
have gained him a high reputation throughout Europe,
and whose recent death has left a void in Belgian
society.

The first of these questions was : What territories
should lie added to the natural basin of the Congo on the
"West Coast, that is to say, on the Atlantic north and
south of the mouth of that river, in the interests of
commercial communications ? The second was : Whether
any reason existed to place part or all of the territory
east of the Congo basin in the direction of the Indian

M. EMILE BAXNIXG.

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

Occaii under similar conditions of freedom of trade ? Tlie
reader will gather that the first provided the practical
answer to the Portuguese pretended right to control the
mouth of the Congo. The Commission pro230sed that the
free zone on the Atlantic should extend from Sette-
Camma to the mouth of the Loge ; and this proposition,
with the substitution of a parallel of latitude in place
of the uncertain site of Sette-Camma, was eventually
endorsed by the Conference. It thus secured for the
King the free outlet to the ocean essential for the success,
and even for the existence, of his work that the Anglo-
Portuguese Convention would have prevented. On the
last Cjuestion the Commission reported that a similar
region east of Tanganyika for freedom of trade shoidd be
created, subject only to the respect due to the rights of
the sovereignties existing in that region.

One of the chief remaining questions for the Con-
ference was the decision to be taken as to some general
line of policy for the supervision of the slave trade in all
its branches, and for the prevention of the introduction
of fresh evils among the blacks by the importation of
spirits. On this part of the question Baron Lambermont
drew up a report, which commanded general admiration
and approval at the hands of the members of the Con-
ference ; but, as his colleague. Count Van der Straeten
Ponthoz, said, the evil demanded some more practical and
vigorous treatment than the mere emission of a vow.
Having placed before the Conference his own personal
observation of the effect on the Indian races of North and
South America of the use of ardent spirits, he continued
to remind his colleagues, that whereas alcoholism was
causing the disappearance of the red man, " the more
robust negro would not succumb physically to drunken-
ness, but he would succumb morally. If the Conference
did not save him from this vice, he would become a
monster who would devour the good work of the Con-

THE CONGO STATE

ference." He therefore proposed that the following
paragraph should form part of the decrees of the Con-
ference : —

" lu expressing the wish that an entente should be
established between the Grovernments to regulate the
commerce of spirituous liquors, the Conference does not
consider that it has entirely fulfilled its mission of
humanity. It wishes it to be understood that it leaves
the completion of its task to the negotiations that the
Governments represented at the Conference would under-
take, while allowing for the circumstances necessary to
reconcile the interests of commerce with the impre-
scriptible rights of the African population and the prin-
ciples of humanity throughout the whole extent of the
Congo territory."

The practical deduction from these phrases and these
efforts is, that the Belgian representatives placed them-
selves in the van of the demand to suppress or reduce to
a minimum the supply of spirituous liquors in the Congo
basin. Their attitude was also very much more significant
than that of the other Powers. It was not merely the
expression of a pious opinion or generous sentiment. The
American Minister was perhaps the loudest in his demands
on behalf of humanity, but the responsibility America
would have to accept was little, and the part it could
take in carrying out the decisions of the Conference was
none at all. Even among African Powers the immediate
responsibility was little, and the part they had to play
less, or concealed in the future. But the position of the
Belgians was very different. They were not merely
responsible in the chief part of Central Africa, but they
were exposed to the full criticism of Europe. Yet Baron
Lambermont and Count Van der Straeten Pontlio;^ went
even farther in their suQjoestions than Sir Edward Malet
or the American Minister. In tliese facts may be found
further evidence, if any is needed, of the noble and

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

philanthropic spirit in which the Congo State was
founded.

With a view to ensure the neutrality of the projected
State, it was proposed to exclude the possibility of war
from the Congo basin, and the principle of arbitration
was so far adopted as to call for reassertion of the clause
in the Treaty of Paris, to the effect that if any two of the
signatories had a dispute they would, before indulging in
hostilities, solicit the intervention of a third and friendly
Power. It is also right to observe that towards the end
of the Conference some of the delegates, following the
example set in the earlier stages by the Turkish Aml)assa-
dor, made a point of laying down that the conclusions to
which they gave their assent applied only to that part of
the world and of Africa. The Russian Ambassador was
very explicit on this point ; so also was Baron de Courcel,
who was good enough to inform the Conference that
Madagascar remained outside the present stipulations.

With these specific references to matters that arose
during the course of the Conference, we may now turn to
its conclusion and the consequences that followed. Baron
Lambermont was entrusted with the drafting of the Final
Act ; and while this was in progress the International
Association of the Congo had the satisfaction of signing
conventions with almost all the Powers represented at
Berlin, by which they recognised its flag and status as a
friendly and sovereign State. The notification of the
conclusion of these treaties was made to the Conference
by Colonel Strauch, President of the International Associa-
tion, on 23rd February 1885, the day that it met for its
last business sitting. The President, in making the
announcement to the meeting, gave expression to the
following sentiments : — ■

" Gentlemen, — I feel sure I am the interpreter of the
unanimous sentiment of the Conference in saluting as a
happy event the communication made to us on the subject

THE CONGO STATE

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 effcn'ts and the sacrifices by means of
which he has l)rought 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."

These words were echoed by all the representatives of
the Powers. Baron de Courcel said, " The new State owes
its origin to the generous aspirations and the enlightened
initiation of a prince surrounded by the respect of Europe."
The Italian Ambassador added his testimony to the merit
of " a sovereign who for eight years past, with a rare con-
stancy worthy of the greatest praise, had spared neither
trouble nor personal sacrifices for the success of a generous
and philanthropic enterprise." Sir Edward Malet spoke
as follows : — " The part which the Queen's Government has
taken in the recoonition of the fiao- 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 contri-
bute to the realisation of his object. A^et 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 con-
dolence than that of encouragement. People said that the
enterprise Avas 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

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

all the more striking. Wliile 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 segis."

In the following speech, summing up the work of the
Conference, and delivered at its final meeting on 26th
February 1885, Prince Bismarck added his tribute; but
the general interest of his discourse justifies its full
quotation : —

" Gentlemen, — Our Conference, after long and labori-
ous 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 negotia-
tions, 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 sanction-
ing assure to the commerce of all nations free access to the
centre of the African Continent. The guarantees with
which commercial libertv in the basin of the Cono;o 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 popula-
tions the benefits of civilisation.

" The particular 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

THE CONGO STATE

character if the natives were led to take part in the con-
flicts of civilised Powers. Justly preoccupied Avith 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 misunderstandings 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 accpiisitions of territory efi"ective, 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 Avhich has
distinguished your deliberations has equally presided over
the negotiations which have taken place outside the Con-
ference, 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

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

Commission, notably the Baron de Courcel and the Baron
Lambermont. I also thank the delegates for the valuable
assistance that they have afforded us, and 1 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."

The text of the General Act of the Berlin Conference,
so ftir as it relates to the Congo, is given in an appendix,
but here it will make the subject clearer for the general
reader if the principal heads of the matters discussed and
adopted are recorded. Of the six branches of the subject
one related to the Niger, and need not be considered.

1. A declaration relative to freedom of commerce in
the basin of the Congo, its mouths, and the surrounding
countries, with certain connected propositions.

2. A declaration concerning the traffic in slaves, and
the operations which by land or by sea furnish slaves for
the slave trade.

3. A declaration relative to the neutrality of the
territories comprised in the conventional basin of the
Congo.

4. An Act of Navigation of the Congo, which, while
taking local circumstances into account, extends to that
river, its affluents, and the waters which are assimilated
to them, the general jjrinciples enunciated in the articles
108 to 116 of the Final Act of the Vienna Congress, which
were intended to regulate between the signatories of that
Act the fi'ee navigation of navigable courses of water
separating or traversing several States, — principles con-
ventionally applied since to rivers of Europe and America,
and notably to the Danube, with the modifications laid

THE CONGO STATE

down hy the Treaties of Paris of 1856, Berlin of 1878,
and of London of 1871 and 1883.

G. A declaration introducing into international arransfe-
ments uniform reoulations relating to occupations which
may take place in the future on the coasts of the African
Continent.

For the sake of absolute clearness, it will Ije well to
re-state here that the Congo Independent State succeeded
the Congo International Association founded by the King
of the Belgians in 1883. The Association having obtained
the recognition of its sovereignty, prior to the founding
of the State, by successive treaties concluded in 1884 and
1885 with the United States and most of the European
Powers, adhered on the 26th February 1885 to the
resolutions of the Berlin Conference. These resolutions,
gathered in a General Act, establish freedom of trade in
the basin of the Congo, and declare the navigation abso-
lutely free on the river Congo, its tributaries and the
lakes and canals connected with the latter. They lay
down rules for the protection of the natives and the
suppression of the slave trade, and impose on the Powers
who signed the Act the obligation of applying to the
mediation of one or several friendly Governments should
any serious contest occur concerning the territories of the
conventional Congo basin. The following extract from
the annual report of the Secretary of State to the King
as Sovereign of the Congo State, in Januarv 1897, defines
very happily the precise manner in which the State came
into existence and the scope of its Avork : —

" It is not less interesting to bring out the progress
accomplished in the moral domain, since the treaties^ con-

^ The treaties referred to in tliis report were tliose with the United
States of America, dated -I-lnd April 1884 ; Germany, 8th November ; Great
Britain, 16th December ; Italy, 19th December ; Austria- Hungary, 24th
December ; Holland, 27th December ; Spain, 7th January 1885 ; France and
Russia, l)oth 5th February ; S«-eden and Norway, 10th February ; Portug-al,
14th February ; Denmark and Belgium, 23rd February. The Berlin Act is

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

eluded with the Powers established the situation of the
Congo International Association — which became in 1885
the Independent State of the Congo — and, by recognising
its flag, consecrated a work which owed its birth and its
expansion to tlie lofty thought, efforts, and sacrifices of
your Majesty. Your Majesty was a party to those
treaties by rig] it of your anterior titles of Founder a) id
Possessor of the International Association ; now still does
the State belong to you, and on your Majesty devolves
the care of regulating its destinies in the triple interest of
the native populations, the mother country, and of
civilisation. Your Government is mindful, as its acts
prove, of what it owes to the • Powers who encouraged
its debut, and it considers it one of its first duties to be
a faithful observer of the obligations it has contracted in
concert with them and by the same title at the Conferences
of Berlin and Brussels."

If the Berlin Conference gave a kind of constitution
to the State founded by King Leopold on the Congo, it
was the separate treaties that gave it its form. Of these,
the treaties with France and Portugal were the two most
important, and their successful negotiations on 5th and
14tli February perhaps constituted the most arduous
achievement performed at Berlin. The Conference estab-
lished freedom of trade for a certain distance north and
south of the mouth of the Congo, but actual jJossession
was the only arrangement under which it would be
possible for the new State to breathe freely and progress
in tranquillity. That possession could only be acquired
by an arrangement with the Powers named. France with
much reluctance drew back from the Lower Congo, below
Manyanga, and accepted as a frontier the Chiloango and
the crest of the water-parting between the Niadi Quillon

dated 25th Fehniary 1885, two days after the last of these treaties, and the
declaration of the State's neutrality was issued on the 1st August in the
same year.

THE CONGO STATE

and the Congo to the meridian of Manyanga. But France
did not give way in this matter without exacting a very
tangible equivalent. The Association was (compelled to
cede the whole of the Niadi Kuiliu hasin north of the
Cliiloango and the hinterland of Loango, in which the
King had founded fourteen stations and expended a very
considerable part f)f the sum already sunk at that time in
the Congo region. Portugal was less exacting, and made
the concessions needed for the future existence of the
State. It gave up its claims to Banana, Boma, and the
whole of the northern bank of the Congo, and accepted a
new frontier, leaving it Cabinda, and following a line east,
and then north to the Chiloangjo. Portuofal received an
equivalent in the region south of the Congo, of which it
retained or secured the left bank to as high up as Nokki,
and with it also districts on the Koansjo behind Angola
and Loanda. In this manner did the Congo State acquire
possession of its river's outlet and the necessary free
passage to the ocean.

The precise limits of the Congo State thus defined
were as follows : — Its northern boundary in the first
section with Portugal, and in the second with France, was
as follows : — A straight line from the mouth of the river
south of Cabinda, near Ponta Yermelha, to Cabo Lombo ;
the parallel of Cabo Lombo as far as the point of inter-
section with the meridian of the Culacalla and the Luculla ;
the course of the Luculla to the Chiloango ; the river
Chiloano;o to its most northern source ; and the crest of
the water-parting of the Iriadi Kuilu and the Congo to
the meridian of JNIanyanga. The frontier east of Manyanga
is denoted by the Congo to Stanley Pool ; the meridian
line of Stanley Pool ; the Congo as far as a point to be
fixed above the river Licona Nkundja ; a line to be fixed
from this point to the 17th degree of longitude east of
Greenwich, and following as far as possible the water-part-
ing of the Licona Nkundja basin ; the 17th degree of east

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

longitude (Greenwich) to as far as its junction with the
4th parallel of north latitude ; and lastly, the 4th parallel
to as far as the 30th degree of east longitude. In Novem-
ber 1885 the crest of the water-parting of the Niadi
Kuiliu and the Congo was precisely marked by a Franco-
Belgian Commission. The most important modification
of the boundary arose with France out of various geo-
graphical errors in relation to the river termed Licona.

That river had been inserted in the limits defined by
the treaty of 9th February 1889, on the authority of M. de
Brazza ; but further investigation showed that the French
traveller's Licona was really the Likuala, which never
reached the I7th degree of longitude. France refused to
cede the larger strip of territory between the Likuala and
the Ubangi, to which the Congo State was strictly
entitled, and contended that by the Licona the Ubangi
was plainly meant. This dispute gave rise to long
negotiations, which were not settled until May 1887,
when, for the sake of general harmony, the King of
the Belgians accepted the line of the Ubangi — the Congo
State binding itself to exercise no political influence on
the right bank of the river north of the 4tli parallel, and
France accepting the same conditions on the left bank.
The necessity for this additional proviso arose from the
fact that, whereas the 4th parallel was to have been the
northern boundary of the State, the extreme curve of the
Ubangi passes north of the 5th parallel.

But if territorially the Congo State suffered, the
French Government made one concession of the very first
importance. The first agreement with France, of April
1884, gave that Power the right of pre-emption over every
other country, if the Congo Association, or its successor,
the State, were to alienate its possessions. As Belgium
possessed theoretically no superior position in regard to
the Congo territory to that of any other country, it
followed that France could step in and prevent the

THE CONGO STATE

traii.sfer of the great African possessions from the hands
of the Belgian Sovereign to those of the Belgian people.
In the future such a position would have become intoler-
able. By the declaration of the French Government
attached to the protocol of 29th April 1887, this
anomalous privilege and injustice was removed. It
stated " that the right of pre-emption accorded to France
could not be claimed as against Beloium, of which Kino^
Leopold is the sovereign." Then followed the reservation
that Belgium would incur towards France the same
obligation as was imposed on the Congo Association.
The modification of the northern frontier was therefore
not wholly disadvantageous to the position and future
prospects of the Congo State ; while it will be generally
allowed that no frontier line could excel the Ubanoi in
clearness and convenience.

In 1891 some trivial difficulties were arranoed with
Portugal in the Cabinda district, and with that transac-
tion the northern frontier attained its existing limits.
The western boundary is the Atlantic within the limits
descril)ed. The southern boundary is defined by a line
drawn from the southern point of Lake Bangweolo to the
24th degree of east longitude, and following the crest
of the water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi ;
the crest of the water-parting of the basin of the Kassai,
between the 12th and 6th degrees of south latitude ; the
6th south parallel to the point of intersection with the
Koango ; the course of the Koansfo as far as its reaching
the parallel of Nokki ; the parallel of Xokki to as far as
its contact with the meridian of the mouth of the river
Uango Uango ; and lastly, the course of the Congo from
the L'ango Uango to the sea.

The eastern frontier, which is politically as important
as the northern, is defined as follows : — The 30th degree
of east longitude (Greenwich) as far as 1° 20' of south
latitude : a straight line drawn from the intersection of

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

the 30th degree of east longitude with the parallel of
1° 20' south latitude, to as far as the northern extremity of
Lake Tanganyika ; the meridian line of Lake Tanganyika ;
a straight line drawn from Lake Tanganyika to Lake
Moero, along the parallel of 8° 30' of south latitude ; the
meridian line of Lake Moero ; the water-course uniting
Lakes Moero and Bangweolo ; and, last, the western shore
of Lake Bangweolo. The most important consequence of
this limitation on the eastern side was that Karema and
the other stations founded east of Tanganyika by the
Congo Association, where indeed its enterprise first began,
were severed from the present institution. Very soon
after the Berlin Conference, Germany began the negotia-
tions with Great Britain which resulted in the assignment
of that part of East Africa to her. The Congo State has
as its neighbours on the north Portugal and France, and
in the north-east Egypt, on the east Great Britain and
Germany, on the south Britain and Portugal, and on
the west Portugal. The total area of the Congo State
is about 2,340,000 square kilometres, or 900,000 square
miles, or about one fifth the size of Europe.

The news of the signature of the Act of tlie Berlin
Conference aroused sentiments of deep satisfaction and
patriotic feeling throughout Belgium. An end was put to
the long feeling of uncertainty as to whether Europe
would acquiesce in one of the smaller States acquiring so
considerable a part of the African territory, and it was
impossible for the most indifferent subject of the King to
remain wholly untouched by the universal trilmte paid to
the noljle and lofty motives which had inspired him in his
task. The Belgian nation had, however, to take a more
definite part in the foundation of the Congo State than
the presentation of congratulatory addresses to their
Sovereign. By tlie constitution it was necessary to obtain
the ratification of the Belgian Chambers to Belgium's
participation in the Act of Berlin. On 10th March M.

THE CONGO STATE

Beernaert, the Minister of P^inance, and now President of
the Chamber of Representatives, brought the matter
before the House, and requested the ratification of the
Legislature. In concluding his important statement the
Belgian Minister delivered the following eloquent
peroration : —

" A new State has thus, l)y the unanimous accord of
the nations, been born for public life ; and for the first
time, without doubt, in the history of the world, such an
event has been produced, not by concpiest or by sanguinary
revolution, but as a gage of peace, civilisation, and pro-
gress. It is an international work, but yet — we have the
right to say it with pride — it is essentially a Belgian
work. It is for us a patriotic satisfaction to recognise,
with the whole of Europe, that the merit belongs espe-
cially to the initiation, to the persistent energy, and to
the sacrifices of our King. (Loud applause.) May the
Congo, gentlemen, from this day forth, offer to our super-
abundant activity, to our industries more and more con-
fined, outlets by which we shall know how to profit !
May the enterprising spirit of the King encourage our
countrymen to seek, even at a distance, new sources of
greatness and prosperity for our dear country 1 "

The subsequent speakers bore testimony to the unani-
mous satisfaction with which the country greeted the
conclusion of the Berlin Conference, and the ratification
by Belgium was sanctioned without a dissentient voice.
A deputation of the Chamber subsequently waited on the
King with an address of congratulation, which read as
follows : —

" Sire, — The Chamber of Representatives has received
with lively satisfaction the communications that your
Government has made to it on the subject of the General
Act of the Berlin Conference ; such is also the sentiment
of the countrv.

" To your Majesty belongs the honour of having con-

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

ceived the African work, of having pursued and developed
it by persevering efforts.

"The foundation of the Congo State is destined to
mark an epoch in history. It has been saluted as a gage
of peace : while opening to industry and to commerce new
outlets, it also denotes a great stride towards universal
civilisation.

" We felicitate your Majesty on these important
results ; and, as Belgians, we are proud of the solemn
homage rendered by the Powers to the large, generous,
and progressive ideas of our Sovereign."

The reader will like to possess the King's reply to the
address of his Parliament : —

" Gentlemen, — I am happy, together with the Chamber
and the country, at the work which the wisdom of the
Powers has just accomplished at Berlin.

"Assembled at the invitation of Germany and of
France, and presided over by an illustrious statesman, the
Berlin Conference has produced a diplomatic act of high
significance : at the same time that precious guarantees
have been granted to the native populations of Central
Africa, the free navigation of two great rivers has been
secured, vast countries are opened to the commerce of all
nations ; and it will rest with themselves to enjoy the
benefits of neutrality.

"The new Cono-o State will offer to the industrial

activity of Belgium outlets of which I will not doubt
that she will know how to make use.

" I have always been convinced of the importance that
there is for our country to extend its relations in remote
quarters, and to aid that was one of the objects which,
quite apart from any exclusive idea, I aimed at in found-
ing the African Association.

" I am profoundly touched by tlie sentiments that the
Chamber of Representatives expresses towards me. They
will encourage me to pursue the work I have undertaken.
5

THE CONGO STATE

"I do not conceal from myself the difficulties which
remain to be surmounted ; but far greater assuredly were
the difficulties of the start, and yet they have been
conquered. They have been conquered, thanks to devotion
without limit, to heroical devotion, to which, before you
gentlemen who represent the country, I wish to render a
solemn homage.

" I have confidence in success, and I wish that
Belgium, without its costing her anything, should find in
these vast territories, freed from all tax of admission,
new elements of development and prosperity.

" Pray accept, gentlemen, my lively thanks for
having conveyed to me the expression of the Chamber's
sentiments.

" I am extremely grateful to it for the address which
it has voted to me, and I am happy to find myself once
more in community of view with it."

The Belgian Senate sanctioned the ratification with
the same unanimity as the Lower Chamber, and on the
23rd April 1885 the ratification of the Berlin Act was
finally recorded as an Act of State.

There still remained one more transaction to complete
the foundino- of the Conoo State. Its flas; had been
generally recognised ; its existence as a State, neutral and
independent, had been guaranteed by the Great Powers,
and it was left free to do the work that it had under-
taken. But for the moment it was a State without a
head. The Berlin Conference had given it much, but it
had not endowed it with a sovereion. The universal
tribute rendered to the King of the Belgians indicated
clearly enough who, in its opinion, should be the head,
but it had not explained how the desired result was to be
attained. There were several practical difficulties in the
path of executing what seemed the most obvious and
natural solution. Belgian opinion was hy no means ready
in 1885 to take over the charge of the Congo as a

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

national State undertakino-. As the King said, there
were difficulties "still to be surmounted," and he wished
to hand it over to Belgium " without its costing her any-
thing." Moreover, it was highlv doubtful how far the
King or the Congo State could transfer its authority to
Belgium without breaking faith with France ; and that
obstacle was not removed for some years later. Another
course had therefore to be taken ; and it was proposed that
the King of the Belgians should be granted the power
of becoming Sovereign of the Congo State without in any
way involving his country, and by making the connection
between Belgium and the Congo a purely personal one.
This proposal was unfolded in the following letter from
the King to his Council of Ministers : —

" Brussels, 16th April 1885.

"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 fiag 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 Legis-
lative 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.

THE CONGO STATE

" 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."

When the proposition had to be defended in the
Chamber of Representatives, M. Beernaert had not much
difficulty in showing that there was nothing so exceptional
in this personal arrangement as some of its critics seemed
to suppose. It was the same as had existed between
Prussia and Neuchatel, between Holland and Luxem-
bourg, and between Great Britain and Hanover from
1714 to 1837. With only one dissentient, the Chamber
passed the following resolution : — "Decided : 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 Couo-o. The union between Beloiuni
and the new" State of the Conoo shall be exclusivelv
personal." The Senate passed a similar decision, and on
the 1st May 1885 the King wrote the following letter
of acknowledo-ment to his Ministers.

"Gentlemen, — The Chambers, by voting almost

THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE

unanimously the resolution tliat you sul)mittefl to them,
have shown themselves convinced tliat at the same time
that I was pursuing, in the general interest, the inter-
national 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 hio-h confidence which thev have eiven me. I
also beg of you to accept for yourselves the expression of
my very sincere gratitude. Believe me, gentlemen, your
very affectionate Leopold."

Amono; innumerable tributes from foreio;n bodies and
societies, the visit of the Lord Mayor of London in state,
to offer the King of the Belgians the congratulations of
the metropolis of the British Empire, deserves special
mention ; and if the policy of the British Government
threatened at the time of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty to
injure the King's work on the Congo, it was only a
passing phase ; while in no other country did it receive
greater or more cordial sympathy than in ours. The
names of Sir Bartle Frere and Sir William Mackinnon are
associated with the conception and founding of the Congo
State ; and I was the humble instrument chosen to
narrate at the time General Gordon's intended plans on
the Congo, which were, unfortunately, superseded by the
Khartoum Mission. It is not out of place to record the
fact that no man had a greater desire to promote the
King's work, or a stronger belief in the good that the
Congo State might accomplish, than this great practical
administrator, who would have found in Central Africa
the same scope for his energy and ability as the Soudan
had provided during the five years of his successful rule.

The Berlin Conference gave a tangible and definite
form to the idea formulated at Brussels eight years before.
The Association of philanthropists, explorers, and men of
commerce who originated the scheme under the direction

THE CONGO STATE

of the King of the Belgians, became a recognised State,
neutral and independent, with the same enlightened phil-
anthropist at its head in the capacity of sovereign. The
subsequent conventions with Portugal and France secured
for it, if not the full extent of the rights it might have
justly claimed, at least freedom of movement and suffi-
cient elbow room. It is true that clouds remained on the
horizon, and that experience showed that the magnanimous
and unselfish views which triumphed at Berlin did, and
perhaps could, not animate the Foreign Offices of
interested Powers, when the admirable precepts of the
Conference had to be translated into facts. But this was
no more than should have been expected, especially
when it is remembered that every year witnessed a
remarkable progress in the view^s of European Govern-
ments and nations as to the important influence of African
territorial and commercial possessions in shaping the
destinies of the world. If the State had in the first
years of its existence to make concessions, and to enjoy
the privilege of being the only party to the Conference to
carry out the principles of self-abnegation to which all
had subscribed, the modification of the promise given to
France under a sense of imminent danger was, when
the future destinies of the State are considered, no
inadequate compensation. At least that modification
secured the permanent possession of the Congo State for
the Belgian people. The chief element of uncertainty in
its destinies was thus removed, for it paved the way to
that legacy of the Congo State to his country by King-
Leopold which will be described hereafter, and which no
one can now doubt that Belgium will accept with
gratitude as a priceless gift.

CHAPTER IV

The Congo and its Affluents

The diplomatic triumph at Berlin was only the first, and
perhaps the easier, half of the task of founding the State
of the Congo. It signified Europe's sanction to a certain
thing being done, but it by no means followed as a matter
of course that the thing could be done, or that the
necessary resources were available for its accomplishment.
As a matter of fact, the available resources were incon-
siderable in proportion to the magnitude of the task :
they consisted of nothing more than the King's private
fortune, seriously diminished by nine years of effort, and
that monarch's indomitable spirit, which was not likely to
quail after having overcome so many obstacles. The task
itself had also been rendered more difficult by the terms
in which the mandate of Europe was expressed. Europe
did not say to the King or his representatives, "You have
done so well in Central Africa, you have established so
clear a title to its possession, that we assign you the
Congo region as your fair share in the partition of Africa,
and leave you to govern it as you deem fit." The Powers,
I say, did nothing of the kind. They acquiesced in what
had been done, and they sanctioned the creation of the
State, but they laid down the strictest regulations for its
conduct, and they defined the work it was to accomplish.
It was to introduce civilisation into the vast reoion it had
to administer, not as a mere phrase, but as a substantial
reality represented by Free Trade, the Postal Union, and

THE CONGO STATE

the extirpation of the Shave Trade at its very source. At
the moment, the administration of the Congo controlled no
revenue, and the rigorous fiscal conditions rendered its
acquisition impossible within any reasonable period. Long
before it could be obtained, the State might have colhipsed
under the weight of its burden and the onerous character
of the conditions imposed upon it by countries the
majority of whom themselves existed only through a
protective tariff and an inflated revenue. How, then, was
it reasonable or possible to expect that the Congo State
would succeed in making good its right to have a separate
existence, or in executing the mission with which the
mutual fears, and not the excessive affection, of Europe
had entrusted it? What was the machinery which en-
abled the conductors of this critical enterprise to triumph
over the deficiency of means, the arduous character of the
work, and the conditions that exacted the most scrupulous
attention and the most sustained effort on their part ?
The answer to this question can undoubtedly be made
ui a single sentence. The triumph must, in the first
place, be attributed to the magnificent system of inland
navigation supplied by the Congo and its affluents.

Space will not be wasted therefore, if, on the threshold
of our task in describing the work accomplished by the
State after its creation, we pause to describe geographically
the great river and the wide-stretching water system, to
which the success achieved must be mainly assigned. The
reader can form the conclusion for himself, that if there
had been no such natural means of communication, not
merely l)y the Congo but also by its affluents northwards
and southwards, it would have been impossible for the
State to establish the numerous stations marked on the
map in this volume, and to make within ten years of its
creation its authority respected and effective within the
wide boundaries, secured by its own efforts and sanctioned
at Berlin.

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS 75

The river Congo was discovered by the Portuguese in
the year 1484, when Diego Cam, one of the navigators who
prepared the way for Vasco da Gama, anchored in the
mouth of the river, and the curious in such matters will
find in the Museum of Nuremburg the globe prepared by
the German cosmographer, Martin Behaim, who was on
board one of Cam's caracals. The natives told the Portu-
guese commander that the name of the stream was N'Zadi
— " the river " — from which was coined the word Zaire,
the old name of the Consfo. The Portuouese also discovered
that there was a kingdom on the banks of the river, called
Ekongo or Congo, and they succeeded in concluding such
cordial relations with it as to convert its king to Chris-
tianity. In 1491 a second Portuguese expedition founded
the posts of San Antonio and San Salvador. San Salva-
dor still exists, but in ruins, a few miles south of Matadi,
within the Portuguese frontier, and from the first Christian
king of Ekongo descended the line of the kings of Angola,
whose flag was the blue banner with the golden star, which
has been adopted by the Congo Independent State.
The old town of Ekono-o or Congo assumed the modern
name of San Salvador, l)ut in revenge the river Zaire
acquired that of the Congo, and thus preserved the name
of the State with which Diego Cam first established
relations.

The peculiarity of the Congo is that it is a navigable
river in the interior of the Dark Continent, cut off from
the ocean by eighty-six miles of cataracts. The interior
of Africa is a plateau, of which the western rampart is
formed by the Crystal Mountains, that guard the continent
against the full sweep of the Atlantic. The mighty volume
of the Congo forced for itself a passage over and through
that rampart, and in the short distance between Stanley
Pool and Matadi it descends not less than eighteen
hundred feet by a succession of ledges. Below Matadi
the river rolls to the ocean with a volume which some-

THE CONGO STATE

o)ie, with more artifice than lucidity, has safely computed
at fifty thousand cubic metres of water a second. The
effect of this mighty volume is even felt by the Atlantic.
For thirty miles from the mouth of the Congo the sea
assumes a brown tinge from the colour of' its waters ;
for a still oreatei- distance the ocean steamer finds its
speed diminished by the counter current of its outflow.
It is not merely the length of the river in its unbroken
course of three thousand miles that constitutes its im-
portance, but its almost numberless affluents, great
and small, that make up a river basin unexampled
throughout the world for its extent, covering nearly
fifteen hundred miles in breadth, and a surface of three
million square miles. The practical fact that already
the C'onoo and its tributaries offer eight thousand miles
open to navigation, is perhaps the one that will most
impress the reader as to its utility.

For the sake of clearness, the Congo basin has been
divided into three sections, or rather three terraces — the
lower basin near the coast, the central basin on the Upper
Congo, and the higher basin or region of the Lakes. The
river finds its origin in the ChinQfambo Mountains, where
it bears the name of the Chambezi ; it then passes through
Lake Bangweolo, and issues from it under the name of the
Luapula. It next crosses Lake Moero, takes the name
of Lualal)a after receiving at Ankorro the waters of the
stream possessing that distinctive name, and at Xyangwe
becomes the Congo properly so called.

Each of the parent streams of the Luapuln and the
Lualaba accomplishes on its downward course the same
feat as the main river achieves east of Matadi, that is to
say, the}' have at an earlier epoch cut a way for themselves
throuoh the Mitumba range, which forms the southern
rampart of the Central African plateau.

As was the case with the Nile, the question of the true
upper course of the Congo has given rise to much contro-

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

versy unci difference of opinion, and 1ms only been set-
tled within the last three years by the explorations of
the Belgian ofdcers, Delcommune, Bia, and Brasseur. It
has been settled, too, in a sense contrary to what was
generally assumed, for before the year 1895 the opinion
was practically unanimous in favour of the Lualal)a, the
western course, whereas geographers have now come
round to the view that the eastern branch, known as the
Luapula, is the upper course of the Congo.

The Luapula, a name signifying the Great River, rises
in British territory, and its source may be found in the
Chingambo Mountains, between Lakes Tanganyika and
Nyassa. It is known as the Chambezi before it reaches the
Bangweolo, and joins the Congo above Nyangwe atAnkorro.
Ankorro is situated, as nearly as possible, on 26° 55' east
longitude and 6° 25' south latitude. The Luapula receives
in its course many tributaries, but none of these are of
much importance, and, although in length the Luapula is
superior to the Lualaba, the latter enjoys the superiority
in respect of size and the number of important tribu-
taries. The Luapula has been only partially explored,
and, when further light has been thrown on that portion
of its course between Ankorro and Lake Moero, some
correction may be made in the accepted facts, and with
them some change of view may follow. But enough is
already known to establish the truth that the stream is
navigable for three hundred and forty miles above
Kassongo.

The Lualaba, on the other hand, has been practically
explored throughout its whole length. Its source was dis-
covered by Lieutenants Francqui and Dersclieid at 11° 44'
south latitude, in close proximity to the source of the
Zambesi. The first cataracts of any importance are en-
countered at the Nzilo gorge, and cover a section of the
river for over forty miles. The bed of the river then
narrows in to a quarter of a mile in breadth, and just

THE CONGO STATE

below Nzilo it receives its first important tributary in the
Lufupa. Among its other tributaries the most important
is the Lubucli, a stream which by its size and volume
struck Delcommune so much that for a time he thought
it, and not the Lualaba, was the main channel. It finds
its source in the same range as the Lualaba and the
Zambesi. If the Lulmdi is the most important of its
tributaries on the left bank, the Lufila is still more im-
portant on the right. It also finds its origin near the
other streams, waters the promising region of Katanga,
and reaches the Lualaba at Lake Kassali. The decision
l)et\veen these two rivers is far more diflacult than between
the Blue and White Niles, and approximates more nearly
to the question relating to the Missouri and the Upper
Mississippi. Difference of opinion is even allowable, and
what is accepted now may be modified a few years
later.

The subject of the atiiuents of the Congo is scarcely
less important than that of the main stream itself. On
the Congo the eight hundred miles of uninterrupted
navigation from Stanley Pool to Nyangwe j)i'ovide a
magnificent and costless high route between the west and
the east. But, to supplement and complete its utility,
cross communications from north to south are necessary,
and these exist in the numerous tributaries of the main
stream. It will be convenient to describe these in their
order on either bank, passing in review first those on the
rioht or northern side of the Conoo, and then those on
the left or southern bank of the river.

Ignoring minor and non-navigable tributaries such as
the Luku^a, which fiows out of Tanoauvika, the first
tributary on the right bank below Nyangwe is the
Aruwimi. This river is of much importance, because it
prolongs the navigable route of the Congo in a direct
easterly direction for another hundred miles to Yambuya, on
25° 10' of east longitude. The Aruwimi rises in the Blue

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

Mountains near Lake Albert Nyanza, and is at first known
by the name of the Ituri. It receives many tributaries,
and, when it reaches the Congo, is a magnificent stream
of a mile in breadth. Unfortunately, its course above
Yambuya is so broken by cataracts that it is useless for
purposes of navigation, but it waters a fertile and thickly-
peopled region, and the forest of Ituri is one of the finest
of the virgin forests that once covered the whole of
Central Africa. When the Aruwimi was first discovered,
it was thought that it might be the Uelle.

The Itimbiri and the Mongalla are the next two tribu-
taries of any importance. The former is useless for navi-
gation, on account of numerous cataracts ; but the latter,
although a stream of far less length or volume than the
Aruwimi, is, practically speaking, navigable throughout its
course. It waters a densely-peopled region, and enables
the State to hold much of the territory between the
Ubangi and the Congo by the line of stations along its
banks, of which Gongo may be termed the chief.

We now come to the Ubangi, the most important of
all the afiluents of the Congo, and a river which with its
own tributaries, the Uelle and the Mbomu, must play a
most important part in the development of Central Africa.
The manner in which the Ubangi was fortunately saved
from the grip of France has already been described. Its
course, as far as its bifurcation into the Uelle and the
Mbomu, was first explored by Van Gele, and communi-
cations are now maintained along its course, in the first
portion by steamboat, and above the cataracts by canoes.
The natives are extremely skilful in the management of
these boats, in which they succeed in traversing the
majority of the cataracts.' The Uelle may be considered
the true upper course of the Ubangi. It rises, like the
Aruwimi, in the Blue Mountains west of the Upper Nile.
Dr. Junker, the Russian traveller, who first discovered it,
imagined that the Uelle fiowed into Lake Tchad, but, even

THE CONGO STATE

l)efore Van Gele settled the point Ijy absolute demonstra-
tion, geographers had come to the conclusion that the
Uelle was the upper course of the Ubangi.

The importance of the ^Ibomu, which is an important
water-way that has not been explored throughout its
course, is political in that it forms for a considerable
extent the boundary between the Congo State and the
French possessions. It waters a wooded and beautiful
country. Its numerous tributaries make the region be-
tween it and the Uelle one of the most promising districts
in the Independent State. The inhabitants of the upper
course of these two streams are the Niam Niam or Azande
warriors, among wliom, if the experiences of General Gordon
and Sir Samuel Baker are remembered, it will not seem
rash to prophesy that the State will obtain some of its
best soldiers. Politically, the Mbomu is more important
than the Uelle, because the operations of the French in
the Semio region (which, as will be explained in another
chapter, the Congo State ceded to France) may be the
cause of complications hereafter. The several tributaries
which the Congo receives below the Ubangi are of little
or no importance.

There is one point in connection with the Ubangi
which deserves notice, before we pass on to the rivers of
the left bank. North of Banzyville this river makes a
o-rcat curve northwards until, on reaching almost the
same latitude on the western side of the arc, the Lua, a
tributary of the Ubangi on its left bank, is found. This
stream was proved to be navigable by Captain Heymans,
in the En A rant, as far as Bowara ; and as the Dekere,
explored from the side of Banzyville, is almost certain to
prove the upper course of the Lua, there seems a reason-
able prospect of this turning out to be the most con-
venient route to the Uelle, on account of the difficulties
in the path of navigation on the Ubangi, in the cata-
racts of Zono-o and Mokoangai. Even if it should fail

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS 8i

to be adopted as the chief route, it would still be useful
as an alternative one.

We now come to the affluents of the left bank.
Below Ankorro, the point of junction between the two
uppermost courses of the river, there is no tributary of
any importance until we come to the Lomami, which is
the second in importance of all the streams on the left
bank. The Lomami is entitled in every way to be called
a splendid river of Central Africa, for it provides not
less than six hundred and forty miles of open naviga-
tion. It rises in the same region as the Luapula, and
long follows a parallel course ; in fact, the two streams
are at several points less than fifty miles apart. For the
greater part of its course the Lomami is a river of three
or four hundred yards in breadth, but in parts it narrows
in to sixty yards, and its depth varies from eleven to
twenty feet. It has many important tributaries, and
furnishes the State with another of those admirable water-
ways which are the basis of its strength and security.

The Lulongo, which is the next affluent, has a peculiar
course, almost parallel with the Congo. It and its chief
tributary, the Lopuri, are navigable throughout the
greater part of their course. The next stream in the
downward course is the Ruki, which is also navigable.
It possesses two upper courses and several tributaries,
which facilitate communications and contribute to the
fertilitv of an extensive reoion.

The Kassai is the principal of the southern affluents
of the Congo, and, both in the number of its tributaries,
the extent of its water svstem, and the length of navio-a-
tion that it provides, ranks next to the Congo itself as a
means of internal navigation. After much uncertainty and
some contradictions, the exact course of this river has been
agreed upon, and the Sankuru, instead of being treated as
its main course, has been assigned the position of its chief
affluent ; while the Lubefu, originally named the Lomami,
6

THE CONGO STATE

furnishes another important water-way, stretching almost
to the valley of the Lomami itself. While it rises as far
south as the twelfth parallel of south latitude, it is
navigable from Wissmann Falls at the sixth parallel to
its junction with the Congo, some distance above Stanley
Pool. Its tributary, the Sankuru, is a scarcely less copious
stream, and on that account was long thought to be the
main course of the river. It has its origin in the Sambas
plateau, wdiere rise many of the streams that feed the
Lualaba or Congo. The Lubefu is the principal aflfluent
of the Sankuru, and provides the means of communica-
tion with the Upper Lomami and the Upper Congo. In
fact, the strips of land intervening between the highest
navigable points on the three rivers, Lubefu, Lomami, and
Lualaba, are so narrow that a suggestion to connect them
by means of a railway has long been made, and it has
now been decided that this railway shall be the next
taken in hand.

In parts the Kassai and the Sankuru are two or three
miles across, and their average breadth for a distance of
hundreds of miles is not less than eighteen hundred yards.
Lower down than its junction with the Sankuru the
Kassai receives on its left side the important tributary
of the Kwango. This river has a direct course from south
to north ; but, although it rises almost in the same
parallel as the Kassai, it is only navigable for less than
half its course, or below Kingunchi Falls. The main
course of the Kassai below the Kwango is called the Kua,
and forms a stream of magnificent breadth and volume.
Some distance short of the junction with the Congo, the
INIfini, which joins the river and Lake Leopold, deserves
mention for that reason. With the water system of the
Kassai this enumeration of the affluents of the Congo
mav be brought to a conclusion.

The general result from this survey of the Congo and
its affluents is, that there is seen to exist in the heart of

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

Central Africa a water system that not merely fertilises
a torrid region and tempers the heat of the equatorial sun,
but provides a water-way, north, south, east, and west, for
the emissaries of civilisation and the agents of the State.

A RIVER VIEW.

Great as are the facilities and numerous the advantages
they present under the condition in which nature left
them, these are undoubtedly such as can be immensely
improved by the hand of science. A little engineering

THE CONGO STATE

will go far towards removing obstacles that detract from
the value of the great rivers that have been named. The
process by which they cleft a way for themselves through
mountain barriers has l)ecu described, but frequently the
way cut was left obstructed ; and thus we find the courses
of many of these rivers closed by rocks and cataracts, and
their utility diminished. No doubt a large part of these
difficulties can be removed by means of dynamite, while
the connection of the upper courses of the navigable
rivers, which follow more or less parallel courses, holds
forth a prospect of railway development that must add
immensely to the commerce of the region at the head
waters of the Kassai, the Lomami, and the Congo, which
abut on British South Africa.

But we must not exclude from our consideration of
the water system of Central Africa the numerous lakes,
\\hich are also useful for the purpose of navigation.
Taking them in their order from the western side, we
come first to Lake Leopold ii., discovered and named
by Mr. Stanley in 1882. It is a great sheet of water,
but of no great depth. As described, it is connected with
the Congo by the Mfini and the Kassai, and it is highly
probable that it has a channel on its north-eastern side to
Lake Tumba or Matumba. That lake is itself connected
with the Congo by the Irebu, a stream navigable for
steamers. The upper course of the Lualaba passes
through a series of lakes or lagoons, which will prob-
ably disappear at no very remote future. The eastern
boundaries of the State are marked by a number of lakes,
some of which are entirely outside its territory, like Lake
Albert, the western shores of which are British, while
others belong wholly or in part to the Congo territory.
Of these. Lake Albert Edward belongs almost entirely to
the State, and it is connected with Lake Albert by an
important stream, the Semliki — half in British and half in
State territory. South of Albert Edward is Lake Kivu,

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

entirely within the Congo sphere. It lias been only
partially explored, but the State has already established
two stations on its eastern shores, named Ijubuga and
Luahilimta. The German traveller, Count von Gotzen,
speaks of the beautiful situation of this lake, with snow-
white rocky islets, frequented by herons, cranes, and
peacocks, and surrounded by an extremely fertile country.
Out of the southern side of Kivu flows the river Eusisi,
which establishes a connecting link with Tanganyika, but,
as it falls over two thousand feet in less than seventy
miles, and is obstructed by numerous cataracts, it is use-
less for navigation.

Lake Tanganyika, the great lake of this region of
Africa, is divided equally between the Congo State and
Germany, while on its southern shores British authority
is established. This lake was discovered by the late Sir
Richard Burton in 1857, and nearly twenty years later it
was circumnavigated by Mr. Stanley. It is about four
hundred miles in length and forty-five in breadth, so that
its surface is nearly as large as Belgium. Its picturesque
surroundings and beautiful aspect have been testified to
))y everyone who has visited it. The navigation of this
inland sea is carried on by a regular flotilla, and its
western coast is lined by a series of stations, of which
Albertville, Mpala, and Baudouinville are the most im-
portant. Lake Moero, south-west of Tanganyika, is the
last of the lakes to which reference must be made. There
are, of course, numerous other lakes of minor size and
importance, and, as has been observed, the courses of the
rivers are marked by a succession of miniature lakes. This
is particularly the case with the Lualaba and the main
course of the Congo. The latter widens out at one point
to a breadth of twenty miles, while Stanley Pool is of
sufficient dimensions to deserve the name of a lake.

So accurate an explorer as M. Alexandre Delcommune
has expressed the conviction that the majority of these

THE CONGO STATE

lakelets or lagoons will disappear in the course of time,
owing to the constant evaporation of the waters and the
exceptional dryness of certain seasons, joined to the con-
tinual encroachment of the grass and papyrus. In proof
of this, he mentioned that he had noticed, and established,
a diminution in the volume of water on the Luala])a in
a period of two years. In his opinion, the fresh supply of
water brought into the Congo l)y its affluents is not equal
in amount to what it loses l)y evaporation, and the effect
of this will no doubt first be seen in the gradual dis-
appearance of the minor lakes and lagoons. AVe must

A STEAMEK OX THE COXGO.

conclude from this, not that the rivers will become less
navigable, but rather that their courses will grow more
clearly defined, and that navigation will be simplified by
the contraction of tlie channels and the disappearance of
the marshes, which are lioth useless and dangerous.

Havino- described the water- wavs of Central Africa, it
will not be out of })lace to conclude this chapter with a
list of the steaml)oars at present engaged in the tasks of
maintaining tlie State authority, provisioning and rein-
forcing the stations, and promoting trade on and by
means of those rivers. The small fiotilla launched by
Mr. Stanley on the Pool in 1881 was the beginning of the

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

fleet, which now numbers fifty vessels, and which must
steadily increase as time goes on. It will increase the
more rapidly when the slips at Ndolo, the port of Leopold-
ville, are completed and ready to launch vessels on Stan-
ley Pool, but the completion of the railway from Matadi
to Leopoklville has simplified the task of launching vessels
made in Europe on the Upper Congo. A considerable part
of tlie last Congo loan has l ieen assigned for the purchase
of new river steamers and the general improvement of
navigation.

The following vessels belong to the State : — The City

NDOLO, ON STANLEY TOOL.

of Brussels, City of Antwerp, City oj Bruges, City
of Ghent, City of Ostencl, City of Charleroi, City of
Liege, Arcliduchess Stephanie, Princess Clementine,
Stanley, Deliverance, Florida, Baron Dhanis, King of
the Belgians, En Avanf, Colonel Waliis, A. I. A., Baron
Lamhermont, and Captain, Shago-strom, or nineteen
steamers in all. The French Congo Company has four
vessels, the Uhangi, Daumas, Due d'Uzes, and Fccidherbe.
Three Belgian commercial companies, the more important
being the Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, have the
following nine vessels — Colonel North, Katanga, France,

THE CONGO STATE

General Sdnford, Ville de Paris, Gironde, Oise, A.
Beernaert, and Rhone. A Dutch company has four
vessels, and several missionary societies have six more.

Besides those on the Congo, the African Lakes Cor-
poration has placed a steam-yacht on Tanganyika, and
another on Moero. But the State, in addition to the
steamers, has launched on the Upper Congo over forty steel
lighters, or whalers, which are utilised for the purpose of
doing the work hitherto performed by canoes. As these
are constructed in steel, thev can bear the buffetino- in the
cataracts far better than the native boats. As soon as the
railway to Leopoldville is in good working order, steps
will lie taken to convey there new large stern-wheel boats
of from 150 to 250 tons, which will represent the Congo
river steamers of the future to Stanley Pool, where a
harl)our is in course of preparation to accommodate fifty
such vessels. Hitherto it has been impossible to convey
vessels of that size by the porterage system, the only con-
veyance available ; and this will Ijecome clearer when it
is stated that two thousand men, on an averasfe. were
required to carry one of the smaller vessels now in use.

There is a regular postal service, in connection with
the Postal Union, with the Upper Congo by means of a
steamer leaving Leopoldville every eleven days. It takes
fifty-five days to get to Stanley Falls and back. Other
steamers are engaged in patrolling the several rivers — one
for the Kassai, and another for Lake Leopold. The
Colonel Waliis patrols the Kwango, and the Baron
Dhanis the Lualaba. The E71 Avant, which took such
an active pnrt as described in the earlier operations, is
stationed on the Ubangi ; while the steel lighters are
engaged on the Upper Lomami, Lualaba, and Ubangi, in
surmountino- the difficulties where navigation is obstructed
bv the cataracts.

While the laro-e stern-wheel vessel is no doubt the
Congo boat of the future, the existing flotilla may be

THE CONGO AND ITS AFFLUENTS

divided into two classes. The smaller boat is one of 15
tons, driven by a single or double screw. This Ijoat is
chiefly employed on police work, or in connection with
the despatch of minor expeditions. The larger vessel is
of 50 tons burden, and is a paddle-wheel steamer. This
is employed in trade operations, and in the conveyance of
su})plies to the difl'erent stations. The engines are worked
by wood fires, and, although the use of this fuel leaves
more space for cargo, its collection imposes a considerable
daily labour on the crew, and entails no slight loss of
time. Owing to the rapidity of the current, which in
some of the streams and at the Hood seasons attains a
speed of nine miles an hour, the engines have to be
capable of developing a greater speed than that. No
doubt the motor power of the future on the Congo will
be electricity; but, notwithstanding the dangers to navi-
gation on account of the current, the difficulty in dis-
tinguishing the true course of the river in consequence of
innumerable islets, and the fact that there is nothing; in
the shape of a signpost to indicate the track along a river,
generally a mile in breadth, and sometimes twenty miles,
not a single accident has occurred of such a nature as to
entail the loss of a ship.

The possession of the water-ways provided by the
Congo and its affluents explains the success that has
attended what would otherwise have been a stupendous
and, perhaps for King Leopold, an im})ossible task. Even
without these auxiliaries of nature. Central Africa would
surely have lieen gathered into the fohl of civilisation, but
the work that has been done in twelve years would have
been spread over generations, and perhaps centuries.
Had such a period been necessary, neither the ruler nor
the people of Belgium could have hoped to benefit by the
result ; and the gloomy fears of some of the Belgian critics,
that their Sovereign was incurring a responsibility and
burden beyond the national strength, would have been

THE CONGO STATE

realised. A little State may, by wisdom and promptitude,
secure a success which international opinion may grudg-
ingly allow it to retain, but the prize must be secured
before others have had the chance of coveting it. In
these days of keen international competition, the strong
will seize the least excuse to declare that the weak are
unable to accomplish such a task as has been done on the
Congo, and to thrust them aside as unworthy. In the
case before us, we should have been told that the task
which needed a <»;iant's strenoth had been undertaken bv
a j)igmy, and that Belgium was consequently unworthy
because unable to accomplish it. We should have been
told this — if the thing had not been done. But, thanks
to the broad and wide-stretching waters of the Conoo and
the other rivers enumerated, the task was accomplished
with the means that would have been pronounced inade-
quate by the impartial ol)server, and, before Europe has
had time to generate the sentiments of jealousy and
covetousness, the control of Central Africa has been
established, the authority of the Government has been
made effective throughout the whole region assigned to it
on the map, and the little State has been left the enjoyment
of the prize it secured in the manner already described.
The Congo River explains the secret of the great triumph
achieved. It is to the same ally, and to the improvement
of the means of utilising it, that the Congo State has to
look for increased prosperity, progress, and security.

CHAPTER V

The Slave Trade and its Horrors

Before pursuiug the details of the sul)ject under our
notice any further, we may profital)ly take a glance at the
slave trade and the pursuit of slaves, which were the
immediate cause of the King's intervention in Central
Africa. The mere statement that an individual statesman
or Government is advancing the cause of civilisation is of
a vague character, that may well fail to carry conviction,
and certainly leaves room for scepticism. Ambitious
designs are generally wrapped up in some phrase, to the
effect that they are undertaken on behalf of civilisation,
but the world rates them at less than their author's value.
The exact manner in which the Congo State came into ex-
istence, and the primary causes of its success, have been
described ; and, before passing on, time and space will not
be wasted in bringing before the reader the horrors of the
slave trade as it was conducted twenty years ago, when
the King first took up the task of removing this plague
spot, and of clearing the escutcheon of civilisation from
the charge of inditference. In this case, at least, it will
have to be admitted that there was no exaggeration of the
malady for the purpose of concealing an ambitious pur-
pose, and that the outrage to humanity was of so deep a
dye as to make it everyone's duty to sympathise with and
support the task which the King of the Belgians was the
foremost to undertake.

The early missionaries, with Livingstone at their head,

THE CONGO STATE

had done much iu informing the world as to the extent of
the slave trade, and the cruelties inflicted on millions of
the inhabitants of Africa by its maintenance. The early
travellers — Burton and Baker pre-eminent among them —
had brought back such tales of human suffering and atro-
city as appealed to the most indifferent. Sir Samuel Baker,
in describing a xillagc in 1864, said that it "was then
a perfect garden, thickly populated, and producing all
that man could desire." Of the same village he wrote,
eight years later : " The scene is changed, all is wilder-
ness. The population has fled 1 Not a village is to be
seen. They kidnap the women and children for slaves,
and plunder and destroy wherever they set their foot."
These and other similar statements as to the ravaijes
committed by the slave hunters stirred up opinion in
Europe ; and in England, in particular, the demonstration
of the fact that the slave trade — at which the Emancipation
Act was thought to have dealt a deadly blow — flourished
unchecked in Africa, roused a strong feeling of resent-
ment and horror. That sentiment bore fruit in at least
one practical measure. The Khedive of Egypt was
induced or constrained to join the Powers that had vetoed
slavery, to sign a convention on the subject, and to
appoint General Gordon to put down the slave trade in
the Soudan. It will suffice to say that, after six years'
ceaseless effort, General Gordon put an end to slave hunt-
ing within the whole of the Egyptian Soudan measured
in its largest extent.

But the evidence of many travellers went to show
that the slave trade in the Upper Nile valley was only
one branch of an evil that had its ramifications through-
out interior Africa. The inicjuitous system flourished on
Tanganyika and the Upper Congo as well as on the Nile,
and the cruelties inflicted in these regions surpassed any-
thing reported from the Khedive's upper provinces. In
considering this subject, it is always necessary to make a

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

clear difference between domestic slavery and the pursuit
and capture of slaves by open violence and operations of
war. The former is a system bad in itself, incompatible
with civilisation, and that calls for suppression wherever
possil)le, but, after all, it need not be accompanied by
revolting conditions or excessive cruelty. There are cir-
cumstances, indeed, under which it might even be called
natural and advantageous ; but the whole system calls for
unqualified condemnation, because the existence of the
slave trade is the excuse and justification for the iniqui-
tous proceedings of the slave dealer and slave hunter.
In dealing with this branch of the slave trade, tolerance,
and even deliberateness, became impossible. As Baron
Lamliermont has said very finely, " The chase of man is a
crime of lese-humanity. It should l)e put down every-
where, where it is possible to reach it, both by land and
by sea." Before the year 1879 Gordon had put it down
between Khartoum and the Great Lakes, and thus estab-
lished the fact that the Arab slave hunters, who were the
scourge of the negro races, might be coerced.

The first article of the Belgian Committee's statutes
contained the special mention of its having as one of its
main objects " the suppression of the slave trade." As
soon as the task was seriously taken in hand, abundant
evidence was forthcoming of the inhumanities attendino-
the capture of slaves, and to show that no exaggeration had
been made by those who declared that the cruelties inflicted
on the unhappy victims far surpassed those on the ocean
voyage across the Atlantic in old days. The l)est evi-
dence on the subject was provided by the Belgian mission-
aries. The following is the summary of a letter from one
of them to the eminent Cardinal Lavigerie, whose name
will always be associated with the anti-slavery cam-
paign : —

"Towards mid-day we saw on the hills around our
station crowds of negroes running towards us. They told

THE CONGO STATE

US that a slave-hunting chief was about to attack them.
At first we thought it was only a false alarm, but soon we
saw the dreaded Konga Ronga with their red flag flying.
Those of the natives who could not escape into our station
were taken prisoners. After a long discussion, they agreed
to allow us to ransom such of their captives as we could
pay for, but, as they had plundered our villages and
property, we had little or nothing wherewith to pay them.
The bulk of the captives were thus carried off' into slavery
— a melancholy caravan in the midst of these brigands.
One old man caught hold of a priest's arm as he passed,
and begged him to save him, but, as nothing was left, he
was dragged off" by the cord attached to his neck. A
poor woman cried out, and resisted the placing of the
cord round lier neck. One of these human monsters
shot her in the breast with a pistol, and she died in dread-
ful agony. 0 God, who will deliv^er us from such
horrors ? "

Here is another account, showing the manner in w^hich
the slave hunters got rid of those of their captives who
were unable to keep up with their line of march. " Three
thousand natives had 1»een captured by this expedition,
but only two thousand reached their destination. The
rest had been murdered l)y their captors, who would not
leave any laggards behind them, for fear lest they should
secure their liberty. At each halting-place, ten, twenty,
and sometimes fifty, of the sick were massacred. At one
sta^e on the march three hundred women and children
who could not proceed any farther were thrown into the
river." Captain Storms added his testimony to the same
eff'ect. He wrote : " The most odious thing about it is
the manner in which the slaves are conveyed from place
to place. Chained one to another in groups of ten or a
dozen, they are driven to the coast, and, as smallpox pre-
vails more or less in all the slave centres, it follows that
these miserable human beings fall victims to the disease

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

without the smallest chance of recovery, so that their
number is often reduced to one half, from this cause alone,
during their march to the coast."

M. Hoclister, a Belgian pioneer of commerce, and a
close observer, whose treacherous death will be described
in a later chapter, gives the following graphic description
of a night attack by a party of slave hunters on a village
in which he was staying : —

" It is four o'clock in the morning,— a great calm
prevails, only the soft and melancholy cry of the African
owl is to be heard ; the village sentinels are either with-
drawn, or squatting low — asleep ; the houses are closed,
everyone 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,
terrified rush out of their houses. They are panic-stricken
— forgetting everything, wives, children ; their first
thouo^ht 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 the fugitives. Soon afterwards appears a
star in the blackness of the night, 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. A
few of the inhabitants have meantime seized their weapons
and attempt some resistance, but in a little time this
is overcome by superior numbers. To the noise of the
7

THE CONGO STATE

fight succeed the cries of the prisoners, of the wounded
and the dying. The horizon lightens, the sun rises
suddenly and illumines this held of carnage and desola-
tion. Then they kill the wounded, bind the prisoners,
and begin the pillage of the village. Every house is
visited and plundered of everything it contains. AVhen
the sack has been completed, the village is set on fire and
burned to the ground. 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
was no longer anything ljut a great black empty spot —
men, women, and children tied to one another promis-
cuously, corpses strewing the ground, blood puddles
emitting an acrid fearful smell, and the assassins horrible
in their war paint, wdiich had run during the struggle
with their sweat and blood. Ah ! what a jjicture ' Who
then could describe its horror ? "

An official writer, using the cold and measured lan-
guage of a report, estimated that the average number of
slaves captured in the interior who reached the coast was
only ten per cent. The other ninety per cent, perished
en route, either from disease, or butchered by their captors.

So far, only that form of slave hunting which was
carried on for the supply of a foreign market has been
touched upon, but it is impossible to ignore the cruel side
of the slavery existent and sanctioned by usage among
the blacks themselves. With them the slaves consist of
two classes : hereditary slaves, — who are scarcely to be
distinguished from their masters, and share the prosperity
of the family to which they are attached, — and slaves of
an outside tribe, who have either been vanquished in
battle or captured during some successful raid. These
experienced far harsher usage, but even their ftite would
have been tolerable but for the fact that from these the
victims of the fetish magicians were selected. These
victims of an insensate and ruthless superstition experi-

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

enced all the ferocity of the tribe before being passed into
the hands of the tribal executioner. Fastened by a weight
to the foot, or round the neck, the unfortunate victim lay
exposed to the jeers and blows of the crowd for days, and
sometimes weeks, before the date fixed for the execution.
This form of cruelty, prevalent throughout Central Africa,
was another cause of human suffering, scarcely less wide-
spread or distressing in its character than that infficted by
the slave hunters. Thousands of lives were offered up
every year to appease the superstitious, and, in return for
the human victims placed in their hands, the fetish men
promised success in war and immunity from disease or
famine.

From these two causes — the systematic proceedings of
the slave hunters, and the general practice of a debasing
superstition, which demanded human sacrifices on a large
scale — there prevailed in the whole region now covered by
the authority of the State a condition of affairs character-
ised by shocking cruelty, and attended by the gradual
destruction of the indigenous population. Its indefinite
continuance would have entailed the complete desolation
of the whole region from the middle Congo to Khartoum
on the one side, and Zanzibar on the other ; and what
was said by the various travellers of the fate of villages
would have been said with equal truth of the whole of
Central Africa. It would have become one great black
empty spot.

The revelation of these facts startled and impressed
the world. It was no longer possible to assume that the
worst horrors of the slave trade had been ended by the
disappearance of the old slave-carrying vessels from the
high seas, or that the duty of repressing the evil was dis-
charged by stationing a few gunboats on the East (^oast of
Africa to capture slave dhows. Something more than this
was demanded if the advanced peoples of the world were
to be cleared from the charge of indifference. A renewed

lOO

THE CONGO STATE

effort was called for to ensure the success of the policy
that had been consistently followed by England for three-
quarters of a century, and to which Europe at tlie Con-
gress of Vienna had accorded its approbation and moral
support. The blacks marked out for an unhappy destiny
had to be saved from the sufferings imposed upon so large
a proportion of the race by ignorance, and the degraded
conditions under which it existed, as well as from the
cruelties of the Arali raiders. It appealed to the con-
science of the nations with the force of an imperative duty,
and there was a profound sentiment to the eff"ect that, at
all hazards, something should be done to clear the reputa-
tions of happier nations from the charge of callousness.
The possibility that complete success in the accomplish-
ment of the task might carry with it some tangible reward
in the dim and distant future must not be held to detract
from the nobility of the original purpose, nor can we
justly impute selfish motives when the result proves that
some persons have shown more prescience and greater
sagacity than the rest of the world. It was the cry of
outraged humanity, the appeal from those in distress, that
first drew King Leopold's attention to Central Africa.
Long before the Congo was named, or trade and empire
could have been thought of, he set the example of attack-
ing the slave trade from the side of Zanzibar and
Tanganyika.

It was in consequence of the King's efforts that the
Pope, in 1888, sanctioned the commencement of the anti-
slavery campaign, and, after inviting the Governments of
Europe to combine in putting an end to the hideous
traffic called the slave trade, and to remove this plague
spot so that it should no longer dishonour the human
race, he entrusted the execution of the project and the
realisation of the design to Cardinal Lavigerie, a man
whose name will always be associated with the supjDression
of slavery in Africa, and whose fiery eloquence lent new

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

Strength to an old cause. Before describing the formation
of the Anti-Shivery Society at Brussels, the clear and
emphatic language of Leo xiii. deserves record. It shows
at least that the information brought back by missionaries
and travellers had not been thrown away or fallen on deaf
ears. " This ignoble traffic in men is no longer carried on
on sea, but on land it is prosecuted still, and in the most
l)arbarous fashion. As the Mohammedans consider the
Ethiopians and other similar races little better than
brutes, it is a horrible thing to see with what perfidy
and cruelty they treat them. Falling suddenly on them
like brigands at the moment they are least expected, they
<lestroy ail they possess — villages, hamlets, huts ; ravaging,
pillaging everything ; they take, without difficulty, men,
women, and children, chain and lead them off to the most
infamous markets : Egypt, Zanzil)ar, and part of the
Soudan, are the districts from which these abominable
expeditions are fitted out. The men, loaded with chains,
with scarcely anything to eat, are forced to make long
marches under l)lows. Those who have not the strength
to make the march are killed ; the survivors are put up
to sale like beasts, and exposed before the impudent pur-
chaser. As each is sold, he finds himself or herself torn
from children, husband, wife, or parent."

Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, who had
for many years devoted his life to the cause of the negro
races of Africa, and to whose eloquence Leo xiii. trusted
for a movement that should emulate that of Peter the
Hermit, began his campaign at Brussels in the national
Cathedral of St. Gudule. The following passages will
give some idea of the eloquent address he delivered on
this occasion, and its effect was seen in the formation of
the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society, and the campaign com-
menced on Lake Tanganyika some years later.

" It was here in Brussels that all that represents
science — noble initiative — assembled ten years ago, under

I02

THE CONGO STATE

the presidency of your Kiug-, to approach the study of
African problems. Action was not slow to follow thought.
Explorers, intrepid officers, later on devoted and capable
administrators, offered themselves, riskino- their lives.
Some are dead on the field of honour, others have made
admirable discoveries, and the face of our continent has
been changed. . . . Thus was the good seed sown. All
seemed to assure a harvest without mixture. But I must
have recourse to a parable, ' Whilst his apostles slept.'
You have slept. Catholics of Belgium ! You have not
given, from the point of view of religion, to the diffusion of
Christian truth, to the struggle with barbarism, all the
assistance that was your duty. Your King would open
before you a country sixty times as large as your own, an
immense field for proselytising and charity. Is there an
object that ought more to excite the zeal of a Catholic
people ? Yet — I say it with sadness — from this stand-
point you have not done enough.

" Noblesse oblige. You have throughout the world an
incomparable reputation for generosity in all charitable
works — too great, perhaps, for the wash of some, for it
draws upon you all who have to ask favours ; but, whilst
you thus sustain Christian work in all parts of the world,
you have too much forgotten the part of Africa which
bears henceforth your name. This is not all. Whilst
you have slept, the main enemy, the barbarism which in
Africa is the enemy of all the eff'orts of Europe, has done
liis work. I)o you assent, therefore, Christian Belgians,
to receive much longer, without shuddering, the echoes of
these butcheries ? Do you wish to bear this dishonour
before history ? "

The remainder of this oration was devoted to the
practical suggestions that promised the most complete and
satisfactory result. The interdiction of the importation of
firearms and powder to the Arabs and half-breeds, and
their punishment with banishment if they did not submit,

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

were the chief precautioiiaiy and punitive measures. The
active and the more practical measures were to place a
steamer and a hundred armed men on Lake Tanganyika,
and then cut off the main slave route from the heart of
Africa to Zanzibar. The outcome of this appeal was the
founding of the Anti-Slavery Society of Belgium ; and at a
later period the story of the work it accomplished towards
the extinction of the slave trade, which was some years
later happily effected throughout the Congo State, will be
told in connection with the overthrow of Arab power in
Manyema.

Before leaving Belgium to continue his noble propa-
gandist work. Cardinal Lavigerie, to whose influence the
adoption of the flag of the Association and of the Congo
State — the golden star on the azure ground, the star of hope
on the undinimed background of heaven — was due, formed
the Committee that was to guide the work of the new
Society. In other countries than Belgium the Cardinal
succeeded in stimulating activity, and in giving practical
point to the desire that everyone naturally felt to see an
end put to the cruelty of the chief remaining branch of
the slave trade. In France, Austria, Spain, and other
countries of the Continent, committees were formed and
funds raised for the anti-slavery cause, and in England,
where the Anti-Slavery Society had existed for half a
century, a fresh impulse was given to an old and noble
movement. In this manner the campaign of Cardinal
Lavigerie contributed to the success of the whole move-
ment, by exciting increased interest, raising fresh funds,
and uniting the efl"orts made from different centres towards
a common object.

The Committee formed in Belgium had as its president
Lieutenant - General Jacmart, and as vice - president
Monsignor Jacobs of St. Gudule. The honorary secretary
was the Count d'Ursel, and Captain Storms, the Belgian
officer who had founded the station of Mpala on Lake

THE CONGO STATE

Tanganyika, supplied the local and teclmical knowledge
that was required.

But, in giving the suppression of the slave trade the
first place among the higher objects that called for
European intervention in Central Africa, and that
attracted the attention and enero-v of the Kins; of the
Belgians to the spot, we should not overlook the fact that
there were other forms of barbarism and brutality that
called for suppression, and that were hardly less of a blot
on civilisation than the horrors of the slave trade. Canni-
balism w as scarcely less horrible than the incidents of the
Arab razzias ; and cannibalism, in its worst and most repul-
sive forms, prevailed over large tracts of Central Africa.
Far too little attention has been given to this branch of
the subject. Missionaries and travellers Avho have expa-
tiated on the iniquities of the slave trade have passed by,
without a word of censure or an expression of horror, the
fact that the people to a large extent lived upon one
another. Here and there, no doubt, they use the phrase,
in description. " This trilje is one of cannibals," and the
reader's imagination is left to supply the rest. Yet, of
the two crimes, the greater must surely be to eat your
brother man, than to make him a slave and treat him
cruelly.

Both form part of the same devilish system of human
cruelty and depravity which have for centuries kept the
negro race on a scale little raised above the brute ; and if
there were to l)e a durable improvement in the position
and views of the races of Central Africa, it became as
indispensable that cannibalism should be ended as that
Aral) raids should cease. Indeed this was for the State
the more difficult task, and one that needed much more
than the presence of a gunboat on the Lakes, or even a
successful campaign in Manyema to achieve. It called for
a sustained effort, not only in the way of suppression, but
in the education of the negroes to higher views. The

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS

difficulty was immensely increased by the fact that canni-
balism was not solely inspired by necessity, and conse-
sequently reformers could not assume that the difficulty
of getting food had only to be removed for the system to
fall to the ground. Many tribes ate their own kind in
preference to animal food, and bartered their goats and
chickens for men with other tribes not given so strongly
to anthropophagy. The subject is a repulsive one, but it
claims some notice ; and the following extract from Dr.
Hinde's interesting work, The Fall of the Congo Arabs,
will give it first hand : —

" Nearly all the tribes in the Congo Ijasin either are, or
have been, cannibals, and among some of them the practice
is on the increase. . . . Tlie ciiptains of the steamers have
often assured me that, whenever they try to buy goats
from the natives, slaves are demanded in exchange, and
the natives often come on board with tusks of ivory or
other money with the intention of buying a slave, com-
plaining that meat is scarce in their neighbourhood.
Judging from what I have seen of these people, they seem
fond of eating human flesh, and, though it may be an
acquired taste, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind
that they prefer human flesh to any other. . . . The pre-
ference of different tribes for various parts of the human
body is interesting. Some cut long steaks from the flesh
of the thighs, legs, or arms ; others prefer the hands or
feet ; and though the great majority do not eat the head,
I have come across more than one tribe which prefers the
head to any other part. . . . Neither old nor young,
women nor children, are exempt from the possibility of
serving as food for their conquerors or neighbours."

It is unnecessary to enter further into the details of
this horrible topic, or to describe a system for which the
only advantage claimed was that it prevented the spread of
epidemics after a field of battle, because all the slain and
wounded were eaten up by the victorious party. But it

io6

THE CONGO STATE

is important to note not only tlie existence of this blot on
the claim of negroes to be regarded as members of the
human race, l)ut also its direct connection with the system
of slavery and slave hunting. Among the causes explain-
ing the strength and endurance of that system, the practice
of man-eating was a scarcely less potent agency than the
supply of the foreign merchants through the Arab razzias.
Human beings were captured for purposes of food as well
as of labour or amusement. If the latter objects were due
to foreign greed and tyranny, as well as to the general
assumption that the blacks were inferior in every respect to
the rest of mankind, the former was a national practice,
not restricted to any particular tribe, going ])ack to the
age of Herodotus, but generally followed throughout the
whole region, and, until a short time ago, finding fresh
converts in all directions.

The suppression of these scourges, slavery and can-
nibalism, was the noble humanitarian object that drew the
attention and the energy of the King of the Belgians to
the heart of Africa. The foundino- of the Congo State
provided the sure means of converting a laudable aspira-
tion into an accomplished triumph, but the original merit
in the disinterestedness of motive, and the high aim that
inspired its founder, must be recognised and appreciated.
Before closing the history of what may be called the
preliminary or structural building up of the means of suc-
cess, and commencing that of the actual work accomplished,
it may be pointed out that, even before Europe had
sanctioned the founding of the Congo State, some intelli-
gent persons had realised the probability of success, and
anticipated the magnitude of the coming triumph. Gordon,
who might himself have l)een the chief instrument of the
Kino-'s oreat desioii, if a cruel fate had not lured him
to Khartoum, — who had put down the slave chase in
Egyptian territory with the hand of a master, — declared,
])efore the State was founded, that " no such efficacious

THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS HORRORS 107

means of cutting at the root of the slave trade ever was
presented a.s that which God has, I trust, opened out to
us through the kind disinterestedness of His Majesty
King Leopold." In the same document he wrote, " We
will track the slave traders to their haunts, and kill them
there ; " and although he was not destined to do it, the
thing has now been done, and his words have come true.

CHAPTER VI

The Earlier Campaigns

While Eurojje was delibeiatiug on the destiny of Central
Africa, and the public of the civilised world Avas being
stimulated to fresh efforts for the final suppression of the
slave trade. Belo;ian officers had not been inactive in the
practical work of administration and pacification in
the Cono;o basin. The thread of that storv of definite
achievement may now be taken up where we left it at the
end of the second chapter. The arrangement by which
the advanced position established at Stanley Falls was
resigned to Tippo Tip as a temporary measure has been
explained, but it was far from signifying an abandonment
of tlie original intention to make the suppression of the
slave trade the corner-stone of the great projected colony
in Central Africa. Neither did it indicate any diminution
of ardour, as the events to be now described will show ;
and this prudent measure is best described by the French
phrase, ReciiJer pour mieitx sauter.

After the retirement from Stanley Falls, the King sent
instructions for the formation of entrenched camps on the
Aruwimi and Lomami, the two great affluents — one north
and the other south of the Congo — immediately west of
Stanley Falls. These camps would certainly prevent the
Arabs making any forward movement from the Bahr
Cazelle and Upper Nile, or from the side of Manyema, in
consequence of the occuriences at Stanley Falls. The
necessity for these steps was clearly established by the

lOS

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

soon proved inability of Tippo Tip to keep his country-
men in check, while the station established by the Arabs
at Yambuya on the Aruwimi, with the tacit assent of the
Belgian authorities during the Emin Relief Expedition,
was a standino; menace to the region between the Aruwimi
and the Uelle. The camp on the Aruwimi was, for this
reason, more urgently needed than that on the Lomami ;
but the Arabs were so firmly placed at Yambuya that it
was necessary to proceed against them with much caution,
and, as an open rupture was above all things to be avoided,
tact and patience were the agencies to which the Belgian
officers were instructed to look for success.

In October 1888 the advanced guard of the Aruwimi
Expedition, which was entrusted to the command in chief
of Captain Roget, left the Bangala district. Lieutenant
Dhanis led this small force, and founded several stations
on the north bank of the Congo. Captain Van Kerckhoven,
of whom much will be heard later on, was at this time in
charge of the Bangala district, and he superintended in
person the formation of the Aruwimi camp at Basoko, the
point of junction of that stream with the Congo. These
steps were taken in anticipation of the arrival from
Europe of Captain Roget. With the view of cutting off
the communications by which the Arabs retreated with
their booty and prisoners to Yambuya and Stanley Falls,
several fresh posts were founded on the Lulu stream, a
little north of Basoko. The gradual extension of these
stations up the Lulu placed a barrier in the path of the
Arabs. But the difficulty was then to draw a clear and
satisfactory line between the legitimate and illegitimate
proceedings of the Arabs, who had been given permission
under the Tippo Tip arrangement to trade within the State
territory. Evidence was easily obtained that the Arabs
took ivory from the blacks by force, and that, when the
blacks refused to hand over their stores, they were com-
pelled to disclose where they had concealed them, by the

I lO

THE CONGO STATE

torture of Imrniug their feet. Still the Belgian officers had
to restrain themselves, and wait till the necessary arrange-
ments had been completed for the recovery of the ground,
perhaps prematurely occupied, and certainly lost for the
moment after the incident of 8tanlev Falls.

But if the Arab position was too strong for attack,

BASOKOS.

there was no reason for making it stronger, and Captain
Roget perceived that he would only do so if he were to
carry out the proposed expedition to the Uelle in accord-
ance with the orioinal instructions. Bv them the Arabs
of Stanley Falls were to be associated in the task, and he
was to trust to their guidance, and especially to that of

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

1 1 1

Selim-ben-Mohtimed, for the advance through an unknown
region to the Uelle. Had this arrangement been carried
out, there can be no doubt that the Arabs of the Uelle,
who came from the Soudan, would have coalesced with
those of the Falls, who came from Zanzibar, and that the
difficulties in the path of the Belgians would have been
immensely increased. As it was, there w^as good reason
to believe that the Arabs contemplated an act of treachery,
for many of the negro tribes en route were found to be
armed with bows and arrows, provided by Selim for the
purpose of opposing the Europeans. Captain Roget's
merit lay in the skill with which he evaded this arrange-
ment. Selim-ben-Moliamed left Basoko with a caravan of
ivory for Stanley Falls, and it was agreed that he should
return to play the part of guide. Twelve hours after his
departure Captain Roget set out on his march through an
unknown region, and, when the Arabs learnt what had
been done, he was already firmly established on the
Uelle.

As a preliminary measure, a station was established at
Ibembo on the Itimbiri, about one hundred and twenty
miles north of Basoko, and the commandant received
orders to prevent all Arab bands passing the river below'
that point. It was to Ibembo that Roget liastened by
water as soon as Selim had fairly set out on his home
journey, while Lieutenant Bodson was left in charge of the
camp at Basoko. With one European comrade, Sub-Lieu-
tenant Milz, and a small force, Roget made his way through
an unknown region, and without guides, to the bank of
the Uelle, where he received a cordial welcome from
Sultan Djabbir, the most powerful ruler in this district.
With that chief he established very friendly relations, and
they made together several expeditions north of the Uelle,
which were interrupted by the fact that the term of
service of most of his men was expiring, and they would
not re-engage for a further period. The region explored

I 12

THE CONGO STATE

was found to be extremely fertile, carefully culti\ ated, and
thickly populated.

Sultan Djabbir was an enlightened chief, who rendered
the State much service. He had established his position
in the teeth of the opposition of his elder brothers, and his
authority was recognised l)v manv tribes besides his own,

SrLTAX DJABBIK.

the Azaudes, or, as they are called in Egypt, the Xiam
Xiam. These men are very courageous, and are specially
trained to the use of the spear and the bow. They
promise to be a most valuable military contingent in the
State service, and it is pertinent to recall the fiict that
General Gordon saw their military (]ualities at a glance,

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

and took some of them into his service in the year 187G.
The following few lines describe the facts : " An accident
brought him into contact with a party of the Niam Niam, a
tribe of cannibals from the interior of Africa, but possess-
ing a martial spirit and athletic frames. Gordon looked at
them with the eye of a soldier, and enrolled fifty of them
on the spot. He also described them as thick-set and
sturdy, as well as very fierce, brave, and fearless." As
Djabbir controlled one of the most numerous branches of

Guour OF wo.MKN (djabbiu).

this somewhat scattered race, his allegiance has proved of
the greatest practical value to the Congo authorities, and
he has rendered much practical service, in the provision of
carriers and canoes, towards the successful accomplishment
of the State policy. The station at Djabbir is one of the
most important near the northern frontier, and brick
houses and a well-built post for the storage of supplies
make it a useful base.

The Niam Niam are an intelligent and industrious as
well as a brave people. They are exceedingly skilful as
8

114

THE CONGO STATE

potters, wood carvers, and workers in leather. They also
weave a cloth which is said to be in no Avay inferior to that
of Europe. Their mode of life is simple, but polygamy is
in general vogue, and furnishes the chief means of display-
ing wealth. The code of justice is very simple, and in
cases of adultery the punishment is death for the woman,
and mutilation by cutting off of the hands and ears for
the man. Although anthropophagy is common and even
general among this race, it is not universal, and the belief
is held, under the metempsychosis which is the religion
of the Niam Niam, that the leopards into which their
warriors are turned consist of two classes — the mau-eatino-
leopard, who still must feed on his brother man, and the
less fierce kind of leopard, which will not attack man. On
the other hand, women are supposed to become an exceed-
ingly dangerous kind of serpent ; and they believe in a
river spirit — a sort of Lurelei, half-fish half-woman — that
attacks all liars who may venture on the waters of the
Uelle.

The Roget Expedition was supplemented by that under
Captain Van Gele, who had already led two expeditions
up the Ubangi, and established the connection between
that river and the Uelle, in the manner described in the
second chapter. Al)out the same time that Roget was
engaged in founding Basoko, Van Gele steamed up the
Ubangi on two steamers, accompanied by six European
ofiicers, of whom it is only necessary to name Captain
George Le Marinel, of the Belgian Engineers. His
instructions w^ere very similar to those of the other officers,
viz. to found a succession of stations along the river ; and
it was hoped that the two expeditions would eventually
succeed in joining hands on the Uelle. Van Gele, an
officer of exceptional ability and energy, succeeded in
forcing a way with one of his steamers — the other failing
in the attempt — past the Zongo Cataract, and founded
several stations, of which Banzyville was the most im-

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

portant. During the further course of the expedition Yun
Gele came into relations with Bangasso, another of the
great sultans of the north, holding the country west of
that possessed by the Sultan Djabbir.

This chief held the region watered bv the Mbomu
stream, which is by some considered to be, in preference
to the Uclle, the main course of the Ubangi. He deserves
the credit of having seen, with equal promptitude to that
of Djabbir, the policy of being on good terms with the
Europeans. A summary of the formal interview between
this chief and the Belgian officer will interest the reader.

" The King, preceded l)y his guard, marched in front,
followed by a small squadron composed of his daughters.
They are pledged to celibacy, because there is no prince
sufficiently powerful to aspire to their hands ; but this celi-
bacy does not prove tedious to these young ladies, for the
King, their father, leaves them beyond the vow complete
liberty, of which they make use. The sides of the rect-
angular plain were lined ])y two thousand troops armed
with l)ucklers and spears, while in front of a hall, erected
for shelter against wet weather, stood thirty Soudanese
soldiers, who fired salvoes in our honour. These men were
Azandes or, as the Soudanese call them, Niam Niam.
They have a fierce bearing, robust figures, and seemed to
me very devoted to Bangasso. He gives them each a wife
and a slave. Their profession is that of arms, and they
receive a share in the chase. The King himself advanced
very slowly, enjoying the opportunity of being able to
show off his power before us. In the evening Bangasso
paid us a visit without ceremony, accompanied by two
soldiers, a wife, and the small squadron of his daughters.
To a hite hour of the nio'lit we sat discussino- matters,
drinking the good sorghum beer, and smoking our pipes.
For several hours I fancied I was no longer in Africa."

From Bangasso's state Van Gele succeeded in making
his way to Djabbir across country from Mbomu, for.

ii6

THE CONGO STATE

uii fort un ate ly, navigation up the Uelle was found to be
impossible. The result of these two expeditions was the
effective establishment of the State's authority along the
Ubangi and the Uelle, while a large number of new
stations were founded between the Congo and these
northern affluents. A still greater num])er of chiefs
agreed to hoist the l)lue flag, and to welcome Europeans
as friends. With a view to completing the good work
effected l)y the Roget and Van Gele Expeditions, it was
next decided to send a stronger force under Captain Van

Iverckhoven into the Upper
Uelle country. The object of
this expedition, in addition to
the obvious necessity of com-
pleting the work that had
been done by its immediate
predecessors, was to further
isolate the Arabs on the Aru-
wimi by cutting off their com-
munications with the Nile.
It will thus be seen, that
^ ^ although not a shot had been

r , i V ^'^wl ^^'^^^ ^''^ Arabs, and the

strict letter of the convention

VAX KKllCKllOVKX. . , „• rp- 1 J 1

With iippo iip had been
scrupulously ol)served, very effective measures were being
taken to undermine their power, and with it to accom-
plish the downfall of the slave trade.

The Van Kerckhoven Expedition, interesting in itself
and important as extending the effective authority of the
State over the whole of the north-east region to the Nile,
calls for more detailed notice than has yet ])een given to
it outside the official narrative that records its history.
It was on the 4th February 1891 that Captain \an Kerck-
hoven left Leopoldville, with fourteen officers, several
non-commissioued officers, and a strong body of black

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

troops, each man carrying a Mauser rifle and one
hundred and fifty cartridges. There were also six
thousand mendoaxis, in supplies and merchandise, and
the fighting force was composed mainly of Haussas,
perhaps the best race of fighting men on the West
Coast. It had also a small artillery train, including one
Krupp gun and several Hotchkiss quick-firers. Two
of the larger steamers of the State — the City of
Bmssels and the City of Antiverp — conveyed the
expedition, which was, from every point of view, the
largest and the best equipped that had up to that
moment been despatched to the eastward of Leopoldville.
In conjunction with it was also available the force of
Djabbir, with whom Lieutenant Milz had already been
left as Resident. While the main expedition steamed up
the Congo and the Itimbiri to the highest navigable
point, Captain Ponthier was sent overland with an
advanced o-uard to establish communications with the
post at Djabbir, and to lay the basis of a common action.
The march of Captain Ponthier across an unknown
country was attended by great difficulties, and his
Haussas almost deserted him en masse when the exigen-
cies of the march rendered it necessary to call on them
to carry some of the loads. Bomokandi, above Djabbir,
had been named as the point of concentration for the
expedition ; and thither Van Kerckhoven, after visiting
Stanley Falls to explain to Rashid, the nephew of Tippo
Tip, the objects of the expedition (for everything was
done in form), proceeded by the Itimbiri. In the mean-
time Djabbir had entered thoroughly into the scheme,
and, to show his loyalty, had solicited and obtained a fixed
military rank in the State service. He was assigned the
rank of captain in the Public Force.

The value of a native ally having been so clearly
established in the case of Djabbir, it is not surprising that
the State officers should have resolved to win over to

ii8

THE CONGO STATE

their side his neighbour, the Sultan Semio. This poten-
tate was also a Niam Niam, and Lieutenant Milz, who
was entrusted with the mission, described him as being; a
man of forty years of age, of middle height and rather
stout, but possessing a highly intelligent face. In fact,
said this officer, "I was greatly struck with his appear-
ance, although all the Azandes possess a certain dis-
tinction." Semio was the chief who had endeavoured to
aid Lupton Bey against the Mahdists in the Bahr Gazelle
in 188."5, and on this occasion he welcomed the Belgians
with exceptional cordiality. He readily agreed to hoist
the flag of the State, and to co-operate in the campaign
in the Upper Uelle. He and his neighbour, Eafai, under-
took to send contingents to Bomokandi. Semio made
this remarkable speech : "'I only ask to be appreciated by
what I do. I will help you to the end of your task, and
let not the thought of my state being deprived of its
chief disturl) you, for my son Bedowe is there, and will
carry on my work."

While Milz was meeting with success in his mission,
Foutliier had pushed on to Bomokandi at the head of
two hundred and thirty men, and founded a station
there in the immediate proximity of the Arab force.
The Arabs made no attempt to conceal their hostility,
and resorted to every means in their power to pre-
vent the Belgians from holding their position. They
ordered the natives, under pain of death, to withhold
all supplies, and they gave out that they alone were
the masters of the country. As they occupied a very
strong natural position on an island above Bomokandi,
Captain Ponthier did not feel al)le to attack them until
a reinforcement under Captain Daenen had reached him.
For one month he had to wait as patiently as he could,
while the Arabs lorded it over the region in the con-
viction that he would soon be starved out ; and then one
morning, when the confidence of the Arabs was at its

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

119

height, he delivered his attack, drove them out of their
position, and the hhicks, rising throughout the whole
region, turned on their persecutors and massacred them
all. After this success, the first obtained over the Arabs,
and rendered more significant by the fact that Eashid
was present, Ponthier awaited the arrival of his chief.
Van Kerckhoven, whose movements had been hindered by
the refusal of the Bassango tribe to provide carriers and
crews for the canoes. In consequence of their holding
aloof, the Belgian commander had to retire to Djabbir,
and to solicit the aid of that chief in obtaining men to
work his canoes.

On 20th September 1891 Van Kerckhoven left Djabbir
with sixty canoes, and the difficulty of labour having
been overcome, the expedition succeeded in making its
way up the Uelle and establishing the important fact of
its navigability for canoes. The defeat of the Arabs near
Bomokandi had led to a concentration of Arab forces
under a chief named Said, in the region farther east. It
was rumoured that he intended to assume the offensive,
and the negro races recently freed from their tyranny, or
hoping to be soon rescued by the white man, sent many
petitions to the Belgian commander to hasten his move-
ments, and thus come to their rescue.

The march above Bomokandi was attended with special
difficulties, among which the inability of the canoes to
pass several rapids was not the least. The Arabs had
also ravaged the whole region, and for a considerable
distance the march was made through a deserted country.
To this succeeded the thickly-peopled villages of the
Mangbettus, but their hostility was shown in a marked
form. They shouted from the banks, " Turks, Arabs,
whites, men of Semio, all liars, thieves and dogs," and
then, to make their meaning clearer, they called out
" Ponshio ! Ponshio ! " the euphemistic name for human
flesh. The most hostile chief of this region was Sange-

I 20

THE CONGO STATE

bouno, mentioned by Dr. Junker, and he tried to rally all
the tribes to common action by declaring, " Foreigners have
always deceived us ; we have been the prey successively
of the Azandes, the Turks, and the Arabs. Are the
whites worth more 'i No, l)eyond doubt. But whatever
they be, our territory is to-day freed from the presence of
any foreigner, and to introduce another would be an act
of cowardice. I do not wish to be the slave of anyone,
and I will fight against the whites."

The more formidable opponents to be encountered were
still the Arabs, who had founded several fortified camps,
or zeribas, and, as a preliminary to attacking these, the
Belgian leader formed a fortified camp, in which he placed
the women and children, who always accompanied these
expeditions, under a guard of one hundred men. Then
Van Kerckhoven set out in pursuit of the Arabs. During
several days the pursuit was kept up, but in vain ; and
the terrified natives, afraid to reveal the truth, concealed
the Arab movements from their own would-be deliverers.
During tliese operations the fortunes of the Belgians sank
to the lowest point of the whole of the enterprise. Captain
Ponthier became so ill that he had to return to the base,
and to leave for home. The troops lost heart, and one of
them had to be shot for desertion. The natives echoed
the words of Sangebouno, and showed marked hostility.
Van Kerckhoven's courage aud confidence remained un-
abated, and proved, fortunately, the means of carrying the
enterprise to a successful end ; but for the moment he saw
that it was necessary to retire to his fortified camp on the
Makua or Uelle.

In this difiicult situation the loyalty of the chief Semio
afforded real orounds of encourao-ement. He showed him-
self loyal, straightforward, and disinterested, and in the
midst of the prevailing depression he declared. " ^Nly
soldiers and all of us are at the service of the Govern-
ment, and we ought to observe the laws ; if my own son

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

121

were blameworthy, I would hand him over to judgment.
I do not wish them to say in Europe that we are only
savages." But if Semio was a loyal ally, his troops were
also valuable. Well trained in bodies of fifty men, they
were subjected to a regular discipline, and they marched
tlirouo;h a hostile or dubious countrv in acc'ordance with
a set rule. The bulk of his men were of the Azande
race, but some of the fighting tribes of Central Africa
were piermitted to serve with them. Among these the

A XATIVI', VH.I.AKF. (SEMIO).

Barambos were the most numerous. These people rank
among the most promising of all the races of this region.
They are good cultivators, and fond of the chase. Their
intelligence is considerable, their women are good-looking,
and they only needed protection to reach a considerable
degree of prosperity. Their internal divisions, unfortu-
nately, placed them at the mercy of the Arabs, and the
Niam Niam, who equally made them slaves. The rescue
of these people was the object and the reward of the
Van Kerckhoven Expedition.

122

THE CONGO STATE

Among the chief opponents of the expedition in this
early stage of its pi'ogress was the Niam Niam chief
N'gaie, who refused to follow the example of Djabl}ir and
Semio. In a skiiniisli his father, Mongo, was shot, and he
vowed to take a hitter i-eveng-e. One of his men sang
outside the camp at night a doggerel verse to the effect
that he would cut oft" the heads of all the white men, and
tliat even this would be an inadequate vengeance for the
death of Mongo. Van Kerckhoven, finding all his attempts
to establish a friendly relationship with this chief vain,
set out at the head of the bulk of his force to bring him
to reason. The bitterness of the struggle mav be inferred
from the fact that at the entrance to N'gaie's territory
was found the head of Mongo exposed on a tree, the
body having been consumed, as a warning to the white
expedition of the fate awaiting them. In the skirmishes
that followed, his soldiers showed great bravery, advanc-
ing under the heaviest fire, singing songs and raising
their battle-cries. Although suffering considerable loss,
N'gaie succeeded in inducing them to risk a general battle,
by the allegation that the whites were the prisoners of
Semio, and that it was only with him they had to deal.
The completeness of their defeat did not prevent the most
strenuous opposition being offered to the advance of the
expedition the whole way from Amadis to Surunga ; but
at the last-named place the Belgian commander decided
to accept the nominal submission of the tribes and to
call a halt.

The Mangbettu chief, Mai Munza, having solicited the
aid of the Europeans, a force was sent under Lieutenant
Milz with the Semio contingent to render him such help
as might seem judicious against his rival, Yangara. Al-
though the expedition lost en route eighteen men with
their guns, captured in an ambuscade, it reached its
destination, where Mai Mnnza accorded it a hearty wel-
come. The chief cause of enmity between these two men

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

was that Yangara was regarded, rightly or wrongly, as
having acted the part of traitor when the Arabs made au
inroad into the region and killed or carried off some of
Mai Munza's relatives. In revensje the last-named chief
sought the aid of the Arabs to crush Yangara, and now
he hoped that the Europeans would do the same. A l)rief
experience showed Lieutenant Milz that ^lai Munza was
a weak and worthless chief, and at the same moment
Yangara sent in a request for the protection of the
whites. In him the Belo^ians at once recosnised a man
of ability, as the following description will show : —
Unfavourablv regarded bv his neiohbours. Yanoara
possesses, on the other hand, the confidence and esteem
of the numerous and dift'erent races which inhabit his
country. He is considered very wise, and a great warrior.
An excellent and elegant orator, he can provoke in turn
the enthusiasm, the astonishment, and the indignation
of his audience in the native assemblies. Some have
accused him of being weak and of listening only to his
wife Xenzima, called by the Arabs Tom Seina. The fact
is that the fate of many men lies in the hands of this
woman, and that she inspires much fear, but her wisdom
is crenerallv admitted. He is of middle heioht, stronglv
built, and active despite his mature age.

At that moment Yangara had recently defended him-
self with success against an Arab raid promoted by one of
his neiohliours, but he had onlv warded ofi" the blow bv
givino- his chief village to the flames. He realised the
full extent of the peril to which he was exposed, and he
.said frankly that only the Europeans could save him.
He was rioht. Thev arrived at the verv moment that
all his neighbours had combined to crush him. and it
was solely due to the caution and judgment shown by
Lieutenant Milz that their projects were not realised.
The immediate consequence of this wise action was that
his MangbettuSj like the Barambos, were siived from

124

THE CONGO STATE

internal dissolution, and that the Arabs were unable to
grasp the prize, on which they already counted, in a vast
resfioii that had l)eeii almost free from tlieir raids.

There still remained for settlement the (piestion with
X'gaie, and the Mabanoa and Embatn tribes of the bend
of the Kelle {)ursued an unbending attitude of hostility.
In April 1892 the preparations were finished for the
attack on this truculent chieftain, and even the Mans;-
l)ettus, under their late rival chiefs, Yangara and Mai
Munza, were assigned a part in the campaign. In fact,
the State forces themselves, having gained a position
east of the country to be subjected, were held to some
extent in reserve. But the necessity for settling the
ijuestion by the sword was, fortunately, averted. After
two months' correspondence, and by having recourse to a
S3-stem of what might be called efiective demonstration,
M. Milz succeeded in bringing even N'Gaie round to a
reasonable frame of mind, while the other Azande chiefs
of that zone gave in their adhesion to the State without
a dissentient voice.

In the meantime Van Kerckhoven continued his march
with the main force towards the Nile. Part followed the
water route in thirty canoes to Mbittima, where a new
station was founded ; the other half travelled overland.
Both suffered considerably, as much from the exception-
allv lieavv rains as from the alleged general unhealthi-
ness of the region, which, however, greatly improved on
reaching the hilly tracts watered by the Kibali. Here
Emin Pasha said anyone ought to be able to live. The
Belgian commander added his testimony in the following
words : The country is fine, fertile, well watered, and
sufficiently picturesc|ue." In this region the great chief
was Uando, the most formidalile of the old enemies of
Yangara. A"an Kerckhoven gave a very interesting account
of his reception of this potentate — an immense creature,
whose rolls of flesh concealed the powerful force of his

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

mind. The streugtli of his constitution was proved by the
soundness of his teeth, and his nobility by the length of
his nails. He made the following speech, promising
allegiance for himself and his family to the State : — " I
can now die tranquilly, for the fate of my children and
my state is assured. I am certain that, far from disput-
ing among themselves, my sons will solicit permission to
extend their possessions, and that Government will aid
them to do so. The State can count on our aid and our
devotion. I desire to sign a treaty similar to that with
Semio, and which will shield us against invasion." The
difficulty was indeed to control the desire of these tribes
to possess a wide sway, as the ambition and greed of the
Niam Niam were insatiable. One of the minor races
begged Van Kerckhoven to decide who was their master,
Uando or Yangara, as they were "l)etvveen the hammer
and the anvil." Another chief came with the same tale :
" Protect me from the covetousness of these two powerful
chiefs." The position of the Belgian authorities, who had
to ccmciliate the great rulers while they protected the
little ones, was attended with great difficulty. Its per-
manent solution was necessarily a work of time, and is
still in process of achievement.

During the operations round Mbittima a curious in-
cident took place. Women disappeared from the camp in
a mysterious manner, and various explanations were given
of the cause. Some said that they were carried off by
Uando's men, others that they were the victims of the
wild animals. When the truth was discovered, it was
found that they had been carried off by the Momvus of
Mount Goddo. It was decided with reluctance that this
position should be attacked. The attack was made in tlie
morning of the Gth May 1892, and the figlit that ensued
was one of the most stuljborn of the whole campaign.
The Momvus were easily driven out of the plantations
round the mountain, but then the real fight began. The

126

THE CONGO STATE

natives fought with lances, arrows, and stones, and, when
driven to the summit and called on to surrender, they
replied with shouts, and suddenly disappeared into two
caverns. It was computed that there were one thousand
men, women, and children therein, without food or water,
and that in the morning they would have to yield. In this
the Belgians were disappointed, and the women and children
joined in the defence. For two days the attack slackened
in the hope that famine must terminate the struggle ; but
the desperate garrison held out, and, when a chief came
out to arrange terms, it was shown to be a ruse, for during
the discussion the Momvus made a sortie. This was
repulsed, but not without loss, and the defence was pro-
longed until the tenth day. By that time the garrison
had been reduced to such terrible straits, and the power
of the tribe for evil was so completely crushed, that Van
Kerckhoven considered he might safely honour the cour-
ageous adversary by raising the siege. In coming to this
conclusion, he was largely influenced by sanitary motives,
as the Momvus had thrown out their dead into his camp
on the slopes of the mountain.

Van Kerckhoven was noAV impressed, above everything,
with the necessity of losing no more time in the prosecu-
tion of the last stage of his march to the Nile. He there-
fore collected all his force at Mbittima for a forward
movement, and, having been joined by M. Milz with a con-
siderable number of canoes, which were not to be procured
at that station, began his march on Gth June. After over-
coming many difficulties, the expedition reached in four
days the point of junction between the Obi and the Nzoro,
and, as the latter or southern branch of the Kibali was
represented to be the most navigable, it was selected on
this occasion. A few days sufhced to show that the end
of the water route had been reached, and that the Nile
could l)e only approached overland. Several of the local
tribes, disbelieving the friendly words of the whites,

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

127

attacked their camp, but their easy repulse never gave
rise to the least cause of anxiety. More serious dangers
arose from fever, smallpox, and the dearth of provisions
which the tribes held back. Smallpox also attacked
Semio's corps, and it was decided that the expedition would
have to be rearranged. The bulk of the canoes and the
sick were sent back by water to Mbittima, while the re-
mainder marched in two sections to Tagomolongi (30° 50'
east longitude). One of these bodies had to fight its way

HAUSSAS.

throughout the whole of the route along the Nzoro, losing
twelve men by poisoned arrows in one skirmish, and alto-
Q-ether one fourth of its effective streiio-th. When Van
Kerckhoven reached that place, the dearth of provisions
compelled him to set out on the final stage of his long
march.

On the 10th of August, when the force had made good
its passage over the Nzoro, still a stream of seventy yards
wide, it was suddenly attacked by the tribes of the district.
Van Kerckhoven hurried to the front, and, as the enemy

128

THK CONGO STATE

appeared iiumerou.s, his servant attendant loaded the
reserve Winchester rifle. By a careless movement the
servant pressed the trigger, and the gallant Van Kerckhoven
fell to the ground, pierced by a fatal bullet. He died at
once, and his comrade, Lieutenant Milz, who was by his
§ide, did not hear him utter a sound. In Van Kerckhoven
the Congo State lost one of its most brilliant and promising
officers. The success achieved in the campaign of the
Uelle in rallying the Niam Niams to the side of civilisa-
tion, as well as in coercing the Arabs and their allies, was
entirely due to his tact and endurance. His friend and
lieutenant, M. Milz, has very well summed up his work and
character in the following sentences : —

" Thus fell the valiant and heroic soldier, at the very
hour when he had accomplished all the task assigned him.
It would suffice to recall the different phases of his admir-
able government to be struck by the justness of his views,
by the plans skilfully conceived and executed with the
object of attaining it. Always ])efore commencing a march,
he made the most minute dispositions. He was not satis-
fied with merely passing through a country, but he occupied
it. He carefully studied the habits and customs of the
natives, and took into account their resources. Besides his
remarkable (jualities as an explorer and organiser, Captain
Van Kerckhoven possessed in the liighest possil)le degree
the art of making himself obeyed and loved by those who had
the honour to serve under him. Indefatigable and valiant,
he always exposed himself and set a personal example
of courage and perse\'erance. Poor Van Kerckhoven ! He
died before reaching the Nile, already so close at hand.
A few marches alone separated him from Wadelai, when
he fell from the brutal bullet of his faithful boy, face to
face with the enemy, l)ut not from his stroke, as if fate
had wished to deny him the supreme consolation of a
glorious death on the field of battle. Cruel irony of
destiny ! After having escaped, as by a miracle, sickness

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

and the steel of the natives, pitiless death struck him
down at the moment when he had won the reward for
nine years of labour and devotion to the great work of
His Majesty Leopold ii."

Deprived by this unfortunate accident of the chief who
had led them so far and so well, the expedition was still
too close to its destination to retire re infecta, and Lieu-
tenant Milz, who succeeded to the command, pushed on.
He reached the neighbourhood of the Nile in September
1892, and before the end of the month had established
communications with the relics of the Egyptian garrison at
Wadelai. These were the last of the old force of Emin
Pasha, and, reduced to the lowest straits, the arrival of the
Belgians seemed nothing short of providential. On the
9th October M. Milz visited Wadelai himself, and fully
corroborated the accuracy of the statements made by the
Egyptians as to their want of resources and hopeless posi-
tion. He also satisfied himself that of " the g-oocl work
done by Gordon and Emin in Equatoria there remained
nothing ; the whole province had sunk back into the bar-
barism from which these two great men had raised it by
so many efforts." The arrangement the Belgian officer
made with them was to this effect : While he would
report their position to his Government, he requested one
section to move down the river from Wadelai and take
Duffle, and the other to occupy a new post to the west of
that place, and on the route to Ganda. The chief reason
for this movement was that l)y it the region of the un-
tamable Lubari tribe, who feared neither white men nor
repeating-rifles, would be avoided.

Having done this much, M. Milz found that the re-
tirement of the expedition had become imperative. He
founded a camp at Karobe, where he left five Europeans
and a hundred and twenty-five blacks, while with fifty-six
men and his own fiiithful Semio he set out to open a new
route back to the territory of Uando. He reached this
9

I30

THE CONGO STATE

chiefs abode on 18tli December 1892, and with this the
first expedition to the Nile on the part of the representa-
tives of the Congo State may be said to have concluded.
In the official report it is stated, and without exaggera-
tion, that the results obtained were immense. All the
north of the State watered by the Uelle and its affluents
had been occupied, the Arabs of the east repulsed, and a
solid barrier created for the purpose of keeping back the
Dervishes. But the more significant part of the work
consisted in the extension of the area of effective occupa-
tion up to the limits of the State as laid down on the map
in a north-easterly direction. The Niam Niams had been
made staunch allies, the Barambos and Mangbettus had
been saved from the intestine disorders which were
gradually causing their disappearance, and in the Mom-
vus and Lubaris two warrior races had been discovered,
whose fighting qualities inspired respect, and might prove
valuable in the future as auxiliaries.

If these were the general results achieved by the decision
to form a camp on the Aruwimi and to carr}^ the ensign
of the State up the Uelle, the specific consequences of
these steps as a first measure against the Arabs as the
promoters of the slave trade were not less gratifying or
important. Without provoking a premature rupture with
the Arabs of Stanley Falls, or departing from the letter of
the convention with Tippo Tip, the reputation of the Arabs
and the limits within which they could carry on their
raids had both been diminished. The whole of the region
between the Uelle and the Congo west of the Aruwimi
had been closed to them, for in the Eubi valley Captain
Daenen had driven out the Arab slave traders and armed
bands as effectually as Van Kercklioveu had done on the
Uelle. Several of these bands engaged in the nefarious
and forbidden traffic had been destroyed, others had
suffered defeat in their efforts to promote discord among
the native tribes, and all means of communication be-

THE EARLIER CAMPAIGNS

tween the Upper Congo and the Nile had been cut off.
In this manner was the first step taken towards the
achievement of the great result, which was the overthrow
of the Arab power as the essential preliminary to the
suppression of the traffic and pursuit of slaves. We have
passed in review the measures carried out north of the
Congo, and in the next chapter we shall have to describe
the corresponding steps taken south of the great river in
fulfilment of the King's orders to found a camp on the
Lomami.

CHAPTER VII

The Operations ox the Lomami
The measures taken on the southern side of the Conoro for

the creation of an effective barrier against the further
encroachments of the Arabs, and of a first parallel in the
inevitable attack on the strong position they held through-
out the region from Stanley Falls to Tanganyika, were
not less skilfully conceived and ably conducted than those
taken in the Uelle and Aruwimi valleys, which were
described in the last chapter. Here the great river
Lomami, with a course due south and north from the 5th
parallel of south latitude to the point of junction with
the Congo, half-way between Basoko and Stanley Falls,
provided a natural line of defence against the raids of the
slave hunters. The explorations of M. Alexandre Del-
commune had established the identity, and to a great
extent the course also, of that river. As agent for the
company for commerce and industry on the Upper Congo,
M. Delcommune navigated the river as high uj) as Beua
Kamba, on the 3rd parallel south latitude. The information
he collected as to the navigability of the river to a much
higher point was completely satisfactory and encouraging,
but at the same time he reported that the whole region
had been devastated and depopulated by the Arabs.
These statements were confirmed by an official tour up
the same river by the Governor-General, M. Janssen, who
followed its course to the highest navigable point at 4° 27'
of south latitude. There he fought a battle with the

132

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

133

Arabs, who began the attack, and defeated them. Before
retracing his steps he founded a station at Bena Kamba,
and placed there a small garrison of thirty men, under
the command of Lieutenant Lenger.

If this -was the first step, the next was still more
important. Governor-General Janssen proceeded in the
same steamer (the City of Brussels) with which he had
navigated the Lomami to the Kassai, and founded on
its affluent, the Sankuru, the important post of Lusambo.
The command of this new station was entrusted to one
of the Le Marinel Ijrothers,
two excellent officers, who gave
their lives to the noble task
in which they were engaged.
Lusambo lies at the point of
junction between the Sankuru
and its tributary the Lubi ;
and as it was situated in the
midst of a thickly populated
region, exDosed to the raids of
the Arabs, the Belgian autho-
rities were at once brought into
collision with their opponents,
hi one of the most memorable
of these encounters, the band m. camille janssen.

of a neo;ro chief named Gono-o

Lutete, allied with the Arabs, was defeated, and over a
thousand slaves were set free. After this decisive action,
razzias ceased in the district of which Lusambo might be
termed the central point, and the chief Gongo Lutete
began to repent of his ways and incline towards the State
representatives instead of his old instigators the Arabs.

The move up the Sankuru was also a step towards the
rich district of Katanga, a region reputed to be the richest
in mineral wealth of any within the limits of the Congo
State, but at that time the seat of a kingdom, ruled by a

134

THE CONGO STATE

bloodthirsty and despotic chief named Msiri. Katanga is
the vast tract of country watered by the Lualaba and the
Luapuhi. All travellers agreed in describing it as a land
of promise. They also agreed in the description of the
potentate who ruled it. Msiri was painted as a tyrant of
refined cruelty, who liked best to play the part of execu-
tioner, and one of whose favourite amusements was to
bury his prisoners to the neck and leave them to starve.
What seemed the pearl of the State's possessions was thus
in the hands of a tyrannical and inhuman monster. The
exploration of Katanga was first entrusted to M. Delcom-
mune, whose good work on the Lomami has been men-
tioned. At the same time Lieutenant Paul Le Marinel
marched from Lusambo to Bena Kamba overland, thus
linking the stations on the Sankuru and the Lomami.

It was then decided that the settlement of the question
of relationship with Msiri should precede any further steps
ao-ainst the Arabs. A large tract of Africa had been
wrested from their possession, or at least the range of
their influence, but the moment for striking a decisive
blow had not yet arrived. There was, however, no reason
w^hatever for postponing the attempt to come to a settle-
ment with Msiri. With that intention, a trading company
for the development of Katanga was established, and in
the year 1891 three separate expeditions were fitted out
for the purpose of reaching Katanga and bringing it
within the range of trade enterprise. These operated
from three distinct bases — one from the east coast, another
from the Kassai, and the third from the Lomami. The
first of these, and the one that was destined to play the
larger part in the settlement of future relations with
Msiri, was commanded by Captain Stairs, an English
ofiicer of Engineers, who had served with Mr. Stanley.
With him went Lieutenant Bodson of the Belo-ian Cara-
biniers, the Marquis de Boncliamps (a French traveller),
and Dr. Moloney. The second was placed under the

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

135

command of the Belgian officer Captain Bia, and with
him were associated Lieutenants Francqui and Derscheid,
Dr. Amerlinck, and Adjutant Spelier. The party headed
by Delcommune, proceeding from the Lomami, included
Lieutenant Hakansson, M. Diderich (an engineer), Dr.
Briart, and Sergeant Cassart in command of the escort.

Some months earlier Lieutenant Paul Le Marinel, the
commandant of Lusambo, had led an expedition to Bunkeia,
Msiri's capital, and interviewed that potentate, whom he
described in the following sentences :■ — He is a Avorn-out
old man, emaciated, who would l)e above the middle
height if lie was not so l)ent and sln-unk up, so to speak,
within himself. His head, when stripped, has a strange
form ; it is narrow, and of phenomenal length ; the visage
is insignificant, the eyes dim, the mouth large and sunken,
the features drawn, the chin covered with a few hairs of
an undecided colour. This man is only the shadow of
his former self, for if when he speaks a little warmly
there is a oUmmer of the old fire in his glance, it is at the
expense of the rest of the countenance, which wears the
grimaces of a weeping boy."

Msiri rejected all the propositions made to him to hoist
the fiao; of the Congo State and to declare himself its
tributary. Mr. Sharpe, an English traveller, spoke of
him as " a wicked and quarrelsome old man, who believed
that every foreigner who came to his country had the
intention of seizing it. He executed every day a great
number of his subjects, and the palisades round his
residence are crowned with the heads of his victims in
every stage of decomposition." Before leaving Bunkeia,
Le Marinel founded a post on the Lufoi not far from
Msiri's capital.

This was the chief against whom the three columns
were now instructed to march, but the principal and more
dramatic part of the story links itself with that under the
command of Captain Stairs. When it left Zanzibar in

136

THE CONGO STATE

July 1891, it consisted of, Ijesides the officers already
named, three hundred and fifty-six men and two hundred
and ninety-three carriers. After crossing Tanganyika,
Stairs made his way to Bunkeia, which he reached on
14th December. On arrival he found that Delcommune
had been there one month earlier, and had left to continue
his explorations in a southern direction. He had been
unable to obtain from Msiri any acknowledgment of the
State's supremacy, and at the moment of Stairs' arrival
this truculent potentate was in the most perfect state of
self-confidence and fancied security.

Msiri, or Msidi, was the sou of an ivory and slave
merchant, who usurped the power of the chief Sanga, of
the Mulundi tribe, and who had carried on for many
years the double functions of conqueror and merchant
with remarkable success. He may be said to have reached
the height of his power in 1890, not so very long before
the arrival of the Belgians within his confines. But the
system he had set on foot, of waging or promoting inces-
sant wars among his neighbours, had at last entailed the
inevitable penalty of rallying those neighbours to the
State that promised tranquillity and security. There
were none of them bold enough to attack Msiri and put
an end to his intolerable tyranny and cruelty, but on the
other hand they watched with interest and hope the
progress of the efibrt to lioist the flag of the Congo
State above the palisade of Msiri's palace. If such was
the prevalent opinion among the chiefs, that of the people
who contributed the victims of his wholesale butcheries
was still more pronounced, and, while terror prevailed
over hatred, their animosity was none the less intense
because they were helpless.

Such was the situation when Stairs reached the
capital of Msiri. He found that chief inflated b}' the
weak adulation of the English missionaries, who pandered
to his vanity, and also by his assumed success over Le

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

137

Mariiiel and Delcommune, who had not been able to force
or cajole him into hoisting the blue banner with the
golden star. He, however, pretended to be glad to see
the English officer, and expressed the hope that he would
help him to expel the State agent left behind by Le
Marinel. While this view was uppermost, Msiri's attitude
towards them was marked by cordiality. " This country
is yours. You are my messenger (God). Do what you
think best, only remain my friend." When, however,
Msiri discovered that Stairs had come to effect the same
object as the. Belgian officers and to establish a control
over his territory, he changed his tone. In one of the last
of their interviews. Stairs upbraided him for his cruelty
and butcheries, and told him that they would no longer
be tolerated. At this, Msiri lost his temper and began to
shout. Stairs shouted louder, and in a contest of lungs
the English officer vanquished the African despot.

With this scene Msiri's hopes of having found an
ally were dispelled, and he gave a point-blank refusal to
Stairs' order to hoist the Conoo fiao-. But he soon found
that he had mistaken his man, for Stairs at once hoisted
the flag with his own hand above the palisade of Msiri's
residence. This act produced an immense impression
among the natives, who regarded it as a signification of
the coming end of the tyranny under which they had
long suffered. Msiri himself saw that it would be fatal to
the system he had established, and, sooner than give way,
he fled from Bunkeia durino; the nioht following the
resolute step of Captain Stairs, to Moemena. Here he
assumed a defiant attitude, openly proclaiming his hostility
to the Europeans, and taking steps to achieve his ends by
their assassination.

When these rumours reached Stairs, he acted with
characteristic energy. He sent his lieutenants Bodson
and Bonchamps with a hundred men to bring Msiri to
his presence — by force if necessary. The latter of the two

THE CONGO STATE

named has given the only eye-witness's account of what
followed, and the following is a summary of his narrative :
— The position Msiri occupied at Moemena, or Maiemba as
it is also called, was strongly palisaded. When the small
force was drawn up outside, the village chief came out and
asked what they wanted. He was told they wished to
talk to Msiri, and that no harm was intended to either
the villaoe or its inhabitants. On this the chief invited
one of the officers to accompany him back to the village,
and Lieutenant Bodson insisted on going. He left with

two black nyamparas or lieuten-
ants and ten black soldiers, and
he arranged with Bonchamps
to attack at once on heai'iug a
revolver shot.

When Bodson entered the
village he was taken into the
presence of Msiri, whom he
found sittino- in the centre of
a baud of chiefs. He at once
delivered his message, sum-
moning Msiri to accompany
him back to Captain Stairs.
Infuriated at this challenge
before his own followers, Msiri
rose and drew his sword, which seems to have been
an arranged sioiial, for at once a shot was fired at
Bodson. Feeling himself wounded, the Belgian officer
drew his revolver and shot Msiri through the heart.
The firing then became general, and Bodson fell mortally
wounded. On hearing the firing Bonchamps at once made
his attack, and, after exchanging several volleys, forced his
way into the village, where he found Bodson lying des-
perately wounded, and near him the dead body of Msiri.
News of what had happened was sent to Stairs, who at
once sent up Dr. Moloney and a reinforcement of men.

LIEUTENANT BOBSON.

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

139

The wounded officer was conveyed on a liammock to the
camp, but from the first his case was known to be hopeless.
On seeing Stairs he exclaimed, " I am dying, but you will
tell my countrymen that I have not died in vain. Thank
God ! For I have delivered this fine country of Africa
from one of its most detestable tyrants." A few hours
later he passed away, and the last words on his lips were
" Vive le Roi ! " In Lieutenant Bodson the Congo State
had an energetic servant, and its sovereign a loyal officer.

The following tribute to Lieutenant Bodson from his
commander and friend, Captain Stairs, destined to soon
follow him on the long journey, deserves quotation: — " His
deplorable death has deprived the expedition of a capable
and energetic officer, of a faithful man, full of zeal for the
accomplishment of his duty, and always ready to carry
out all the instructions given to him. I became his
friend, and I was able to appreciate his merit, and the
way he devoted himself to the work to be done in Africa.
He was certainly destined by his capacity to occupy a
high place in tlie affairs of the Congo, if his death had not
happened in such an untoward manner to cut short his
career."

The death of Msiri produced an immense impression
throughout the whole of the Katano-a region. The chiefs
whom he had incited to war made peace with each other ;
the races who had provided the material for his butcheries
rejoiced, and those who were reduced to a condition of
absolute or approximate slavery were released. Although
the chiefs individually expressed their desire to recognise
the control of the State and to hoist its fiag, it was felt
necessary to appoint a head chief, to whom the Govern-
ment could look as responsible for the whole district.
Under all the circumstances, Captain Stairs decided that
Mukanda Vantu, son of Msiri, would be the best and
safest man to fill the office. After he had given pro-
mises to conform to the new regulations prohibiting the

140

THE CONGO STATE

slave trade and liumuii massacres, Mukanda Vantu was
installed in power. He hoisted the blue Hag, and as an
emblem of authority Stairs gave him his own sword. At
the same time Stairs began the construction of a strons
fort at Bunkeia, which Dr. Moloney finished after his
departure, and, as a symptom of the change that had been
effected, it may be stated that the door of Msiri's palace
was taken to construct a table for the fort mess.

Leaving Captain Bia, who had arrived from the Kassai
in charge of the fort at Bunkeia, Captain Stairs set out on
his return march, via Nyassa and the Zambesi, for the
Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, a succession of mishaps
befell the returning expedition. The territory traversed
was desolated by famine, supplies were unobtainable, the
sufferings of the men were past description, and Stairs
himself fell a victim to the bilious fever, caused by want
and suffering. The conquest of Katanga cost two valuable
lives, and in Stairs it may perhaps be said, without
injustice, that the Belgian officers would find an example,
not of courage, — for that they do not need, — but of that
prompt resolution in crushing a difficulty, which comes
only from long use and inherited experience in the work
of empire.

The overthrow of Msiri, effected by the Stairs column,
was only one part of the task of pacifying Katanga.
The work and progress of the two other columns may
now be described. That under Delcommune left Gandu
on the Lomami on 18tli May 1891. Its strength con-
sisted of three hundred and fifty men, and en route it was
increased by some hundred additional porters. All went
well with it until on the 30th of August it was encamped
near Lake Kassali, a marshy expanse, through which passes
the Lualaba. The main body had reached the borders of
the lake, and was engaged in pitching its camp, when a
servant rushed in and exclaimed that the rear guard had
been surprised, and Lieutenant Hakansson had been

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

141

killed. The news was perfectly true, the ofHcer and
fourteen of his men having been surprised in the jungle,
and slain with the long spears which the blacks hurled
with extreme dexterity. Hakansson was a man of a fine
nature. Only a few weeks before his death he had greatly
disting-uished himself in a fight with fifteen hundred
adversaries, when, being left with only a few men to with-
stand their onset, his European companion, Dr. Briart, was
wounded in the knee by an arrow : fearing lest it might
be poisoned, Hakansson threw himself on the ground and
sucked out the venom, under the heavy fire of the enemy,
who were armed with rifles as well as bows. Having
saved his companion's life, he resumed firing on the
enemy with his repeating-rifie, and soon had the satisfac-
tion of seeing the enemy retire from the contest.
Hakansson was a gentleman of Sweden, a worthy repre-
sentative of the country of Gustavus Adolplius and
Charles the Twelfth. It was impossible to stop to exact
revenge without compromising the success of the wdiole
expedition, and consequently Delcommune resumed his
march, passing through the mountainous Kibala region,
wdiose beauties, he wrote, could defy the brush of any
painter. He concludes a long description of the scenery
of this region with the following passage : — ' ' Seated on a
rock of sandstone, eagerly scanning all around us, glancing
in every quarter, w^e 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 great scale, seemed softened and rendered pleasant
by the brilliant equatorial vegetation in such striking-
contrast." After a hundred and forty -two marches,
Delcommune reached Bunkeia some weeks in advance of
Stairs, as already mentioned, but, after a brief stay there

142

THE CONGO STATE

and at the post ou the Lufoi commanded by Lieutenant
Legat, he left to explore the southern districts of Katanga
watered by that river.

This portion of his work was accomplished under the
most terrible sufferings from famine, due to the manner in
which the whole region had been ravaged by Msiri and
his imitators. M. Delcommune gives the following graphic
account of what he and his men went through : —

" We took seven days in traversing this distance, and
during these seven days we saw neither village nor culti-
vation nor game. Our food consisted exclusively of some
mushrooms and a few berries. The expedition suffered
during this march all that a caravan could suffer. The
last of the donkeys was eaten. It was like a drop of water
in the sea ; porters and soldiers fell, one after the other,
never to rise again. It was a veritable funeral march, and
the pathway of misfortune was marked out by the corpses
of our faithful followers. Famine — against that terrible
scourge no energy resists ; one must bend the back and
leave the rest to die. It is terrible, more terrible than I
should ever have imagined — I, who had the heart steeled
ao-ainst the emotions. What a diff'erence — to see these
same men fall in l)attle when the fusillade excites the
ardour of each — an expression of regret for those who are
gone, for the brave men dead on the ffeld of honour, and
we pass on. But to see them sink down on the sides of
the path, with haggard eyes, holding their depressed
stomachs and saying, ' Master, I starve and am going to
die,' — and when this scene is repeated fourteen and even
fifteen times a day, we must have a heart of triple brass
not to be tortured with pity at the sight of these poor
creatures, who have followed us so faithfully, who have
shared our sufferings and dangers, who fall and yet cannot
be succoured. To save some, to be obliged to abandon
others to their sad fate, to be forced to leave them there,
a prey to the most frightful tortures until death — benefi-

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

143

cent this time — had accomplished his task — is there not
in all this something to make us curse our fate ? "

AVhen Delcommune reached the Lualaba, he succeeded,
after two and a half months' work, in building a sufficient
number of boats to convey his expedition down the stream.
As they were almost on the verge of starvation, the con-
struction of this flotilla provided the only means of safety,
and the feelings of this despairing and almost desperate
body of men can l)e better imagined than described, when,
after seven weeks' navigation under extraordinary difficul-
ties, they were suddenly precluded from making any
further progress by the immense Falls of Nzilo, where the
river works its own course through a narrow oorge of
nearly fifty miles in length. Delcommune had thus to
abandon the boats he had so laboriously constructed, and
to make his way overland to Bunkeia, which he reached
on 8th June 1892. It is unnecessary to follow further
the course of this enterprising pioneer of commerce ; and
perhaps the most durable result of the Delcommune
Expedition was its clearly establishing the mineral wealth
of Katanga, and especially its resources in copper.

There remains, in conclusion, to give briefly the his-
tory of the third column under Captain Bia. Without
any mishap it made its way to Bunkeia, arriving after the
departure of Stairs. Then Captain Bia assumed the
chief control as the senior officer. His great struo-oie was
with want. ]\Isiri's system had reduced the country to
such straits that there was no food. The stores had to l^e
husbanded with the greatest care ; many lives were lost,
and it was not until the maize grew next year that the
distress was relieved. Then illness attacked the whites,
and only Bia and Francqui were in a fit state to under-
take the exploration of the region round Lake ]\loero, on
which they had decided. While on this journey Bia's
own health broke down, and for days he had to be carried
on a hammock. Still he prosecuted his task, even to the

144

THE CONGO STATE

placing at Kitambo Mwcnge, the village where the event
occurred, of the bronze commemoration tablet sent from the
Royal Geographical Society, London : " David Livingstone
died here, 1st May 1873." After visiting Bangweolo, some
improvement became perceptible in Captain Bia's health,
but on leaving the shores of that lake the expedition had
to pass through a district ravaged by smallpox. Li order to
escaj)e the ravages of the disease, double marches had to
be made ; and when they reached Ntenke, south of
Bunkeia, Bia, thoroughly exhausted, was stricken by a
fever from which he never recovered. His body is buried
on the summit of a little hill overlooking the vallev of the
Lufila, the principal affluent, in its upper course, of the
Lualaba. Captain Bia was another of the devoted men
who have given their lives in the cause of civilisation and
peace in Central Africa. The command then devolved on
Lieutenant Francqui, who, after conducting several inter-
esting explorations, returned to Gandu on hearing of the
commencement of the campaign with the Arabs.

At Lusambo, Francqui and Delcommune rejoined hands
and, returning together to Europe, received a cordial
reception at the hands of their fellow-countrymen for the
good work they had accomplished in the discovery and
opening up of Katanga. A special medal was struck in
honour of the absorption of that district. The geographi-
cal results of the three expeditions were scarcely less im-
portant in any sense than the political consequences of the
death of Msiri and the overthrow of his power. They have
been summed up by M. Du Fief, the secretary of the
Belgian Geographical Society and a well-known carto-
grapher : —

"The reconnaissance of the course of the Lomami for a
further portion of its course of two hundred miles, of the
Lake Kassali, of the Lufila from its confluence with the
Djikuluwe to its source, and of the LTpper Lualaba to the
Falls of Nzilo ; the entirely fresh examination of the

THE OPERATIONS ON THE LOMAMI

>45

Lukuga, the overftill of Tanganyika, from Makalumbi to
its confluence with the Lualaba, and of the Lualalja itself
to its confluence with the Luapula. It has also established
the nature of Lakes Bangweolo and Bemba, which form the
Chambezi, or upper course of the Luapula. It has proved
that the Conjjo has still a navigable section above Lake
Moero, that the line of water-parting between the Congo
and the Zambesi is a plateau with moderate slopes and no
sharp declivity. Nearly three hundred uuexj)lored miles
of the Lualaba have been traversed, and the probability of
the still unknown portion of that river to its confluence
with the Luapula has become a matter of reasonable
acceptance."

The establishment of the camps at Lusambo and Bena
Kamba as part of the authorised programme of the State
against the Arabs had led, in the first place, to the absorp-
tion of the extensive and promising province of Katanga,
but the advance to the Lomami had also contributed in its
way towards the hemming in of the Arabs on the west;
and when the campaign with the Arabs has to be
described, the consequences of this step will appear. But
before entering upon that final phase in the struggle for
the suppression of the slave trade, it is necessary to mark
the progress of events in Europe, where several important
passages in the history of the Congo State had been
inscribed on the records of the time, and where diplomacy
had been busily engaged in further marking out its
destinies. Last, but not least, the King had proclaimed
the object of his heart in what he had created, and had
published to the world the legacy he bequeathed to his
people.

CHAPTER VIII

The Second Brussels Conference and the
Kino's Will

The task of elucidation and definition in respect to the
mission of civilisation on the Congo, begun by the
Brussels Geographical Conference in 1876, and carried
on by the Berlin Conference in 1885, may be said to have
l)een completed by the Anti-Slavery Conference held at
Brussels in the years 1889-90. Reference has already
been made to the growing indignation among the public
of all the civilised nations at the still prevailing horrors
of the slave trade in Central Africa. The encyclical letter
of the Pope and the campaign of Cardinal Lavigerie had
stirred men's minds, and created a general sentiment in
favour of the summary repression of the Arab raiders who
preyed on the defenceless black races. What communities
think to-day must be reflected in the action of their
Governments at no great interval. A subject that ap-
pealed so deeply to the sympathies and compassion of the
fortunate peoples who live in a condition of freedom and
security, as the brutal pursuit and senseless slaughter of
the negro tribes, brought so clearly and repeatedly before
them by a succession of travellers in the Dark Continent,
could not fail to arouse and sustain that volume of public
opinion which was necessary to stimulate the action of
cabinets, and to set in motion the machinery of diplomacy.

During the year 1888 the Parliament of Great Britain
and the German Reichstag passed motions on the subject

i4e

THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE

147

of the suppression of the slave trade ; and iu September
of that year the British Government suggested, through
the Belgian Foreign Department, that the King should
take the initiative in assembling a Conference at Brussels
on the subject. On the 24th August 1889 His Majesty,
deferring to this wish, and rightly concluding that all the
circumstances were favourable to a unanimous and prac-
tical result, issued an invitation to the Powers to assemble
in conference at his capital, for the purpose of discussing
the best means for obtaining the gradual suppression of
the slave chase {la traite) on the African Continent, and
the immediate closing of the exterior markets supplied
from that source. This invitation was accepted by all the
Powers which had been represented at the Berlin Con-
ference, and, in addition, Persia also sent a representative.

The Conference was to formulate its own programme,
the King contenting himself with the expression of a
general wish that its labours would result in the drafting
of a common code on the subject, by which all the Powers
would be equally bound. The Prince de Chimay, Belgian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, presided at the formal
inaugural meeting on iSth November 1889, at which the
Conference unanimously elected Baron de Lambermont to
preside over its deliberations. This tribute to the eminent
Belgian statesman was merited by the general work he
had performed in regard to the African question, and by
his special labours in drafting the General Act of Berlin.
In Brussels, as at Berlin, M. Emile Banning was associated
with him as representative of Belgium, while the Congo
State was represented with equal ability by M. (now
Baron) Van Eetvelde, whose long connection with the
State and energetic promotion of its true interests will
claim the reader's special notice when the administration
of the great undertaking is described in a later chapter.

Among other prominent representatives may be men-
tioned Lord Vivian and Sir John Kirk for Great Britain,

148

THE CONGO STATE

Mr. Terrel, Minister at Brussels, for the United States,
Prince Ourroussof and Professor Martens for Eussia,
M. Bouree for France, and Herr vou Alvensleben for
Germany. The Conference continued in session from
November 1889 until 2nd July 1890, the date on which
its General Act was signed. In the deliberations and
decisions resulting from them, the Belgian representatives
took a more prominent and a more confident part than at
Berlin. There the fate of their undertaking was decided.
Here had to be done a great civilising work, with regard
to which the Congo State had to perform the most respon-
sible and onerous duties, and the Belgian spokesmen very
properly and naturally took the first place in the proceed-
ings. The Belgian Government placed before the Con-
ference the project for an Act, and the labours of the
Assembly were practically confined to the modifications
and additions needed to secure unanimous approbation for
this able State paper, which was the joint production of
Baron Lamberraont and M. Emile Banning.

After seven months' deliberation the Conference made
the following; Declaration : —

" The Powers, reunited in conference at Brussels,
which ratified the General Act of Berlin of 26tli February
1885, and which adhered to it:

" After having drawn up and signed together in the
General Act of to-day's date a certain number of measures
destined to put an end to the slave chase of negroes on
land as well as on sea, and to ameliorate the moral and
material conditions of life among the indigenous popu-
lations :

" Considering that the execution of the arrangements
which they have decreed with this view impose on some
of them, who have possessions or exercise protectorates
in the conventional basin of the Congo — obligations which
render it imperative for them to acquire new resources if
they are to discharge them :

THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE

" Have acrreed to make the followino- Declaration : —
" The signatory or adhering Powers which have pos-
sessions or exercise protectorates in the said conventional
basin of the Congo, may, so far as any authorisation is
necessary for that purpose, impose on imported merchan-
dise dues of which the tarifi" shall not exceed an equi-
valent of ten per cent, on the value at the port of
importation, with the exception altogether of spirits,
which shall be regulated by the terms of chapter vi. of
the General Act of this day.

" After the signature of the said General Act, a nego-
tiation shall be opened between the Powers who have
ratified the Berlin General Act, or who have adhered to
it, with the object of fixing at the maximum limit of
ten per cent, on value the conditions of the Customs
regime to be instituted in the conventional basin of the
Congo.

" It is none the less understood —

" 1. That no differential treatment nor right of
transit shall be established.

"2. That, in the application of the Customs service
that shall be agreed upon, each Power will seek to
simj)lify as much as possible the formalities and to
facilitate the operations of commerce.

" 3. That the arrangement resulting from the aforesaid
negotiation shall remain in vigour during fifteen years
from the signature of the present Declaration. At the
expiration of that term, and in default of a new agree-
ment, the contracting Powers will find themselves in the
condition foreseen by article iv. of the Berlin General
Act, the right to impose a maximum of ten per cent, on
merchandise imported into the Congo basin being reserved
to them.

" The ratifications of the present Declaration will be
exchanged at the same time as those of the General Act
of the same day.

'5°

THE CONGO STATE

"■ 111 faith of which the Pleiiipoteiitiaries have draAvn
up the present Dechiration, and have attached their seals.

"Done at Brussels the second July 1890."

The following summary of the General Act of the
Brussels Conference, referred to in the preceding Declara-
tion, will suffice for the general reader. The first article,
relating to the most efficacious means of combating the
slave chase in the interior of Africa, 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 govern-
ment ; and the maimer in \\liich the Congo State has
oro^anised and created them will be narrated further on.
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.
T'he 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 prohil)ition.
It provided for the 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
ill the import of firearms ; but the King, in the administra-
tive 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 placed impediments in the way of the im-
portation of any kind of arms, and imposed severe penal-
ties on those who in any way broke 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

THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE

interception of the routes of transit. They shall extend
their efficacious protection over all the dependent popula-
tions within the range of their authority, by prohibiting
intestine war, and by initiating them into agricultural
labour. They will assist commerce, A^erifying labour con-
tracts ; they will aid the missions, and they will organise a
sanitary service." The realisation of these views was
a matter that devolved upon the administrators of the
State. On. the other hand, the third and fourth articles
referred to the attitude of the Powers, who engaged them-
selves to help, so far as they could, every effort made
against slavery. The fifth article placed all engaged in
the slave trade outside the general law, and provided for
their arrest in the possessions of any of the signatory
Powers. A subsequent article referred to the assistance
a slave could claim ; and these regulations were to remain
in force for twelve years, after which they should be
renewable at intervals of two years.

The second chapter referred to the caravan routes and
the transport of slaves by land. The only interesting pro-
vision in this part of the Act was that liberated slaves
were to be provided with the means of livelihood, and also
with that of education. Passing over the intermediate
chapters, the sixth chapter enumerated in six articles the
measures to be taken for the restriction of the trade in
spirituous liquors. These measures were not free from
qualifications and limitations, that certainly affected their
operation in benefiting the people, as, for instance, the
commencing statement : " The importation of distilled
drinks is forbidden 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."
Where they had obtained the right of entry, the States
concerned undertook to impose a duty of fifteen francs per
hectolitre of alcohol of 50 centigrades, which in English is
not the ecjual of a shilling a gallon. The question of the

'52

THE CONGO STATE

.spirit traffic in the interior of Africa must be reserved for
future consideration ; it is enough here to note that the
members of the Conference appreciated the evils that
might ensue therefrom, and that they did what they
could to avert the decadence and ruin of emancipated
Africa through its passing under a different and not less
terrible thraldom.

With regard to the direct influence of the resolutions
of the Anti-Slavery Conference at Brussels on the fate of
the Congo State, this was more perceptible in the accom-
panying Declaration than in the General Act. The Berlin
Conference had placed a heavy responsibility on the King,
and that at Brussels added to it. In order to render it
possible for the Sovereign of the Congo State to accept it,
he had to be provided with the necessary resources, and
the means of obtaining them. As one of the representa-
tives of the Congo said, " The progress realised since the
meeting of the Berlin Conference, that is to say, in five
years, has surpassed all hopes. The State is resolved to
apply in all their rigour the clauses of the Act which you
are about to sign ; but the cost will be immense, and
without import duties, without the revenues the State
expects from them, w^e cannot associate ourselves effica-
ciously with the carrying out of your work." The reply
to this natural statement was the conferring of the right
to impose duties up to ten per cent., given by the accom-
panying Declaration already cited.

All the Powers eventuallv ratified the Brussels Act in
its entirety, with the exception of France. Holland
hesitated to take the step, because it was largely inter-
ested in the spirit trade ; but the Queen Regent generously
intervened, and, thanks to her example, the Dutch
Chambers sanctioned the ratification. The United States
also hesitated to ratify, but eventually came round to the
views of the majority. France gave her adhesion, with
the important reserve that she " would not recognise the

THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE 153

articles relating to the zone of maritime search, jurispru-
dence, arrest, seizure and condemnation of suspected
ships." The French Hag consequently flies alone off the
East Coast of Africa for the benefit and protection of the
dealers in slaves, who, as a matter of fact, are still
employed in the French possessions of the Indian Ocean.

With regard to the work accomplished by the Confer-
ence, no opinion could be more valuable or convincing
than that of Baron Lambermont, who had been its guiding
spirit. " None of us thought that the Conference was
going to put an end at once, and without having to wait
any longer, to the odious traffic in slaves. Such a task is
not one of those that is accomplished in a day. We have
marked out the plan that the Government will follow, and
traced the plan of action that seems to us the wisest and
most efficacious to pursue. In reality, the treaty will only
be valuable as it is applied, and the success will be in pro-
portion to the perseverance and energy which the Powers
bring to the execution of the measures we have indicated
to them. The generous breeze of public opinion will
•second their efforts, and hasten the realisation of the noble
object pursued by the Conference."

The conclusion of the Conference was followed by two
important matters bearing on the relations between the
Congo State and Belgium. The timidity of Belgian
opinion in incurring any direct responsibility in Central
Africa has already been referred to, and up to this point
all that had been done in the Congo State had been
accomplished without the least aid from the Government
or people of the country mainly interested in its success.
But the conferring of the right to impose import duties
guaranteed at some future date the receipt of an adequate
revenue to provide the security for a loan, and under such
conditions it was proper and reasonable to ask the Belgian
Chamber to make an advance to assist the State in the dis-
charge of its task, until the development of trade and the

154

THE CONGO STATE

natural resources of the country had been carried to a
much further point. The following convention was
accordingly concluded between M. Beernaert, the Finance
Minister (now President of the Belgian Chamber, and the
most prominent Parliamentary authority in his country),
and the present Baron Van Eetvelde. It is dated the 3rd
July 1890, or the day after the signature of the Act of
the Conference : —

" Between the Belgian State, represented by M. A.
Beernaert, Minister of Finance, acting under the reserve of
the approbation of the Legislature, and the Independent
State of the Congo, represented by M. E. Van Eetvelde,
Administrator-General of the Department of Foreign
Affairs, authorised to this effect by the King-Sovereign,
this the following Convention is agreed upon : —

"1. The Belgian State engages to advance, by way of
loan, to the Independent State of the Congo the sum of
twenty -five million francs, in the following manner : Five
million francs immediately after the approbation of the
Legislature, and two million francs a year during ten years,
commencing from this first instalment. During these
ten years the sums thus lent shall not bear any interest.

" 2. Six months after the expiration of the said term
of ten years the Belgian State shall be able, if it judge
good, to annex the Independent State of the Congo, with
all the possessions, rights, and advantages attached to the
sovereignty of that State, such as they have been recog-
nised and fixed, notably by the General Act of Berlin
of 26th February 1885, and by the General Act and
Declaration of Brussels of 2nd July 1890, but also
on condition of assuming the responsibilities of the said
State towards third parties — the King-Sovereign expressly
refusing all indemnity on account of the personal sacrifices
he had himself made. A law will regulate the special
regime under which the territories of the Congo State
shall then be placed.

THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE 155

" 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, com-
mercial, and financial situation of the latter. It may speci-
ally 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 con-
tinue 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
an interest at the rate of 3^ 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."

This convention was important from two points of
view. It was, in the first place, to provide the State
with the sum of £200,000 down, and an assured annual
income for ten years of £80,000. It was still more im-
portant when regarded from the other point of view, of
placing the Congo State at the disposal of Belgium.
The Belgian people were given by this instrument the
generous period of ten and a half years for reflection over
this matter. They have still until the second month of
the year 1901 to say what they will do. But King
Leopold made it clear in this document that for himself
he had no personal object to serve in inviting his country

THE CONGO STATE

to take over, if it desired, what lie had obtained for it in
realising a great and noble object, and in placing himself
in the forefront of a great cause. The second clause con-
tains the formal statement that the King - Sovereign
expressly I'efuses all indemnity on account of the personal
sacrifices he had himself made. These sacrifices were
represented by the bulk of His Majest3''s private fortune,
or a sum of one and a half million sterling. That simple
fact should silence the detractor and the malignant, who
recognise no motives save those of self-interest.

There is, however, clearer evidence on the subject than
that contained in the convention just quoted. The con-
vention was submitted to the Belgian Chambers on 9th
July 1890, and at the same time the two following docu-
ments were read. It will be noterl that they were both
dated in Auoust 1889, three months before the Brussels
Conference beoan its session.

5th August 1889.

"Dear Minister Beernaert), — 1 have never

ceased to call the attention of my countrymen to the
necessity of extending their view to countries l)eyond 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 civilisa-
tion. 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 pro-
gress that people of the second rank appear as useful
members of the great family of nations. Move than any
other, a manufacturing; and commercial nation like ours

THE KING'S WILL

157

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, employ there with profit their capital.

" 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 Inde-
pendent State of the Congo, the Will that I send you. I
ask you to communicate it to the Legislative Chamber
at the moment which sliall appear to you the most
opportune.

" 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

THE CONGO STATE

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, with-
out waitino- 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 life-
time, 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 Govern-
ment, 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, your very devoted and very
atiectionate Leopold."

The King's will, as Sovereign of the Congo State,
accompanying this noble letter, was to this effect : —

"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 pur-
sued 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
foi- 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

THE KING'S WILL

159

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 advan-
tages attached to that sovereignty.

" Whilst waiting for the Belgian Legislature to pro-
nounce 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."

On the 9th July 1890, six days after the signature of
the convention between the representatives of the Belgian
Government and the Congo State, M. Beernaert com-
municated the letter and will of the King to the Chamber,
at the same time depositing a F)-ojet de Loi for the ratifi-
cation of the convention. After a brief debate, the
Belgian Chamber of Eepresentatives passed a vote in
favour of the convention on 25th July 1890, and five
days later the Seuate also ratified the arrangement by
unanimity. For the moment, however, nothing was
done in response to the notification of the King's will,
phacing at the disposal of his country the great colony he
had founded in Central Africa. The announcement was
received with applause, the nobility and disinterestedness
of the step commanded general approbation and admira-
tion, and the sound sense of the country rallied to the
view that Belgium had secured, by the wisdom of her
ruler, an opportunity which it would be folly to neglect,
and a prize that might well excite the envy of more
numerous and securely placed peoples. At this stage it is
unnecessary to dilate on the subject. The fact need only
be recorded, that in July 1890 the King placed the Congo
State as a free gift in the hands of the Belgian people,
and that at this momeut eight years hav^e expired out of

i6o

THE CONGO STATE

the little more than ten, secured them by the convention
for the privilege of taking it over, without their being
able to arrive at a decision. Apart from this right under
the convention, the King's will bequeaths to his country
the great colony he has created, and, although it cannot
be doubted that a decision will l)e arrived at long before,
there is the certain conclusion that Belgium can only lose
the Congo by an absolute repudiation that would make
her name a by-word among the nations, and of which no
one can doubt that her people would be incapable.

CHAPTEE IX

The Arab Campaign

The operations that have been described on the Aruwimi
and the Lomami were the preliminary to the serious
struggle with the Arab power that was inevitable. The
Conference at Brussels defined with greater precision the
object to be attained, and also in its outcome supplied
the sinews of w^ar for its attainment. But local occur-
rences precipitated the collision ; and the Arabs, alarmed
for their own safety by what had taken place on the
Uelle and the Lualaba, resorted to the offensive, and
thus contributed to the speediness of their own over-
throw. The collision was inevitable, but the Arabs them-
selves decreed that it should take place as early as 1892,
and that it should be on a decisive scale. They were led
to this by the perception that the advance of the Belgians
had closed the door to their razzias, and that their hold
on the Arabised negro chiefs would soon disappear, unless
by some military success they could recover the region
from which they had been ousted. There was yet another
motive at the root of their jDolicy. The Congo State,
within its own perfect right, had at the end of 1891
imposed a tax on ivory, and consequently the Arabs were
obliged, even in regard to the trade which they were
allowed to carry on, to pay a tax to the Europeans. It is
possible, perhaps, that among all their motives this was
the grievance they felt most keenly.

In addition to the expeditions already described, a

l62

THE CONGO STATE

purely commercial adventure on the part of the Belgian
Society of the Upper Congo had about this time begun
operations on the Lomami, and its representative, M.
Hodister, had founded two stations on the latter river.
The operations of this company were regarded by the
responsible authorities of the State as too venturesome,
and in excess of what the situation justified, for no actual
collision had yet occurred with the Arabs. The Belgian
officer in command in this region, Lieutenant Le Marinel,
had issued a prohibition to the agents of this company to
go beyond a certain zone, and this had led to exaggerated
statements in Europe to the effect that the State would
or could not protect or promote trade. A practical answer
was soon given to these strictures on the spot, by the
massacre of the Hodister Expedition. In a letter of 23rd
March 1892, Hodister speaks of his magnificent reception
by the Arabs, and on the 6th May he was still full of
hope, and described the relations with the Arabs as
excellent. On that day he left Bena Kaml)a for Riba
Riba on the Congo, which lie reached on the 15th of the
same month. The Arabs met him outside the place, and
murdered him and his companions. The factories of the
company were attacked, and their inmates killed. Eleven
Belgians in all w^ere slain, and the massacre of these white
men on the Upper Lomami was described to the world as
"the greatest of all disasters in Central Africa."

This tragic event was not the only indication of the
sentiment and plans of the Arabs. When the Belgian
authorities asked Rashid, who had succeeded his uncle
Tippo Tip in the government of Stanley Falls, to co-
operate with them in securing punishment for the murders
on the Lomami, he categorically refused, and immediately
afterwards Sefu, Tippo Tip's son, arrived to collect his
father's delits and realise his property, which was rightly
construed as signifying an intention to sanction an open
rupture. In the meantime relations with the Ar'abised

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

negro chief, Gongo Lutete, had gone through a new phase.
The command of the camp at Lusambo had been handed
over to Lieutenant Francis Dhanis by Paul Le Marinel,
and this officer had already attracted favourable notice by
his energy on the Aruwimi in founding the camp at
Basoko. He was soon afforded an opportunity of show-
ing that he possessed it, for he was little more than
installed at Lusambo when news arrived that Gonso
Lutete had again taken the field, and was endeavouring
to force a passage across the
Sankuru.

Dhanis, with admirable re-
solution, at once assumed the
offensive; and in three separate
engagements, fought in the
months of April and May, he
defeated Gongo's forces and
killed several of his chief
lieutenants. These encounters
were fought on 23rd April,
5th and 9tli iMay. In the
last and most critical of these
fights the black auxiliaries of
Dhanis, dismayed at the sight
of the dense masses of the Arabs, broke and fied. The
Arabs then advanced, shouting "Do not fire; these are
Wachenzis (natives or savages), make them prisoners and
chain them." They were received by a terrible fire, which
speedily undeceived them, and before which they fled panic-
stricken. At the close of the campaign Gongo Lutete
made his submission, and requested to be allowed to rank
himself among the allies and vassals of the Congo State.
After some hesitation, with the view of testing the
sincerity of his overtures, the most influential of the
negro allies of the Arabs was admitted into terms of
friendship. Gongo Lutete placed a considerable con-

164

THE CONGO STATE

tingeiit ill the field to assist the Belgians, and a new
post was founded at Gandu on the Lomami. considerably
above the last station of Bena Kamba, and well advanced
on the last route to Nyangw'e and Kassongo. The region
between the Sankuru and the Lomami was ti'aiicjuillised
by these measures.

While this success was scored by the State, the Arabs
had not been inactive on their side. Sefu, on his return
from Stanley Falls, had seized the station at Kassongo,
where two Belgian officers. Lieutenants Lippens and De
Bruyn, were made prisoners. With the object of using
them as hostages for the purpose of negotiation, their
lives were for the time spared. Sefu then raised all the
forces he could ; and IMuiiie ^loharra, the principal chief
of Many em a, whose reputation for courage and wisdom
placed him at the head of the Arab leaders, combined
with him to the full extent of his power. In fact, the
Arab league might be described as complete.

Having made up their mind to appeal to the sword,
the Arabs lost no time in taking the field, and Lieutenant
Dhanis soon learnt that they were advancing in great
force from their base at Nyangwe and Kassongo towards
the Lomami. At the same time they went through the
form of stating the terms on which they would make
peace. These were, the surrender of Goiigo Lutete and
the other chiefs who had abandoned their side, and the
fixing of the frontier where they wished. These pro-
posals, even if the State had not on its side resolved to
crush the Arab power, would not have been acceptable ;
but they justify the following description of Gongo
Lutete, taken from Dr. Sidney Hinde's book, The Fall of
tJie Congo Arabs : —

" Gongo Lutete was by blood a Bakussu. He had
himself been a slave, having as a child fallen into the
liauds of the Arabs. AVhile still a youth, as a reward for
his distinguished conduct and pluck on raiding exj^edi-

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

165

tions, 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 intellioent-lookino- 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 re-
markable 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 rest-
lessly, especially when he was under any strong influence.
His features meanwhile remained absolutely immovable.
One had to see this man on the warpath to realise the
different aspects of his character. The calm haughty
chief, or the genial and friendly companion, became on the
1)attlefield an entliusiastic individual with a highly ner-
vous 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."

The co-operation of this chief signified the addition of
several thousand fiohtino' men of a kind to the forces which
Dhanis w-as able to array on the Lomami against the Arab
invasion. He had also three hundred and fifty regulars
and one Krupp 7 '5 gun, while six or seven Europeans
formed his stafi'. To one of them, Captain Michaux, with
Lieutenant Duchesne as second in command, he entrusted
a separate operation in conjunction with Gongo's own
levies. With this latter force rested the honour of the
first encounter with the Arabs, who succeeded in crossing
the river Lomami somewhat below the point where they
were expected. Here they came into collision with

THE CONGO STATE

Micliaux and Gongo Lutete at a place called Cliige. The
Arabs were estimated to number six thousand armed with
muskets, and ten thousand more with Ijows and spears.
A heavy storm came on soon after the first contact, and
Gongo reported that his men could not fight l^ecause " the
guns were wet. " ^lichaux at once comprehended that
the Aral)s were in the same case, and ordered the attack.
After a brief struggle the Arabs were seized with panic,
and daslied into the river which they had crossed. They
were killed by hundreds, and, when the result of this
victory was counted up, it was found that six hundred
Arabs had perished on the field, twice as many more in
the river, and that a thousand prisoners remained in the
hands of the victors, besides a laroe number of o;uns and
much ammunition. The battle of Chise, which formed
such a promising opening for the Arab campaign, w^as
fought on the 23rd of November 1892.

A few days before it was fought, the following striking
and pathetic incident had occurred on the banks of the
Lomami. The capture of De Bruyn and Lippens at
Kassongo has been mentioned, and Sefu brought them
with him, in tlie idea of utilising their ser^'ices as in-
terpreters. He sent the former to the banks of the
Lomami to explain the terms on which he ^^■ould make
peace. The river was at this point a hundred yards
across, and, while the points were being discussed and
placed on paper, Dr. Hinde begged the Belgian oflicer to
make an attempt to escape. " Can you swim ? " he called
out to him, and on receiving an affirmative reply he
placed his best marksmen in positions to cover the attempt,
saying, " Each of you select your man, and leave me the
chief." Then he turned again to De Bruyn and shouted,
" I have marksmen in the grass ; jump into the river, and
I can save you." A complete and awful silence followed.
Then came across the river the words, " Xo, thank you !
I cannot abandon Lippens." A very fine and heroic

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

167

answer, which woukl be creditable to the officers of any
army, and furnishes another instance of the devotion
and loyalty with which many of the Belgian army have
discharged their duty and met their fate in Central Africa.
A few days later, De Bruyn and Lippens shared the same
death at the hands of the Arab Sefu, who also killed a
man named Mabrouki because he had endeavoured to
save them.

Three days after the battle of Chige, Dhanis crossed
the Lomami with the intention of carrying the war into
the territory subject to the Arabs. His advance guard
was commanded by Lieutenant Scherlink and Dr. Hinde,
while the column under Michaux crossed the river lower
down and operated along a northern route. With the
latter marched Gongo Lutete ; and the two columns, after
receiving; the surrender of several nea,ro chiefs en route,
combined at Lusuna, sixty miles south-west of Nyangwe
and eighty west of Kassongo. The united force numbered
six white officers, four hundred regulars, and twenty-five
thousand black auxiliaries under their chiefs. The size of
the contingents was a source of weakness rather than
strength, and, when one of the principal chiefs expressed
a fear of proceeding farther, Dhanis seized the excuse to
send many of them back to their homes. After arriving
at Lusuna, news came that Sefu, with Munie Moharra,
was advancing from the Congo to attack ; and orders were
accordingly sent to Delcommune and Francqui, news of
whose safe return from Katanga had just arrived, to
hasten with such force as they might possess to the point
of dangei'.

On 30th December the second battle of the campaign
was fought. Congo's men were first engaged, and were
soon put to flight l)y the Arabs. The arrival of the
regular forces restored the day, and, while Dhanis attacked
them in front, Michaux made a flank attack. The engage-
ment was rendered more arduous by the passage of a

THE CONGO STATE

swamp, in which the men fought up to their necks in
water. Gongo rallied his contingent, and the arrival of
the Krupp decided the day. The Arabs fled with a loss
of tAvo hundred men, while the State forces lost eighty-
two killed and wounded, the greater number of whom were
among Gongo's men. The capture of their camp, where it

A CONGOLESE SOLDIER.

was found that before retreating the Arabs had killed
their own women, was the prize of the victory. After
crossing the deep and rapid Mwadi, the force established a
camp on the Gois Kapopa plateau, where a week's halt
was called to enable supplies and reinforcements to come
up from Gandu. While in this position news arrived that

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

169

Sefu, at the head of an immense force, had again taken
the field, and that Delcommune had sent as many men as
he could under Lieutenant Cassart to join the commander.

While on the march, and at a comparatively short
distance from the camp, the column under Lieutenant
Cassart was attacked. This officer had twenty-six soldiers,
two hundred and fifty of Gongo's men, and was bringing
about fifty thousand cartridges. He was attacked before
six in the morning, on 9tli January 1893, by Moliarra in
person. He managed to repulse the enemy, and to make
his way into camp with a loss of one man killed and six
wounded, but with his stores intact except for the five
thousand cartridges he had used during the engagement.
On hearino- the firing in his rear, and learning that a
white man was in danger, Dhanis had sent out a part of
his force under Lieutenant de Wouters, who, although he
failed to join Cassart, came into contact with Moharra's
force and won a considerable success — due, however, in a
great degree to Moharra's men assuming that his force
was an Arab contingent from Sefu coming to their aid.
The State troops were able to reserve their fire till within
twenty yards of the Arabs ; and Moliarra, who was carried
in front of his men by his wives, owing to his having
been wounded in the first engagement with Cassart, was
killed in the first volley. The defeat and death of
Moliarra was a rude blow to the Arab cause ; and the first
intimation Sefu received of the loss of his ally was when
Gongo's scouts came into contact with his and informed
them that they had " eaten Moharra a few days before."

This intelligence proved so disconcerting to Sefu that
he abandoned his strong camp on the Kipango when he
learnt that that river and the Lufubu had been bridged
by Dhanis. Dr. Hinde considered it fortunate that Sefu
thus lost heart, for he described the Arab camp as occu-
pying " a plateau about a mile and a half square, sur-
rounded on every side by nearly perpendicular grassy

THE CONGO STATE

slopes," and practically impregnable. Sefu was unnerved
by the loss of a favourite wife and by the death of
Moharra. He suffered no loss during his retreat, as
pursuit was delayed by the breaking of a bridge, and the
consequent loss of many lives among Gongo's contingent.
The Arabs then retired behind the Lualaba on Xyangwe,
and on 21st January Dhanis arrived within sight of that
place, from which, however, he was separated by the broad
course of the river, at this point more than half a mile
wide. A camp was then pitched on the one dry spot
discoverable, amid tlie grassy swamp on the side of the
river, and during five weeks a daily rifle duel w^as en-
gaged in between the opponents. As Dhanis had no
means of crossing the river, this contest might have been
indefinitely prolonged.

The Arabs had naturally carried all the canoes across
the river with them, and the only chance of obtaining any
was through the mediation of the Wagenia, the peculiar
riverain tribe to which all the boats belonged. But they
were not to be won over in this respect, although quite
willing to play the part of spy for both sides. Towards
the end of the period named, they brought news that pro-
visions were srettino- short in Nvauowe, which suoo-ested a
ruse to Dhanis. He sent Sefu, by them, a present of six
fowls — the last in his camp — with a message to the effect
that he had plenty, but when these were exhausted he
would cross over the river. Tlie ruse succeeded, for, some
days later, tidings came that the Arabs had crossed over to
the western side of the river, and were building bomas, or
forts, some distance below the camp of the State forces.
The news, as being too good to be true, was at first doubted,
but confirmation was speedily obtained of its truth, and
the Belgian commander at once marched out to attack
them in two columns. A. serious engagement — but one
difficult to describe, owing to the confusion caused by the
impossibility of following the opposing movements in the

171

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

173

lono; o'rass — ensued with the Arabs in the forest outside
their bomas. The result of the battle was the complete
defeat of the Arabs w^th a loss of nine hundred men, many
of whom perished in the attempt to recross the river.
This success brought round the Wagenias to the side of
the State, and the necessary canoes for the passage of the
Lualaba were towed up the stream to the camp, under
the fire of the Arabs. In this way one hundred canoes
were collected for the conveyance of the expedition across
the Upper Congo, and, one hour afterwards, Nyangwe was
in its possession, with scarcely any attempt at defence.
Sefu had retired to Kassongo, the second Arab position on
the river.

Reference having been made to the bomas, or Arab
forts, it will be useful to describe what they were like,
at this stage. Dr. Hinde writes : " 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

174

THE CONGO STATE

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, bomb-
proof. 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 l)omas we found that
the defenders had dug holes from the main trenches out-
wards, 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."

Nyangwe was occupied on 4th March 1893, but, in
consequence of an attempt some days later to surprise the
force, Dhanis found it necessary to destroy the greater
part of the town by fire. After this the expedition
suffered frightfully from the ravages of influenza and
smallpox. In April, however, Dhanis was reinforced by
five hundred men, under Commandant Gillain and Lieu-
tenant Doorme, and on the 18tli of the month, leaving
Nyangwe in the charge of De Wouters, he marched on
Kassongo. The force at his disposal numbered only three
hundred regulars and two thousand auxiliaries, while
the Aral)s at Kassongo were computed to number sixty
thousand, with fifty modern rifles, and holding four strong
bomas. The attack took place on the 22nd of the month,
and, owing to a piece of good luck, Doorme succeeded in
at once capturing by a rush the fort at the end of the
town, which threatened the Arab rear, — with the usual con-
sequences that their confidence was shaken. As Dhanis
and his lieutenants never gave them a moment's time to

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

175

recover, the whole phice was carried in an hour and a half,
Kassongo was the capital of the Arab power, and contained
all their stores and wealth. It was far superior as a place
of residence to Nyangwe, and the spoil proved immense.
On arrival here, confirmation was obtained of the murder
of Emin Pasha in the previous February.

The interest of the campaign now turns to Stanley
Falls, where Rashid, another of the Arab confederates,

STANLEY FALLS.

and Sefu's cousin, had preserved nominally friendly terms
with the State authorities. Evidence was found at Kas-
songo of his direct complicity with the other chiefs, which
was, moreover, a matter that was never seriously in doubt.
The Resident for the State at Stanley Falls was M.
Tobback. He had one European colleague. Lieutenant
Van Lindt, and a small force to defend the Residency.
Although there were rumours, during the whole period of

176

THE CONGO STATE

the operations described, that the Arabs had determined
to kill ;ill the Europeans there, it was not until the 13th
of May, or after the news of the fall of Kassongo had been
received, that Rashid attempted to put these threats into
execution. For five days a desperate struggle continued.
In the first day's action the garrison lost three killed and
seven wounded, the assailants seventy or eighty killed
and wounded ; on each of the four subsequent days the
loss was not less, and Tobback saw himself compelled to
make arrangements for evacuating the station. Six large
canoes were prepared for this purpose, when the opportune
arrival of Commandant Chaltin saved the situation. The
Arabs were in their turn attacked. After a series of
engagements all their positions were taken, fifteen hundred
prisoners were made, and Rashid barely escaped w^ith his
life. In this manner was brought to an end, on
18th Mav 1893, the Arab interregnum which had been
set up at Stanley Falls, as described, after the withdrawal
of Dubois and Deane in 1884. Less than ten years had
sufiiced to establish the power of the State on a firm
basis, and to enable it not merely to dispense with the
alliance of the Arabs, but to destroy their capacity for evil.

Up to this point the progress of the campaign had been
for the forces of the State one of undinimed success ; and
when Captain Ponthier made his w^ay up the Congo with
reinforcements for Dhanis, in June, it seemed at if the
Arab campaign might be regarded as at an end. Sefu
himself thoug-ht so, for he fied across Tano;anvika into
German territory. A sudden change of fortune now took
place, due in some degree to the blunder of a Belgian
ofiicer, who precipitately came to the rash and baseless
conclusion that Congo Lutete was a traitor, and sum-
marily ordered him to be tried by court-martial, and then
shot. Congo Lutete was a staunch and useful ally, and
his death was very regrettable. This mistake was fol-
lowed l\y the tidings of the arrival of Rumaliza, chief of

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

177

Ujiji, east of Tanganyika with a fresh force of Arabs, with
which he announced his intention of reconquering Man-
yema. He pitched his camp at Kabambari, half-way
between Kassongo and the lake. In October 1893, Dhanis,
accompanied l)y Ponthier and five other officers, four
hundred regulars, and three hundred auxiliaries, marched
to the attack of Kabambari. The Krupp gun, that had
done much useful service at Nyangwe and Kassongo, was
also taken, but unfortunately there was little ammunition

KASSONGO.

left. Half the regular troops were Haussas ; the other half
consisted of the negro tribes — Balubas, Bena Malele, and
Batetelas.

The Arabs were found strongly placed in two well-
built forts at Mwana Mkwanga, where they offered a
determined and successful resistance. The troops failed
to rush the boma, the blacks abandoned the Krupp, which
had to be worked by the European officers ; one of the
officers, De Lange, was seriously wounded, and the Belgian
commander had to call off" his men. A camp was then

178

THE CONGO STATE

established in a secure position, and, wlien the Arabs
attempted to storm it, they were in turn easily repulsed.
At this critical moment Dhanis ordered up reinforce-
ments from Kassono-o, but, owino- to his orders being mis-
understood, that place was left without a garrison. The
Aralis, hearing of this error, attempted to turn it to
account, by making a flank movement to recover this
place ; but, fortunately, De AVouters, to whom the chief
entrusted the task, succeeded in outstripping them in a
march, night and day, with a tornado raging all the time,
and then in driving them back. De Wouters was one of
the heroes of this struoole. Of oioantic fioure — six feet
five inches in height, and always clothed in white from
head to foot — ^this valiant officer was ever in the front of
the battle. His energy was equal to his courage, and the
forced march that averted the fall of Kassongo was only
one proof of his vigour and dash.

While De Wouters held a position north-east of that
of the main force, skirmishes were fought almost daily.
These culminated in a desperate attack on the Belgian
camp, made by the Arabs during a fog. The assailants
succeeded in efi'ecting an entrance into the camp, and
hand-to-hand fighting ensued. In this Captain Ponthier
received a mortal wound, dying a few days later, and fifty
men were killed or wounded. After a struggle of five
hours, Dhanis succeeded not merely in repulsing the
Arabs, but in pursuing them up to the entrance of
Rumaliza's forts. The Arabs themselves sufi"ered so
heavily, including a great chief named Mohamedi, that
they gradually retired. The irregulars pursued them,
capturing much ammunition. Dhanis then returned to
Kassongo, to reorganise his force and to summon rein-
forcements, while he left De Wouters in active command
at the front.

De Wouters determined to pursue the retreating
Arabs, and came up with them at the boma of Lubukine,

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

179

which he attacked. In the assault Lieutenant De Heusch,
whom Dr. Hinde describes as " the most reckless of dare-
devils," was killed, whereupon his men fled. His body was
saved from the enemy by the courage of a black sergeant
named Albert Frees, and De Wouters succeeded in repuls-
ing a sortie, and making good his retirement, with the loss
of four men killed, besides De Heusch, and ten wounded.
On this occasion the Arabs also lost heavily — among others
the chief Sefu, Tippo Tip's son, who had returned from
German territory. After this there was a lull of some
weeks, but on the 24th December Dhanis again found
himself in a position to assume the offensive, thanks to
the reinforcements he had received. There was the greater
necessity to do this, as the report of the advance of Rashid
with the Arab forces, rallied after the capture of Stanley
Falls, to the aid of Rumaliza, w^as discovered to be well
based.

The force was divided into two columns. Gillain, with
one hundred and eighty soldiers and two hundred auxili-
aries, was sent with one column to cut off Eumaliza's
retreat. De Wouters, with two hundred and fifty soldiers
and four hundred auxiliaries, was ordered to Bena
Kaluno-a, close to Eumaliza's large boma. Dhanis com-
manded a reserve body, with two Krupp guns. A prema-
ture attack on the fort failed, and the situation was
aggravated by the news that a considerable body of fresh
levies was hastening to the aid of Rumaliza from Tan-
ganyika. These were intercepted, and compelled to retire,
by a force detached for the purpose. This enabled the
State forces to practically surround the two bomas of
Rumaliza, and in this way to achieve a success that the
rifle and gun fire altogether failed to attain. The bomas
were practically impregnable, as the Krupps failed to
break the palisades. Things looked black when all the
outer line of posts declared that they had no more troops
to send Dhanis ; but the fortunate and unexpected arrival

i8o

THE CONGO STATE

of Commandant Lotliaire and three hundred men, on
9th January 1894, revived the hopes of success. At that
moment, too, the Belgians had a stroke of luck. A shell
from the Krupp blew up the Arab magazine and set fire
to the fort. The thatch burnt freely, and the defenders
were obliged to abandon it. ^lost of them were shot
down, or drowned in an attempt to cross the river. After
this the other bomas were invested more closely, and, when
their water supply was cut off, the Arab position became
desperate. In three days the other garrisons were com-
pelled to surrender by thirst, and over two thousand Arabs
became prisoners.

Rumaliza succeeded in escaping, but by a prompt
pursuit the Belgian commander entered and captured
Kabambari without loss. De Wouters then marched on
to Lake Tanganyika, and effected a junction there with
the force of the Anti-Slavery Society, which had, how-
ever, taken no active part in the campaign. Several of
the principal Arab chiefs were secured, including Rashid,
and those who escaped had little reputation, and less
power, left. It is unnecessary to dwell on the minor
measures adopted to pacify the whole of the region between
the Lualaba and Tanganyika. It will suffice to say that
they were completely successful, and carried out without
loss. Unfortunately, these successes were dimmed by the
death of the gallant De Wouters d'Oplinter, who, having
escaped the fire of the enemy's bullets, succumbed to an
abscess of the liver, brought on by the hardships of the
campaign.

The successful issue of the carduous campaign must be
attributed exclusively to the merit of the commander,
Dhanis. He showed himself a daring and dashing leader,
as well as a man of prudence. Some of the simple arrange-
ments he made in preparing for the campaign contributed
as much to its success as the larger operations of war.
Among them, not the least important was his allowing

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

i8i

his black soldiers to take with them their women and
children, which prevented them straying or molesting the
people of the country through which they passed. Another
regulation he made was to the effect that each officer might
take with him as many boys — native servants — as he
liked ; and these not only attended to all the wants of their
master, but became a sort of bodyguard for him. Lastly,
he warned his officers beforehand, that all who went with
him must understand they took the risks of the campaign,
as he intended to regard every missing officer as dead, and
not to allow any consideration to interfere with the main
object of his operations, which was the overthrow of the
Arab power.

The Belgian commander summed up the results of the
Arab campaign of 1892-94 in the following words : — •

" The Arab campaign has had as a result the delivering
into the hands of the State agents of the greater number
of the Arabs who participated in the massacre of the
Europeans at Kassongo, Riba Riba, and of the Hodister
Expedition, as well as in the murder of Emin Pasha. The
guilty have been handed over to justice, and condemned
by councils of war conformably to the laws of the State ;
others died during the fighting, and very few, in any case,
have escaped. The annihilation of the Arab power has
thus had, as a consequence, the complete ending of the
action of those devastating bands which, for the purpose
of procuring slaves for their organisers, ravaged the
country, put all to fire and sword, and had already
advanced to the Uelle on the north and the Sankuru on
the south. With them disappears from the territory they
exploited the slave trade, and very soon, it may be hoped,
this will exist no longer in the State of the Congo.

" The native chiefs who had submitted to them have
been replaced in their authority ; others who disappeared
have been rej)laced by intelligent soldiers of the State ;
and lastly, certain Arabs who have made their submission

l82

THE CONGO STATE

have been left undisturbed in their possessions. All have
been disarmed, and warned that they hold their authority
under the direction of the ao-ents of the State, who are
charged with the settlement of any differences that may
rise between them.

"Under the State's direction the natives have resumed
their cultivation, and by degrees this will be developed.
Their attention has been specially directed to cultivation
of produce, by which vast plantations of coffee ought to be
created. The raising of cattle will also be the object of all
their care, and very soon the Manyema will have again
become the finest country of Central Africa.

" Large camps will be formed at Kassongo and Kabam-
1)ari; numerous soldiers will be instructed there, and will
form in a few years the nucleus of a national army.

" From this point of view, the Arab campaign has
shown that the natives of the different reoions of the
Cono'o vield in nothino- as soldiers, to the blacks of the
coast, the most renowned for their bravery. The Balubas
and other natives trained and commanded by Lieutenant
Doorme, and the Bangalas of Commandant Lothaire, were
admirable. The latter only took part in the closing scenes
of the campaign, and showed themselves good soldiers,
brave, intelligent, disciplined, and very inured to fatigue.
In his report Commander Lothaire praises them greatly.

" We may foresee in the near future the time when it
will no longer be necessary to recruit, at great cost,
foreign soldiers. The country itself will largely furnish
its ow^n needs, and Manyema, from the military point of
view, will have a great importance, both from the number
of men it can supply, and their special aptitude to the
profession of arms."

For this highly creditable military success Commandant
Dhanis was ennobled by the King with the rank of Baron
in October 1893, and on his return to Europe, at the end
of 1894, he received a tremendous popular reception. At

THE ARAB CAMPAIGN

183

the end of the next year he went out again as a Vice-
Governor-General, and in that capacity more will be heard
of him. Whatever may be said of his administrative
skill, or of the wisdom of some of his later measures, no
one can deny that his overthrow of the Congo Arabs
was the most remarkable feat of war ever accomplished
in Central Africa. He proved himself the skilful lieu-
tenant and the courageous soldier wanted by the King
for the realisation of his own great project of being
the executor of the resolutions passed by all the Con-
ferences of Europe. Those assemblies would have long
remained nothing more than the scene on which was
displayed the depth of the existing sympathy for the
enslaved races of the Dark Continent, and their work
would have been represented by nothing more than
some brilliant speeches and eloquent addresses, had not
the King of the Belgians been thoroughly in earnest and
strained his power to achieve a practical result. The
credit of the successful campaign was largely due to him
in its execution as well as in its inception. It was he who
laid down the clear and skilful plan of driving the Arabs
behind the Aruwimi on the one side, and the Lomami on
the other. He also decreed that the second and more
important phase of the campaign should be the attack on
the Arab position on the Lualaba, so that the slave chiefs
should be wedged in between that river and Tanganyika,
and taken in the rear by the forces on the lake.

It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that the plan
of campaign successfully carried out by the lieutenants
named in this and the preceding chapter was really drawn
up in Brussels by King Leopold. The still higher claim
to fame must be allowed to that sovereign, that he never
slackened in his efforts to discharge the duties of the post
which he occupied because all his rights were at last recog-
nised. He might have temporised with the Arabs. They
could have paid him out of their ill-gotten gains a far

THE CONGO STATE

higher revenue than he could hope to secure for many
years after their downfalh He coukl have averted the
expenditure of still more of his private fortune. He would
not have had to strain, by the loss of many gallant fellow-
countrymen, the faith of his subjects in the merit of his
work and the value of the Congo State. In plain words,
King Leopold had done enough to justify his wearing the
double crown, and to excuse his leaving to some successor
the task of fulfilling the demands of civilisation in its war
with the slave trade. Had he done this he would have
had the example of his neighbours to justify, or at least
excuse, his conduct. What has France done to end the
slave trade ? What has Germany done ? King Leopold
saw his opportunity. He not only indicated the way to
a decisive victory, but he won it, and history will not
deny him the recognition to which he is entitled.

CHAPTER X

The Later Diplomatic Arrangements

There remain to be described in the history of the
Congo State two important diplomatic arrangements,
which may be said to have invested with completeness
the boundaries of the great territory formed in Central
Africa. These arrangements were concluded on a basis
of practical interest alone, and related to the political
position and the right of possession held by the State in
certain important directions. Whereas the Congo State
had demarcated its frontier with Portugal, and obtained
an indication, with sufficient clearness, of its boundarv
with Germany, no similarly adequate agreement had
been arrived at with either of its other neighbours. Great
Britain and France ; and there still remained a certain
vagueness about parts of the common frontiers, which
threatened peril for the future. The progress of
geographical knowledge had also complicated the situation
by investing old names with new significance, and by
showing, in certain cases, that they were no longer appli-
cable. In the debatable C[uarters, when the State was
contiguous to territory over which its neighbours had"
not acquired any rights, the situation had to be inter-
preted by the light of the accepted principles of interna-
tional law, and especially by the right of effective
possession, as well as by the bare definitions of boundary
lines contained in the various treaties concluded by the
respective Governments.

185

i86

THE CONGO STATE

Negotiations consequently ensued on these points
between the Government of the Independent State on
the one side, and the Governments of Great Britain and
France on the other. In point of date the convention
with Great Britain was concluded first ; but that with
France covered so much more time in arrangement, and
was attended by so many difficulties, that it is entitled to
the first notice. Moreover, the political consequences of
the Franco-Congolese Convention were far more pregnant
with important issues in a region of Africa destined to
occupy much attention in regard to future international
rivalry, than those ensuing from the friendly agree-
ment, more easily and rapidly efi"ected on the borders
of British South Africa.

The relations subsisting at the moment when the
question of the upper course of the Ubangi became a
matter of vital importance between France and the Congo
State, were defined by two separate agreements, which
have in their proper places been passed in review. These
were the convention of 5th February 1885, by which
France, as some return for the right of pre-emption con-
ferred on her in 1884, agreed to determine the respective
limits of the possessions of the Republic and the State,
and also to guarantee its neutrality. The second conven-
tion, of 29th April 1887, was the first rectification of the
frontier after the Conference. It resulted, after long
negotiations and an abortive attempt at arbitration, in
the surrender of much territory to France, by the substi-
tution of the Ubangi 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 the
right of pre-emption in favour of Belgium. The difference
of view that arose in the year 1891, and that was not
settled until the year 1894, had special reference to the
last of these conventions and to the course of the
Ubano;i.

THE LATER DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS 187

The last of the two conventions, viz. that of 1887,
stipuhited that " from its confluence with the Congo the
thalweg of the Ubangi will form the frontier as far as the
4th parallel of north latitude. The Independent State of
the Consfo eng;ao;es, vis a vis of the Government of the
French Eepublic, not to exercise any political influence
on the right bank of the Ubangi north of the 4th parallel.
The Government of the French Eepublic engages, on its
side, not to exercise any political influence on the left
bank of the Ubangi north of the same parallel, the
thalweg forming, in both cases, the line of separation. In
any case, the frontier of the Congo State will not fall
below the 4th parallel north, the limit which is already
recognised for it by the third article of the convention
of the 5th February 1885."

A difficulty was imported into the question, and a
cause of dissatisfaction, from the French point of view,
established, when the discove]'y w^as made, following on to
that of the connecting of the Uelle with the Ubangi, that
the Ubangi had still another and more northern upper
course in the Mbomu. The contention of the French was
that the Uelle was the true upper course of the Ubangi,
and that the State had no rights north of it, even
although it would result in the carrying of the frontier
line south of the 4th parallel secured to it by the conven-
tion of February 1885. Those rights had also been
established by effective occujDation, not only on the
Mbomu, which geographers soon accepted as the true
upper course of the Ubangi, but north of it, par-
ticularly in Semio's territory and the dependencies of
the other Niam Niam chiefs, where no European flag had
ever flown. Such being the case, the Belgians very
naturally insisted that the convention of 1887 applied
only to the main course of the Ubangi, and that above
the confluence of the Uelle and the Mbomu the right of
possession should be established by the well-known doctrine

THE CONGO STATE

of internatioual law, termed effective occupation. The
French view was equally positive as to the letter of
the convention being in favour of their case. At last the
principle of arbitration was invoked in pursuance of the
twelfth article of the Berlin Act, which provided for such
reference in the event of any serious difficulties arising,
and the Congo State made proposals to the French
Government for the adoption of this pacific and legal
mode of removino; the difficulties that had arisen.
Although a more fevourable opinion was beginning to
spring up in France towards the Congo State and its
work, the French Government declined to have recourse
to arbitration.

Negotiations were, however, commenced in 1891 on
the subject, and were completely abandoned until, on
14th August 1894, they resulted in a convention, signed
at Paris by Hanotaux, and the representatives of
Belgium and the Congo State, appointed plenipotentiaries
for the purpose. This convention contained six articles,
of which the last two were formal, and need not be
quoted. The first article conceded a part of the Belgian
claim, by constituting the Mbomu the upper course of
the Ubangi. It reads as follows : —

" Article 1. The frontier between the Independent
State of the Congo and the colony of the French Congo,
after following the thahveg of the Ubangi to the conflu-
ence 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)."

The second article so far qualified the exclusive rights
of the State on the Mbomu as to give France facilities in

THE LATER DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS 189

the pursuit of criminals, and in the maintenance of its
own communications on the right bank. Its terms will
sufficiently explain the qualifications under these heads.

" 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 eftect
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 provided for the gradual surrender to
French representatives of the various posts established by
the State north of the Uelle ; and the fourth and last of
the 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."

In this case, as in the preceding discussions and con-
ventions with France, the State lost something that it
absoluteh' possessed ; but the same wise political insight
which led the King of the Belgians to give up Niadi
Kuiliu, on which such large sums had been expended, and
to resign his legitimate claim to the 17th degree of east
longitude as boundary, induced His Majesty to waive his
right of possession north of the Mbomu. It is permissible
to believe that the King has not gone altogether without
reward in this matter, and that since the conclusion of the
last convention, in 1894, a better feeling has sprung up
in France towards the Congo State, and a more just appre-

THE CONGO STATE

ciation of the splendid work it lias accomplished in
Central Africa. It would be strange, indeed, if it were
not so, for the affinity of language and race between the
Belgians and French guarantees a mutual consideration
and a community of action that sliould remove all possi-
bility of collision on the Congo, the Ubangi, and the
Mbomu. So far as formal agreements and sig-ned docu-
ments can avert causes of strife, the arrangement between
the Congo State and France may now be regarded as com-
plete. A clear and well-defined boundary has been laid
down from the Atlantic to the Nile ; all causes of differ-
ence have been removed, and there undoubtedly exists an
increasing sympathy between the representatives of the
two States in the heart of Africa. At that prospect no
one has a right to take umbrage, as the harmony thus
established conduces to the success of the great civilising
work to which all Europe appended its signature.

The convention between Great Britain and the Congo
State did not arise out of any such acute differences as
those described between France and her neighbour. It
was caused rather by a wise and timely arrangement to
dispose of a certain part of the old possessions of Egypt,
in anticipation of their recovery by the overthrow of the
Dervishes. The text of this convention, dated the 12th
day of May 1894, and negotiated by the Baron Van
Eetvelde and Sir Francis Plunkett, British Minister at
Brussels, may be left to speak for itself Omitting the
introductory and concluding clauses, it reads as follows : —

"His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Sovereign of
the Independent State of the Congo, having recognised
the sphere of British influence as it was determined in the
Anglo-German arrangement of 1st July 1890, Great
Britain engages to give on lease to His Majesty certain
territories situated in the western basin of the Nile, on
the conditions specified in the following articles : —

" Article 1. A. It is agreed that the sphere of influ-

THE LATER DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS 191

ence of the Independent State of the Congo shall l)e
limited to the north of the German sphere in East Africa
by a frontier following the 30th meridian east of Green-
wich, to as far as its intersection with the crest of the
water-parting between the Nile and the Congo, and that
crest of the parting in the north and north-west directions.

" B. The frontier between the Independent State of
the Congo and the British sphere north of the Zambesi
will follow a direct line from the extremity of Cape Aka-
lunga on Lake Tanganyika, situated on the most northern
point of Cameron Bay (about 8° 15' south latitude), to the
right bank of the river Luapula, at the point where that
river issues from Lake Moero. The line will then be pro-
lono;ed direct to the entrance of that river into the lake ;
towards the south of the lake, however, it will deviate
sufficiently to leave the island of Kilwa to Great Britain.
Then it will follow the thalweg of the Luapula to as far as
the point where that river emerges from Lake Bangweolo.
It will then follow in a southern direction the meridian
of longitude passing by this point to as far as the crest
of the water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi,
then that crest to the Portuguese frontier.

" Article 2. Great Britain leases to His Majesty King
Leopold the Second, Sovereign of the Independent State
of the Congo, the territories hereafter stated to be occu-
pied and administered by Him, on the conditiojis and for
the period of time hereafter stipulated. These territories
will be limited by a line drawn from a point situated on
the western bank of Lake Albert immediately south of
Mahagi, to the nearest point of the frontier defined in
paragraph A of the preceding article. This line will then
follow the crest of the water-parting of the Congo and the
Nile to the 25th meridian east of Greenwich, and this
meridian to as far as its point of intersection with the
10th parallel north latitude; thence it will follow this
parallel direct to a point to be determined north of

192

THE CONGO STATE

Faslioda. It will then follow the thalwefi' of the Nile in
a southern direction to as far as Lake Albert, and the
western bank of that lake to the point aVjove indicated
south of Mahagi.

" This lease shall remain in vigour durino- the reign of
His Majesty King Leopold the Second, Sovereign of the
Independent State of the Congo.

" At the expiration of the reign of His ]\Iajesty it shall,
however, remain in full force so far as it concerns all the
part of the above-mentioned territories situated west of
the 30tli meridian east of Greenwich, as well as to a band
twenty-five kilometres broad, to be determined by mutual
agreement, extending from the crest of the water-parting
of the Nile and the Congo, to as far as the western zone
of Lake Albert, and comprising Port Mahagi.

" This extended lease shall remain in force as long as
the territories of the Congo shall remain, as an inde-
pendent State or a Belgian colony, under the sovereignty
of His Majesty and of the successors of His Majesty.

" During the whole continuance of the present lease a
special flag shall be used in the territories so leased.

" Article 3. The Independent State of the Congo
leases to great Britain, to be administered, when she shall
occupy it, under the conditions and for the period hereafter
determined, a strip of territory twenty-five kilometres
broad, extending from the most northern post on Lake
Tanganyika, which post is comprised in the strip,
to as far as the most southern point of Lake Albert
Edward.

" This lease shall have the same duration as that
which applies to the territories situated west of 30tli
meridian east of Greenwich.

" Article 4. His Majesty King Leopold 11., Sovereign of
the Independent State of the Congo, acknowledges that
he has not, and that he does not seek to acquire, any
other political rights in the territories leased to him in the

THE LATER DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS 193

basin of the Nile than those in conformity with the present
arrangement.

" In the same manner, Great Britain acknowledges that
she has not, and that she does not seek to acquire, any
other political rights in the strip of territory leased to her
between Lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward than those
in conformity with the present arrangement.

" Article 5. The Independent State of the Congo
authorises the construction across its territories by Great
Britain, or by a company duly authorised by the English
Government, of a telegraphic line, connecting the English
territories of South Africa with the sphere of English in-
fluence on the Nile. The Government of the Congo State
shall have all facilities to connect this line with its own
telegraphic system.

" This authorisation does not confer either on Great
Britain, or any company, person, or persons delegated
with a view to constructing the line, any rights of police
or administration in the territory of the Congo State.

" Article 6. In the territories leased by the present
arrangement, natives of each of the contracting parties
shall enjoy reciprocally the rights and immunities of the
natives of the other, and shall not be sul)jected to any
differential treatment."

The publication of this convention was received with
emphatic protestations on the part of the Governments of
France and Germany. The former protested against the
surrender to the Congo State of the whole of the former
Egyptian province of Bahr Gazelle, which was the practical
meaning of the boundaries ceded of longitude 25° east
and latitude 10° north to Fashoda. The latter protested
against the clause as to the twenty-five kilometre strip of
territory on the eastern 1)orders. The protest of France
was the more energetic and the more important, because
at the moment France and the Congo Government were
in active negotiations on the subject of the Mbomu. The

194

THE CONGO STATE

interval between May and August 1894, or, in otlier
words, between the dates of the two conventions cited,
was employed in establishing a basis of agreement between
France and the Congo State. It was discovered in the
direction of a further surrender 1)V the Kino- to the demands
of France ; and as His Majesty had paid his neighbour in
some form or other for any concession it had made to him
as Sovereign of the Independent State, so had he now
to secure its admission of his rights on the Mbomu and
on the Nile, by surrendering the greater part of the terri-
tory leased to him in the Balir (xazelle by Great Britain.
The clause of the convention with Great Britain eivin<>
the Congo State the territory to the 25th meridian east of
Greenwich, and this meridian to as far as its point of inter-
section with the lOth parallel of north latitude, and thence
eastwards to the Nile north of Fashoda, was attenuated
by the fourth article of that with France into "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." The King thus lost the greater part of the Bahr
Gazelle and 4^ degrees of the Nile that had been ceded to
him by Great Britain, but he also pacified the French
Government and French opinion. He secured a workable
frontier on the Mbomu, and a sufficiently clear one east-
wards to the Nile. Above all, he retained the position he
had obtained on the Nile. It is true, Lado and not Fashoda
became his most nortliern possession, but the grand aim
of the King's policy in obtaining a foothold on the Nile was
secured. With the same far-sighted intelligence which had
characterised all his measures, King Leopold saw that the
question of the Nile would form in the future the turning-
point in the question of the jjolitical and commercial
situation in Africa. He is the possessor of the magnifi-
cent water-way of the Congo — he controls, in whole or in

THE LATER DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS 195

part, all its affluents ; and on the Nile he has now secured
a rio;ht-of-wav for his flag, which at no distant date will
be esteemed not the least valuable of the many rights he
secured for his people in the interior of Africa.

The sul)ject of the Anglo-Congolese Convention of
May 1894 cannot be dismissed with expressions that refer
exclusively to its importance from the sole point of view
of what it was prudent and possible for the Independent
State to retain. It was, it must be remembered, an agree-
ment between the Government of (jrreat Britain and the
Congo State, by which the former gave the latter rights
in a region to which it claimed that no one else had any
pretensions. The ink on that agreement was scarcely dry
when France protested against its terms, and, as Great
Britain did not stand up to maintain its own handiwork,
there was no choice for the King but to make the most
satisfactory arrangement within his power and resources.
He did so with his usual admirable address. But the
question between England and France remains over.
The reconquest of the Soudan for Egypt has begun.
Before these lines are printed Omdurman will have fallen,
and the Khalifa's power will be shattered into the myriad
fragments out of which a little fanaticism — aided by the
unsurpassed blunders of the English Government and, to
be just, the English people — allowed it to be created. It
will then be necessary to reassert the authority of the
Khedive over the old dependent provinces of Khartoum.
Is it conceivable that a principle of attenuation in that
authority will be admitted because for fourteen or fifteen
years the Khedive's authority has been in abeyance ? Are
we going to cede to Fran(ie the abrogation of a right of re-
conquest which she would be the first to protest against and
to deny ? Yet iVlsace and Lorraine are no more essential to
the security of Paris than the Balir Gazelle is to the mastery
of the Upper Nile, and no toleration can be given to the
doctrine that the political errors of the Gladstone Govern-

196

THE CONGO STATE

ment in 1883-4, uikI the Ijad strategy of Lord Wolseley
ill 1884-5, liave alienated and detached that province from
the Anglo - Egyptian hegemony. The fate of the Bahr
Gazelle, so far as the complete security of the ^sile route
is involved, appertains to Egypt and Great Britain after
the resuscitation of the Soudan ; and Mr. Curzon echoed
this sentiment in his official reply to Sir Thomas M'Kenna
in May 1897, when he said, " The Egyptian Government
has renounced none of its })retensions on the territories of
the basin of the Upper Nile." It can only be satisfactorily
arranged by an actual Anglo-Egyptian occupation, or by
Great Britain placing the province in the safe hands of
the Independent State of the Congo, as was done by the
convention of May 1894.

CHAPTER XI

The Extinction of the Slave Trade

Before passing on to describe the operations which
resulted in the practical acquisition of the portion of the
Balir Gazelle, left to the State by the last convention
with France, it will be well to pause awhile and record
the arrangements and reo;ulations which resulted in the
extinction of the slave trade, if only because that exploit
constitutes the great claim of the Cono;o Government to
fame. So far as the subject was affected by military
measures, enough has been said in the record already
given of the Arab campaign, and the crowning portion of
the work will be disclosed when Chaltin placed the blue
flag with the golden star above Lado, and formed a barrier
in the path of the Dervishes to the south.

The story of how this success was obtained is set forth
in four masterly reports, written between the years 1889
and 1897, by the Baron Van Eetvelde, the Secretary of
State for the Independent State of the Congo, and it is
due to this able Minister to say that not only has he
described the measures with admirable lucidity, but that
he defined them with the acumen of a true statesman.
It will be evident from an examination of the facts, that
the wise administrative measures passed in Brussels had
as much to do with the complete success attained as
the series, of military successes won over Tippo Tip's
lieutenants and relations.

At the time that the King was decreeing the con-

THE CONGO STATE

struction of the camps of observation on the Lomami and
the Aruwimi, as the preliminary to active measures, the
legislation of the State was already clearly defined on the
subject of the slave trade and the protection of the
blacks. The juridical and administrative sides of the
problem had l)een carefully and thoroughly examined,
the provisions to be enforced had been laid down with a
firm hand, and as the zone of authority expanded, the
system to be introduced was in readiness for application.
That system was based on the terms of the Berlin Act,
supplemented by the appropriate sections of the penal
and civil codes of Belgium. The result was the intro-
duction of the most enlightened principles of civilisation
into the midst of a population to whom the ideas of
personal liberty and abstract justice were totally strange.

The very first point of the penal code was, that
slavery, even domestic slavery — the form of servitude
with which General Gordon in the Soudan found it
difiicult, or rather impossible, to deal summarily — was out-
side the law. On the Congo it was laid down from the
first that no man could be subjected to another, and all
who contributed in any degree to the traffic, detention,
or conveyance of any man at the bidding of another, were
rendered equally amenable to the law. The role of the
State was not to be passive in these matters. The judges,
and indeed all functionaries of the State, were bound to
assist and render protection to every man in main-
taining or procuring his liberty. A slave had only to say
that he was kept in servitude, to ol)tain the support of
the whole administration.

It was not difficult to make these lofty declarations,
but it was far more difficult to give them practical effect.
The blacks were regarded in the eyes of the law as
minors, and it became necessary, above all things, to
protect them against employers, who could easily make
the terms of engaging labour such as constituted a veiled

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 199

servitude. Here the State stepped in to protect the
weaker party, and to assert unknown principles of equity
amono- a race accustomed to violence and the denial of
justice. With the view of ensuring that no evasion of
the law should take place, it was decreed that all con-
tracts for the employment of labour among the blacks,
whether natives of the State or immigrants to it, should
be drawn up in writing ; but as this would necessarily be
in the form arranged by the master, the document only
acquired legal validity after it had received the vis(' of
the Belgian authority. This official interposition served
to establish two thino;s : first, that the labourer was a free
agent, and secondly, that he clearly understood the terms
and conditions under which he was engaged. There was
another element of danger or loophole for the evasion of
the law in the removal of labourers or servants from one
district to another, and therefore it was provided that,
before anyone could be so moved, the nearest official
should be satisfied of the willingness of the said person
to be so removed, before issuing the necessary passport.
In cases- where no written contract was drawn up, the
master was placed in a position of disadvantage in the
eyes of the law, and preference was always given to the
version of facts set forth by the employed. The utmost
length for which a contract could endure was for seven
years, and then the co-operation of the State was essential
for its renewal. The master was also debarred from pay-
ing in kind unless the contract specially provided for it,
and the State officers set their face against it because it
opened the door to arbitrary and uncertain payments.
Even local custom, to which when the labourer was plead-
ing his case the greatest weight was attached, was not
allowed to have any force when advanced in support of
the master's representations. There is only one more
condition to which attention need be drawn, and that is,
that the employer, on removing a labourer from his dis-

200

THE CONGO STATE

trict, was bound to undertake the charge of his return at
the termination of his contract.

These excellent and comprehensive arrangements
seemed to meet every side of the case, but there
remained a doubt as to how far they were carried out,
or as to whether better arrangements mio;ht not be dis-
covered ; and, with the view of ascertaining the truth,
Baron Van Eetvelde specially instructed the Director of
Justice on the Congo to inquire into the matter, and
report to him on the subject. After a careful examina-
tion, the Director reported in the following terms : —

" I do not discover any illicit acts attaching, either
directly or indirectly, to the slave trade in blacks or to
the transport of slaves which escape the knowledge of
our tribunals. The state of slavery, even in the milder
form of domestic servitude, which it often assumes among
the native populations, having no existence in the eyes
of our legislation, it results, in fact, that no one can be
detained or retained aojainst his will, whatever be the
means employed. But does there exist, under the pretext
of obligations freely contracted, a slavery more or less
mitigated ?

" Permit me to enter here into some expansion of the
subject, and to endeavour to show the notions the blacks
have of their existence, and of the extent of their rights.
There is singularly great misconception if our black
labourers are represented as unconscious beings, passively
docile, and not protesting against tyranny. The usages
in vogue show this sufficiently. In all the Lower Congo,
the black, when he engages for service, demands a
mouhande. The mouJcande is the instrument which con-
tains the literal proof of the contract which has just been
concluded, or which sets forth any right or oliligation
whatever. It mentions the scale of salary, defines the
service to be rendered, and the length of the contract.
The use of the monJcande is very extended and very

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 201

frequent. Once in possession of his nioukande, the black
is reassured. He knows that all the obligations con-
tracted towards him will be faithfully observed ; so he
does not always hasten to exact the stipulated payment.
He preserves his writing about him, to realise its value
when he shall want it. Should any disaccord arise as to
the execution of the clauses of the contract, or if he
thinks himself wronged, the black hastens to the judge
and pleads his case until he has obtained satisfaction.

" Generally, the black does not engage his services for
a lengthy period. As soon as he has by means of his
labour collected a little sum of money, he returns to his
village, where, if he does not establish himself, he will
joyfully spend the fruit of his savings among his own in
order to thereafter contract a new engagement.

" These customs of the blacks being; granted, their
extreme love of law-suits (palal)res), in the course of
which they often reveal vcritnble talent as pleaders, and
give proof of great tenacity in their pretensions, is another
cause of their readiness for litigation. If, moreover,
allowance is made for the very short extent of their
engagements (six months, or at most a year), it is dithcult
to conceive that it is possible to reduce them, under the
pretext of freely accepted obligations, to a slavery more
or less mitigated, for it is only under the form of con-
tracts for a long term or for an indefinite term that
slavery can be established.

" Moreover, the particulars that I have collected permit
me to affirm that in all the fact(nies established on our
territory from Banana to Ango Ango, Matadi, and beyond,
the blacks look closely to the observance of the clauses of
their moukande. They know that they have the right to
engage their services as they intend, and that they can-
not be retained be3^ond the time fixed by mutual agree-
ment with the master. As to respect for their rights, it
is guaranteed not only by the tutelar intervention of the

202

THE CONGO STATE

judicial nutliorities, but still more by the interests them-
selves of commerce. I will cite on this point a very
characteristic fact. I am happy to have the opportunity
of making it known, for it shows that the blacks are far
from resembling the inert being without resource or
energy that many persons represent them to be.

"A European employe of a mercantile house at Boma,
having committed some months ago a sufficiently graA'e
assault on a l)lack labourer, was brought, on his complaint,
before the criminal tribunal, ^^•hi(•ll pronounced a severe
sentence. This employe was also forthwith dismissed,
because the inhabitants of the village to which the victim
belonged, not content with the punishment pronounced,
threatened to place in cjuarantine the factory to which
the guilty employe was attached, and to carry elsewhere
their produce.

" All that precedes relates more particularly to the
customs of the natives of the Lower Congo, but beside the
native labourers are numerous blacks from all parts of
the African coast. Sierra Leone (English), the Republic
of Liberia, etc. etc. They are employed in our stations
and in the commercial houses, in the quality of carpenters,
smiths, etc. etc. All these people from the West Coast
of Africa, where for long years, thanks to the English
inliuence, the practice of slavery has been abolished, and
where a certain degree of civilisation exists, are as well
informed as to the respect due to the law of contracts as
are our European workmen. All are provided with
writings or certificates stating the length of the service,
wages, etc. etc.

" I do not at this moment see any modifications called
for in the existing legislative dispositions. I will take
care to denote them in succeeding reports should their
necessity be indicated l)y circumstances."

From this statement Baron Van Eetvelde very naturally
concluded that the existing legislation was adequate ; but

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 203

he went 011 to say that there remained the heavy task of
extending more and more its application to the regions
outside the direct and immediate exercise of the State's
authority. In the districts of the Lower Congo the slave
trade might be considered cj[uite stamped out, on the
Middle Congo it was in course of disappearance, and on
the Upper Congo, where it was essentially a military
question, the campaigns were then in progress for the
destruction of the Arab power. Two subsidiary but vital
matters for the success of these efforts were the prohibi-
tion of modern rifles generally throughout the State, and
of all guns and weapons in the upper region, by two
decrees dated 11th Octobe]- 1888 and 28th January 1889.
Not less important, from a moral point of view, was
the suppression of the spirit traffic above the Cataracts,
and the imposition of a heavy, and for the blacks an
almost prohibitive, duty on all spirits in the Lower Congo.
L-nfortunately, the neighbouring European States — especi-
ally Germany — did nothing to contribute to the growth
of civilisation in this direction ; and, when dealing with
the baseless charges brought against the Congo adminis-
tration on this head, it will be necessary to enter into
the details of the spirit question, and to apportion the
blame, from which there will be no difficulty in showing
that the State has been entirely free.

The results achieved up to the moment of writing in
1891 w^ere well set forth by Baron Van Eetvelde in a
letter to the King in July of that year : —

" Thus is the struggle being carried on against slavery,
generally by pacific means, sometimes also more ener-
getically. For a certainty, such a work is not accom-
plished in a day ; much must be left to time and the
constancy of the effort ; we must not also deceive our-
selves that such a heavy task requires abundant resources
and concordant means of action. A result is even now
obtained : it is, that the men-hunters have been confined

204

THE CONGO STATE

to ;i circumscribed region, and that the Arab invasion,
which was advancing as a conquering force, lias been
arrested from the north to the south of our territories.
The camps, estal:)lished at great expense by the State, have
stopped the current, have prevented it descending the
Congo to force its way across the Pool and menace the
surrounding possessions. If the State had only attained
this result, it would still have merited well of civilisation
and humanity.

"The day that the peril of slavery shall have been
conjured, the disinherited populations of the upper river
will be also summoned to inaugurate a new era of mate-
rial and moral development, in imitation of the tribes of the
Lower and the Middle Congo. Here, in fact, the progress
is undeniable. Slowly but surely the black is being-
transformed, his intellectual horizon is being enlarged,
his sentiments are l)eing refined. A thousand facts, in
appearance insignificant, mark the halting - place left
behind. The black to-day lias his place marked out there,
where ten years ago no one thought of utilising 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 stuff's, 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 eff'ected by
means of bonds, or of monhandes, which are then cashed
at the European revenue offices. He has the consciousness
of his own personality — claims loudly the redress of any

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 205

wroiio'

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

THE CONGO POSTMAN.

State has started a system of colonies of schools, the
pupils of which are rapidly increasing, notably at
Berghe-Sainte-Marie. Fetishism, finally, is beginning to
lose adherents, and religious proselytism proceeds not
without success.

" The legend of the negro opposed to all improve-

2o6

THE CONGO STATE

meiit 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 tliat there remains much
to be done in order to introduce by successive stages
that civilisation to the furthest frontiers of the State.
But the facts warrant our believing in the possibility
of sucli a result, which is the final object of the enter-

A .■•I llimL UN IHE L'iNi-ii.

prise of your Majest}\ The Congo State in the six years
since it was created has not failed in its task. Time
and perseverance will crown the work, and it will Ije to
Belgium, if she wishes it, that its accomplishment will
belong."

When Baron Van Eetvelde wrote his next report on the
subject, more than three years later— in December 1894 —
he was able to bring forward many accomplished facts
that revealed how the area of libertv in Central Africa
had been widelv extended. The credit for these measures

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE 207

was largely enhanced by the fact that some of them
had been put in force liefore the Brussels Act had been
drafted. After it they were amplified in some details,
and enforced in all with greater rigidity. The State
authorities, as has been said, bore the brunt of the
labour and responsibility that ensued from the moral
declarations of Europe at Brussels. Their efforts entailed
the struggle, sanguinary but brief as it proved, with
the Arabs, and a few months before the date of the
report it had terminated in the signal triumph on
the Lualaba and Tanganyika,. To cement and confirm
its results there remained to pursue the supporters of
the slave trade to their lairs on the north-east and in
the south. It was also necessary to establish a secret
police, and exercise a close surveillance on the move-
ments of those who would l)reak or evade the law. But,
above all, it was necessary to add to the number of
posts and to bring the Courts nearer to the centres
of population. With regard to the former, Dungu on
the Uelle was established in the direction of the Nile,
and, as for the latter, the magistrates moved the seat of
their jurisdiction from Boma to Leopoldville and New
Antwerp.

The area of effective occupation steadily increased, the
number of stations augmented every year, and with this
progress of authority the good work of civilisation also
advanced. When Baron Van Eetvelde next surveyed the
situation in Central Africa, he was able to record the
practical extinction of the slave trade in all its forms
under the flag of the Congo State. I extract, as the
most effective conclusion to this chapter, from his report
of 25th January 1897, the brilliantly written paragraphs,
in which the Secretary of State for the Independent State
of the Congo narrates the story of the great triumph thus
achieved in the cause of humanity : —

" The Congo State inherited from its birth the heaviest

208

THE CONGO STATE

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 im-
portant markets of human flesh. However willing Avere
the Powers, who in the Berlin Act solemnly condemned
the slave trade, the most optimistic only dared to hope
for the disappearance of the abominaljle practices, like
those Stanley had witnessed on the Ijanks 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 exist-
ence, that, struck by a sentiment of legitimate indignation,
the Powers again decided by the Act of Brussels to deal a
decisive blow at the slave trade.

" The Brussels Conference characterised the part re-
served 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
battlefield. The number of enemies to be fought, the
organisation of their bands, their installation from a
remote date in the regions which they had terrorised,
their supply in firearms and munitions, the subjection
even of the natives, were so many grounds of apprehen-
sion and disquietude as to the final issue of the struggle

THE EXTINCTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE

iindertuken, and as to the fate ultimately reserved for
the AfricaD 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 ruin 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

A CONGO .SCHOOL — FIELD WORK.

Africa and its tribes, and the situation was tersely de-
fined 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.
14

2IO

THE CONGO STATE

Whether they will carry the day or not, I could not
say.'

" Civilisation did carry the day ; and has not history
to register that this victory for the Congo State — due,
moreover, 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 and definitive ruin of the pro-
moters 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, and of what heroism in some, 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 and planting — an
era of calm, of tranquillity, succeeding the sombre and
sanguinary episodes of the old regime. Every mail from
Africa brings the 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."

CHAPTER XII

The Advance to the Nile

Having obtained the right to extend its authority over a
great portion of the ohl Egyptian province of the Bahr
Gazelle, although this was diminished to the territory of
Lado by the French Convention, there was no reason for
the State to delay the advance to the Nile, and to thus
place the seal of acquisition to the concessions on paper.
Before the convention was signed, Belgian explorers had
penetrated into the region north of the Mbomu, and by
the aid of the Sultans of the north- — Bangasso, Rafai,
and Semio — Hanollet had reached the Chari, Mills the
Adda, Fievez the Bahr Gazelle. These gallant representa-
tives of the Congo State had actually secured the south-
western outworks of the Khalifa's power, and were on
the eve of creating a firm barrier against its expansion,
when the arrangement with France necessitated the
withdrawal of all the posts north of the Mbomu. The
moment of compulsory withdrawal was doubly unfortunate,
because it coincided with a renewed advance of the
Mahdists. In 1894 the Khalifa despatched one of his
Emirs and a relative, Kashim el Mousse, with a few
thousand men, to reassert his power in the Bahr Gazelle.
Although the Belgians repulsed several attacks on their
outposts, their subsequent withdrawal by arrangement
with France could not fail to be regarded as a discomfiture
for the Europeans. From that day to this France has
failed to reach the point of authority achieved by the

212

THE CONGO STATE

Congo State in the Balir Gazelle in 1894, and there is no
reason to suppose that the Marchand Expedition will
achieve any permanent results.

Some serious troubles with the Azande chiefs of the
Upper Uelle diverted the attention of the State authori-
ties and also their resources to another matter. In
March 1894 the Sultan Mbili assassinated Captain
Bonvalet and Sergeant Devos, and in the following
February the Sultan N'Doruma caused to be murdered
in a treaclierons manner Captain Janssens, Sergeant Van

Holsbeck, and fifty-nine sol-
diers. These outrages called
for immediate reparation ; but
although Captain Christiaens
inflicted some punishment on
JNIbili soon after Bonvalet's
murder, it was not until the
first few^ weeks of 1896 that
Commandant Chaltin, a gal-
lant officer and able adminis-
trator, with whose name the
Nile successes will be perman-
ently associated, was ready to
proceed with the task to be

COMMANDANT CHALTIN. ^

done.

Leaving Nyangara on 1st March, Chaltin first attacked
Mbili, who, although defeated and driven out of his chief
camps, still breathed defiance, and in a desperate attempt
to recover wdiat he had lost, assumed the offensive by
attacking the Belgian camp. In accordance with the
chivalrous customs of his race, he gave notice of his
intention, and was defeated with heavy loss. This event
occurred on 17th March 1896, and after it Mbili became
a hunted fugitive, attended by only a few of his women
and warriors. Then Chaltin turned to attack N'Doruma,
and on the plain of Bongoyo there took place a pitched

THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE

213

battle with that chief's brother M'Bima, in which the
Azandes fought with admirable courage. They charged
three times to within twenty yards of the Belgian line,
under the concentrated fire of three hundred magazine
rifies. When M'Bima was vanquished, there remained
N'Doruma, whose chief residence was reached on 5th April.
Here he had collected all his fighting men, of whom many
were armed with rifles ; and when the Belgians approached
they again assumed, perhaps recklessly, the offensive. The
fight that followed lasted nearly an hour, and the blacks
again fought with admirable heroism, rushing back to
rescue the bodies of their fallen companions, under a heavy
fire. At last they were driven in rout from the field, but
their losses would have been heavier if the pursuit had not
been interrupted by Clialtin being accidentally wounded
by one of his own men. N'Doruma, a man of ability,
and with the reputation of unqualified success, was thus
compelled, like his neighbours, to become a fugitive ; and
Chaltin had the satisfaction of exacting complete atone-
ment for the treacherous murder of his comrades-in-arms
from an enem.y who had never known defeat. The merit
of the success of this six weeks' campaign was enhanced by
the fact that it was gained with troops of the Congo valley,
led by only four Europeans besides the commander.

As a preliminary to the further operations, several
forts were constructed in the Uelle region, and, as the
raison d'etre for their creation was the possible advance
of the Mahdists, they Avere made after a stronger fashion
than the ordinary type of fort in the Congo valley. Of
these the principal are Dungu, Kubasidu, and Dirfi.
Each of these is surrounded by a deep and broad ditch
and a high parapet, and contains a battery of six guns.
The garrison of Dungu is eight hundred and ten men, and
of the others about five hundred men, from which an idea
may be formed of the force the State has felt it necessary
to throw out in a north-easterly direction. In conjunction

214

THE CONGO STATE

with these forts, a second line had also been constructed
along the Upper Aruwimi and Itimbiri. Here Avakubi
and Ekwanga are the two most important positions.

Havino- chastised the hostile chiefs named, the arranffe-
ments for the advance to the Nile were hurried on, and
it was proposed to utilise both lines of advance — that
by the Uelle and that by the Aruwimi- Itimbiri. The
column operating by the former, with its base at Dungu,
was entrusted to the command of Chaltin, while that
operating from the Aruwimi, which was to form a junction
with it at Dirfi, had as its leader Baron Dhanis, the con-
queror of Manyema, who had just returned from Europe.
At the end of 1896 all the preparations were made, and
the order to advance was given. The latter column
moved forward in several detachments, the advance
guard of which was under the command of Captain Leroi.
but before reaching Dirfi its progress was arrested by
several mutinies on the part of the troops composing the
force. In consequence of this unexpected occurrence.
Baron Dhanis was unable to advance any fiirther, and his
column took no part in the Nile Expedition. The con-
sideration of this important and calamitous event can be
better treated in a separate chapter, Avhile in this the
fortunes of the column that succeeded in hoisting the
State flag on the banks of the Nile may be followed.

To Chaltin, as Commissary-General of the Uelle
district, and as the cliastiser of the truculent Saltans of
Mbili and N'Doruma, fell the task of combining with Baron
Dhanis in the advance to the Nile, and his good fortune
decreed that he should enjoy the credit of the success
achieved. . On the 14th December 1896 his column
marched out of Dungu, and it was composed of seven
detachments or companies, each a hundred strong, under
the command of a Belgian officer. A further company of
nearly a hundred men, under Lieutenant Sarolea, was
organised, in the early stages of the march, to watch and

THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE

215

guard the movements of the two hundred and fifty
carriers who conveved the stores of the column ; and
attached to this was also a band of nineteen musicians.
There was also a Niam Niam or Azande contingent of
fifty rifles and five hundred lancers, under their chiefs
Renzi and Bafuka. In the line of march the Niam Niam
contingent was employed as flankers and as a rear guard,
while the bulk of the regular force with the artillery
nitirched in the centre of the column.

On 1st January 1897 the force left Surrur, re-named
Vankerckhovenville, in honour of the gallant soldier of that
name, and situated a little north of the third parallel of
north latitude and about 29° 30' of east lono-itude. The
distance between this place and the Nile is two hundred
miles, and many travellers — of whom Baker, Junker, and
Emin need only be named — had given such complete
geographical details about it that the region might be
described as thoroughly well known. In his description
of this part of the march, Chaltin says in his oflicial
report that the country ^^'aR remarkal)ly fertile, and that
the people were entirely given up to agricultural pursuits.
Elephants, buffaloes, antelopes, and goats were also
abundant. The villages were surrounded by a thick
cactus hedge, with the smallest entrance through which a
human being could pass. The natural resources of the
country, and the pacific industrious character of the
Loggos tribes, justify sanguine hopes of the future of a
region which only requires peace and the presence of a
just, if firm, government to rank among the most pro-
mising divisions of Central Africa. The following extract
will suffice to show that there is no exaggeration in this
prediction about the Bahr Gazelle: — "On the 13th
January Ave reached Kaduruma, where we were surprised
at the sight of the plantations, a veritable ocean of
sorghum extending in all directions as far as the horizon.
What wealth ! Here and there, in these immense fields.

2l6

THE CONGO STATE

is erected a kind of observatoiy, about sixteen to twenty
feet high, in which are posted children, who cry, sing, and
shout in order to frighten tlie grain devourers."

The advance of the column throuuh this resrion was in
the main unopposed. One or two skirmishes, in which
the natives were dispersed by a few volleys, while the
column itself had only some men wounded by poisoned
arrows, represented all the fighting until the valley of the
Nile and the stations of the Mahdists were approached.
On the 14tli February, after a two months' march,
Chaltin's force reached the Nile at the old (and then
destroyed) Egyptian station of Bedden. The very day of
its arrival, the scouts of the column exchanged shots with
those of the Dervishes sent out to encounter the Europeans
from the station of Redjaf. A two days' halt was neces-
sary to allow of the arrival of the rear guard and of one
or two reconnoitring parties.

In the evening of the 16th Februarv the sentinels of
tlie Belgian force retired on the camp with the news that
the enemy was approaching, and immediately afterwards
there appeared on a hill, about a mile off, a body of Der-
vishes under several banners. Two shells well directed
sufficed to disperse them, and during the night no attack
was made on the camp. Having brought up all his troops,
Chaltin determined to assume the offensive, and, having
provided for the security of his camp, he marched north-
wards at six in the morning of 17lh February. The
Nile flowed on his right hand, and protected that flank,
On his left, the Azande lancers and rifles scouted, and
served as a screen for the regulars. At seven o'clock the
advance guard came in sight of the Dervishes, drawn up
in a lono- line on some heiofhts, extendino- from the Nile to
another river parallel with it. The position was some two
miles in length, and appeared impregnable, a defile through
the hills being specially well guarded. Chaltin formed his
attacking column of five companies, extended in loose

217

THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE

219

order, while he held the three remaining companies in
reserve. The Dervishes opened fire, but their aim was so
high that the men in the fighting line suffered little,
whereas those in reserve lost a few at the very commence-
ment of the action. For half an hour the State forces, well
sheltered behind rocks, reserved their fire, while the Der-
vishes wasted their ammunition to little effect. The
Krupp gun, worked under the direction of Sergeant Cnjot,
threw a number of shells into the centre of the enemy.
After these preliminary movements, the Malidists showed
an intention of assuming the offensive by attacking on the
flanks, whereupon the Belgian commander at once ordered
the advance, and his troops took up a new position at a
distance of little more than two hundred yards from the
enemy. They then opened fire, which was sustained for
some time with s^reat effect. The Malidists, suffering con-
siderably from it, resumed their attempt to outflank
Chaltin's force ; but that oflicer, perceiving the movement
in good time, baffled it by the prompt advance of the
greater part of his reserve. To complete the effect of this
advantage, Chaltin ordered the chief Renzi, son of the
Sultan Semio, mentioned in a previous chapter, to charge
with his body of lancers, and cut off the flanking force
from the main body of the Dervishes. This manoeuvre
was so skilfully executed that the right wing of the enemy
was completely cut off, and suffered considerable loss.

In the meantime the main position of the enemy was
assailed and carried by assault. Three companies carried
the defile, while the two others stormed the heights. The
Arabs fought well, and at first retreated slowly. A
Belgian officer, Lieutenant Sarolea, was killed at the head
of his company in the attack on the defile, but his was the
only European life lost during the action. The Dervishes
suffered considerably, and, after the heights were carried,
their retreat became a flight, during which they threw away
arms and ammunition. Their chief leader, Mahomed Adi

2 20

THE CONGO STATE

Badi, was among the slain, and among the killed were found
many Egyptians and Abyssinians as well as Soudanese.
Considering that the Dervishes held a naturally strong
position, were well armed, and fought at first with great
confidence, the victory was a very considerable one.
Chaltin attributed his decisive and (juickly obtained suc-
cess— for the action was won in an hour and a half — to
the enemy's mistaken tactics in delivering the fiank attack.
He wrote : "Well entrenched in the hills, and numbering
two thousand men, they could have resisted us for a long
time, if they had not committed the mistake of attempting
a turning movement."

The day's fighting was not over. The engagement
described ended at half-past eiglit, and the force resumed
its march. All the affluents of the Nile were dry, and for
seventeen miles the troops progressed under a burning
sun. At half-past one the advance guard came in sight of
the Dervish position at Eedjaf. Here the Dervishes had
guns in a battery, but the shells they threw proved quite
innocuous. They had also concealed a part of their men
in a ravine close to the Nile bank, and with these they
attempted a flank attack, which was fortunately discovered
in good time and repulsed. The action then became
general, and as the State troops arrived they attacked in
greater earnestness. The Dervishes were driven into the
town of Redjaf, and the troops followed them, fighting
from street to street and house to house. At seven o'clock
in the evening the action was over, although the Mahdists
kept up a desultory fire for many hours later. The day's
fighting had resulted in two defeats, in the open, of the
forces of Khartoum, and in the capture of the town of
Redjaf More than twelve hours separated the first shot
in the morning from the last at night, and the interval
had been filled up by a march of nearly twenty miles as
well. It would be difficult for any troops to show greater
courage or endurance than the Congo force on this occasion.

THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE

221

The town of Redjaf was captured on 17th February,
but there remained its citadel, and no one supposed that
it would be surrendered without a blow. But when the
sun rose on the 18th it was soon discovered that the
place was evacuated, and that the Mahdists, having lost
eight of their fighting Emirs and several hundred men
killed, were in no mood to fight to the death. They
availed themselves of the darkness to escape northwards,
A considerable spoil was taken at Eedjaf, including three
cannon, an enormous number of weapons, including seven
hundred breechloaders, and a welcome supply of provisions.
This second success was obtained for a comparatively
trifling loss on tlie part of the State forces. The day fol-
lowing the fall of Redjaf, Chaltin marched as far north as
Lado, " a solitude surrounded by marshes," and occupied
the most northern point of the territory left the State by
the arrangement with France of August 1894. The sur-
rounding tribes testified their gladness at the repulse of
the Mahdists ; and as Redjaf was the only post they had
maintained on the Upper Nile, its capture signified the
disappearance of their power from the old Equatorial
province.

In this remarkably satisfactory and speedy manner,
with equal credit to Commandant Chaltin and the men who
followed him, was the advance to the Nile accomplished.
The success of the Congo State forces over the followers of
the despot of Khartoum was one of the first of the blows
struck for his downfall. As a military feat it was interest-
ing and instructive, because it served to show that the
Mahdists were not such formidable warriors as a hasty
deduction from Abu Klea and other Soudan battles would
show. They were brave and fanatical, but bravery and
fanaticism have never availed against superior confidence,
calmness, and skill. There are those who wished to make
the alleged formidableness and invincibility of the Der-
vishes, for their own exoneration, a kind of fetishism.

222

THE CONGO STATE

Chaltin, in his own quiet and effective manner, was one of
the first to destroy this cult, by showing that they could
be beaten by a smaller force, and that black troops, led by
a few white faces, could do the w^ork as effectually as a
special service corps.

Since the return of Commandant Chaltin on leave to
Europe the command on the Nile has been exercised bv
Commandant Hanollet. The Belgian garrison on the
Nile is not less than three thousand strong ; one gun-
boat has actually reached the river; and in a short time
Commandant Chaltin will return to the scene where he did
such excellent work, and where he will no doubt find
fresh openings for his energy and capacity. No one who
has met Commandant Chaltin can doubt that in him the
Congo State possesses a brave, energetic, and single-
minded soldier. The mishap of the 21st of May, when
three Belgian oflicers, Walhousen, Coppejans, and Bien-
aime, were drowned or wounded in an ambuscade near
Redjaf, possessed no significance.

The success obtained in the early weeks of 1897 has
proved permanent. The Dervishes have never attempted
to recover the ground they then lost to Chaltin. In the
meantime the position of the Congo State in the Lado
territory has been immensely strengthened, despite the
diversion of attention to the mutiny of the men com-
posing the Dhanis column. The posts of Dungu, Dirfi,
and others are held by large garrisons. At Redjaf a con-
siderable force, well capable of assuming the offensive if the
necessity should arise, occupies a strong position, and Com-
mandant Chaltin has added to his reputation as a soldier
by the prudent and capable administration he has carried
on during the eighteen months that have elapsed since the
victory on the Nile. It only remains to strengthen the
position and to increase the striking power of the State,
by placing on the upper w^aters of the Nile, in that section
which has been assigned to it, one or two gunboats.

THE ADVANCE TO THE NILE

223

These will be sent by the Congo railway to Stanley
Pool, thence up the river to the Uelle or the Aruwimi,
and beyond that in sections to their destination. The
presence of a small flotilla of this description will effectu-
ally close the avenue of escape for the Mahdists to the
south after the fall of the Khalifa's power, with the
recovery of Khartoum and Omdurman. Even as it is,
the Belgian garrison at Redjaf would be well able to
account for aliy number of Mahdists likely to be arrayed
against it, and its presence alone will probably suffice, when
the break-up of the Mahdist system happens, to induce
the relics of the Mohammedan fanatical force to turn
for refuge in some other direction. That closing of the
southern avenue was to be the Congo State's contribu-
tion to the crowning work of civilisation in the Soudan ;
and it is on record that the King of the Belgians, with
less than the usual little encouragement all his great
projects in Central Africa have received from the Belgian
people, and in face of great diplomatic difficulties, has
made the contribution in the success of the campaign for
the occupation of Lado and Redjaf.

Great as was the success of the Belgians on the Nile,
it would have been greater hut for the attenuation of
their sphere of operations by the action of French
diplomacy. Even in respect to the little left for the
Congo State, dissatisfaction was expressed in French
Colonial circles when the success of the Chaltin Expedi-
tion demonstrated that the King had made his rights
on paper a solid territorial acquisition. This sentiment
was rendered the more intelligible as the difficulties in
front of the Liotard and Marchand Expeditions became
clearer, and as the French saw a rapid success in that
part of the Bahr Gazelle to which they had advanced
pretensions recede l^efore them. The position of the
Congo State on the Nile is in strict conformity with
the convention with France, and that Power is never

224

THE CONGO STATE

likely to seriously propose the cancelling or modification
of its terms. It will await, then, the development of events
in the Khartoum region and the western provinces of the
Soudan — Kordofan and Darfur. In that stage of the
Upper Nile question its part will consist in closing the
route of escape for the Dervishes by the great river to
the Lakes. But when the Mahdist power has l)een
shattered, and the administration of the regions above
the junction of the two Niles has to be strenuously
taken in hand, then it will only be natural for the British
Government to revert to and reconfirm the convention it
signed with the Congo State in May 1894, by which, as
has been explained, the whole of the Bahr Gazelle pro-
vince was leased to King Leopold. The State will have
deserved this reward and mark of confidence by the useful
co-operation it has already rendered, and will continue to
render, in the break-up of the fanatical, uncivilised, and
devastating power established by the ^lahdi and his
successor, the Khalifa, at Khartoum. The hope may
perhaps be indulged that, in the eventual taking over
of its old provinces by Egypt that must follow the
recovery of Khartoum, which is now so imminent, French
opinion may be led to see as satisfactory a settlement of
the question as is practicably attainable, in the reversion
of the Bahr Gazelle province to the Congo State.

CHAPTER XIII

The Congo Public Force

Before describing the misfortunes of the Dhanis column
and the serious mutiny of the Batetela contingent, it will
be well to give an account of the State's military forces,
which are now known under the title of the Congo Public
Force.

When the International Association began its opera-
tions, and during the first years after the creation of the
State, all the men employed for military purposes were
foreigners. They were, of course, blacks, but not Con-
o'olese. The men were recruited in Zanzibar, and alonsf
the West Coast at Lagos, Sierra Leone, Elmira, and Accra.
They were thus divisible into two classes — Zanzibaris and
Haussas. They were not only efficient in a military sense,
but they were also thoroughly loyal, having no reason for
sympathy with the tribes with which they had to fight.
On the other hand, the maintenance of this body of troops
was extremely costly. The men received in pay one
shilling a day (l franc 25 cents), besides their food,
uniform, and attendance when ill. They were also sent
back to their homes on the expiration of their term of
engagement at the expense of the authorities, and, as
their engagement was only for three years, this formed
an important item in the cost of the contingent. The
resources of the State would not admit of so heavy a
burden being permanently endured. Another reason for
altering the system was furnished l)y the difficult}' in
15

226

THE CONGO STATE

procuring Haus.sa recruits ; and at last this difficulty was
rendered insuperable by the British authorities on the
Gold Coast prohibiting any further recruiting of Haussas
by foreign States. But Ijefore this extreme step was taken
the Congo Government had practically solved the diffi-
culty for itself

As far back as the year 1885 a commencement had
been made in the raising of a native local force, as supple-
mentary to the main body of the regular troops. Captain
Co(|uilliat, when he founded E(|uateurville in that year,
engaged some of the Bangala tril)e as an armed police,
and his example was followed a little later by Captain
Van Dorpe among the Manyanga. As new stations were
founded in all directions, the application of the same
principle increased the force to considerable dimensions ;
and the reports as to the fitness of the men for a military
career proving favourable, the natural consequence fol-
lowed in a decision to employ only aboriginal races in
the force entrusted with the defence of the territory and
the maintenance of internal order. At the moment, then,
that the burden of maintaining three thousand alien troops
beoan to orow intolerable, there was discovered the mate-
rial for a national force that would render their employ-
ment perfectly needless. In 1888 an order was issued to
form eight companies of one hundred to one hundred and
fifty men, to be increased if necessary to two hundred
to two hundred and fifty men.

In July 1891 Baron Van Eetvelde and the Governor-
General, M. Camille Janssen, drew a scheme for the
formation of the Public Force, which Avas immediately
approved and passed into law by the decree of the
Sovereign.

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, chiefiy Belgians, should be

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

227

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-lieu-
tenants, and sixty sergeants. The new system of re-
cruiting was of two kinds. The first provided for the
engagement of volunteers for a period not exceeding seven
years, and tlie 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.

HECRUITS FOR THE PUBLIC FORCE.

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,

228

THE CONGO STATE

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 had never been found possible to
maintain more tlian 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 whicli time the alien element had been elimi-
nated, the PuIjHc Force was raised to a grand total of

CONGO FORCE — FIRE DISCIPLINE.

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, whereas in 1891
the total was only two thousand nine hundred and fifty.

For the purpose of training these forces, seven camps
of about five hundred men each were formed, and the
period of training the men midergo is fixed at eighteen
months. The uniform is blue linen, or, for full uniform,
Ijlue cloth, with a scarlet fez. The arm in general use

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

231

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 consider-

FOIIT AT CIIINKAKASSA.

able strength, and includes, besides Krupps, sixteen
Maxims and twenty-four 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 ; l)ut Vankerckliovenville, Dungu, and Redjaf
are now of e(|ual, 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

232

THE CONGO STATE

railway terminus ; and here an experiment has been suc-
cessfully tried of utilising the services of prisoners of war.
Men selected from the captives of the numerous expedi-
tions 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 Pul)lic Force
on more favourable terms than the militia — men recruited
through the chiefs. Kinshassa is not the only fortified
place within the State territory ; for at Chinkakassa, near

THE CONCO POLIC E.

Boma, a strong fort has been constructed, commanding
tlie navigation of the Congo and the approaches from the
ocean. Here Captain Petillon, of the Belgian Engineers,
has placed eight Krupps and a numlier of smaller guns
in an admirably selected position, while the JMongos 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 procur-
ing suitable men for this arm of their Public Force.

The first and oldest company of the Public Force

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

233

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 organisa-
tion 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

l'ri;],li: FiiKi i; A mavj 11 ui I .

of the railwav works and of the villao-es through which the
railway passed. As eight thousand navvies were employed
on the line, and as these were composed of many nation-
alities, the task was no sinecure, but it was performed with
perfect success and without friction. The auxiliary force
w;is 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. Al-
though of precisely the same race as the mutineers of the

234

THE CONGO STATE

Dlianis coluimi. the latter o-ave no troiil)le 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 coi'ps was 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 fjivourably 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 Congro territorv.

With regard to the system of conscription in force,
I cannot give a better or clearer description than by
translating the paragraphs relating thereto from Baron
Van Eetvelde's report of 25th January 1897 : —

"The State has set itself to the task of creating a purely
national arm}', 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 recruit-
ing 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 voluntar}' engagements, is
made by annual levies, but ' within the limits of the

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

235

contingent fixed by the King - Sovereign,' and within
these limits ' tlie Governor-General determines the dis-
tricts 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 liags 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 discontents that the
State could have carried out its anti-slavery campaign.
The State continues to interest itself in its soldiers after
their terra has expired. The time-expired men, sent back

236

THE CONGO STATE

to their homes at its exjicnse, 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."

It is often easier to create an active army than an efficient
reserve, but without the latter the former is of doubtful
value. As organised in the first instance, the reserve of the
Public Force was limited to the time-expired men, who
remained on the lists for a further period of two years.

BARRACKS AT JiOJIA.

For that purpose they could only be called out by order
of the Governor-General, and, except under special orders,
they were to be exempted from drill, and to fulfil their
duties in the garrison of the camps, and not on active
service during the expeditions that might be undertaken.
Experience has shown that the reserve thus created is
inadequate to the requirements of the State. It was
therefore decided, at the beginning of the year 1898, to
form another reserve independent of the reserve of the
active army. This corps is to be composed of men who

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

237

have passed through the army and the regular reserve, and
of contingents recruited by annual levies, conformably
with the stipulations of the decree of 30th July 1891, or
by voluntary engagement. Under none of rhese classes
can a man be admitted to the reserve before he is four-
teen or after he is thirty-five years of age. The term of
service is for twelve years, except for those who have
served in the regular army and reserve ; and in this case
it is reduced to five years, which makes a total service of

PUBLIC FOECE — A SALUTE.

twelve years. With regard to volunteers in this branch
of the State forces, they are allowed to enrol themselves
for a less period than the twelve years. As a commence-
ment, the contingent for this body for the year 1898 has
been fixed at five hundred men.

This proposal has encountered some criticism ; but the
critics seem to base their objection to the scheme, not on
its merits, but on the form in which the law was put into
effect. The criticism, so far as can be judged, has no justi-
fication, for in the case of time-expired men the extra five

238

THE CONGO STATE

years carry with them such benefits as to be an advantage,
while the men of the annual contingent or the volunteers
perform their military service to the State in a modified
and convenient form, as the course of training for this
second reserve is restricted to a period of six months. It
is true that the total term of military obligation has been,
as a matter of fact, extended to twelve years, but, w^hen
the regulations are carefully drawn up and well applied,
there is nothiui'- excessive in such a term. Assumino; that

I (_ 1 N G 1 1 F U i; ( ■ E — INSPECTION.

a man is drawn for service at sixteen or seventeen, wdiich
may be regarded as an average age, his military career is
well over before he reaches the age of thirty, and the case
would be quite exceptional of his being on the list at the
maximum age of thirty-five. But even if he were it would
be no great hardship, as tlie recompenses for military
service in respect of the grant of lands are very consider-
able. ' In fact, it would not be going too far to term the
reservists of the Congo State military agriculturists, and
in tliat capacity they might be compared with the Grenzer

THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

241

or military colonies established along the frontier between
the Austrian empire and Turkey in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.

To sum up, the military forces of the State are repre-
sented at the present moment by a force of about twelve
thousand men, of which nearly ten thousand may be con-
sidered efficients. The fferm of a new reserve has been
established by the decree of 1898, and in a few years this
force will have attained a sufficient strength to make it a
useful auxiliary in circumstances of difficulty or danger.
It seems clear that the military resources of the State arc
adequate for its immediate necessities, and that they will
suffice to enable it not only to maintain peace within its
frontiers, but to hold its own in any contentions that may
arise on its borders. At the present time the Congo
Public Force is, after the Anglo-Egyptian army, the most
numerous and efficient native army between the Mediter-
ranean and Cape Colony, and the importance of this fact
will be made clearer with the lapse of time. It is sufficient
for the moment to note that the Congo State controls a
force that will secure for it the respect of its neighbours ;
and it will be seen in the next chapter that the mutiny of
one section of the Batetela contingent has not furnished
any valid reason for modifying that conclusion. That
experience has at least demonstrated the necessity of some
simple precautions in the management of an alien mer-
cenary force, such as mixing the races in each garrison, and
never employing the tribes in their own native districts.
Had these precautions been observed, there would have
been no Batetela mutiny, and if they are maintained in
the future its repetition is highly improbable.

CHAPTER XIV

The Batetela Mutinies

No human undertaking can escape the troubles that attend
the greatest success. The ordeal of misfortune tests the
quality of the ruling race as of the individual. Young as
the Congo State is in years, it has passed through the
bitter experience, bred of disapj)ointment in the loyalty
of its servants, which tasked its power and established the
merit of its system. It would be far fetched to compare
the Batetela mutiny with that of the Sepoys in India ;
but as the story is unfolded, the reader will have no diffi-
culty in seeing how many points there were in common
between the two events, and that both of them furnished
equally gratifying evidence to the superiority of the
morale of the European races. The mutiny of the black
troops of the Dhanis column was the principal and cul-
minating episode of the crisis, but it was preceded by a
mutiny on a minor scale at Luluabourg, which claims our
first consideration.

In the chapter on the Arab campaign, the circumstances
of the execution of Congo Lutete were set forth, and the
irritation that thereupon ensued among the bodyguard
of the dead chief They were removed, as a matter of
precaution, by the Belgian authorities, first to Lusambo,
and afterwards to Luluabourg. As they marched out of
Gandu, Congo Lutete's camp, they fired on the people,
and threatened to return again with fire and sword.
When they reached Luluabourg these men were invited

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

243

to become soldiers, and they forthwith entered the Public
Force. They attracted favourable notice by their intelli-
gence, willingness, and pluck, and for a time it seemed as
if the State had obtained the services of a real fio-htino;
race. Unfortunately, these Batetelas had not forgotten
their original intention, and beneath their nominal obe-
dience smouldered a deep resentment and a set purpose.

This intention was revealed in the summer of the year
1895 ; and these Batetelas, the ancient bodyguard of
Gongo Lutete, rose at Luluabourg, massacred some of
their officers, marched eastwards to Kabinda, surprised the
post there, and turned northwards to attack Lusambo.
In the attack on the Catholic mission-house, near Lulua-
bourg, the priests valiantly defended themselves during
several hours until aid reached them from Lieutenant
Cassart, who had been wounded by the mutineers. This
aid could not have been rendered but for the loyalty of
the Zappo Zapp tribe, whose chief had firmly refused to
surrender the wounded Cassart, saying, "As long as a
Zappo Zapp lives, and without passing over my body,
you shall never have the Belgian officer."

The number of mutineers did not exceed three hundred
and fifty men ; but, as they were equipped with Albini
rifles, and possessed a large cjuantity of cartridges, they
represented a far more formidable force than their numbers
would signify. They were also determined to fight to the
last, as their fault was beyond the hope of pardon. At
Gandu and on the Lomami they had killed four or five
Belgian officers, besides those murdered at Luluabourg,
and the mutineers were in the full tide of a successful
march to Nyangwe when Commander Lothaire, by. an ex-
ceptional efi'ort, succeeded in heading them and in throw-
ing himself with a small force in their path. On the 18th
October he brought them to action near Gandu, inflicting
on them severe loss, making some prisoners, and com-
pelling the remainder to seek refuge with the chief of

244

THE CONGO STATE

Dibue. In the meantime, Lieutenant Gillain, rallying the
forces of the State in the Lomami district, had come down
upon them from the north, while the movements of the
Belgian officers inspired the local chiefs with such con-
fidence that they gradually rallied to the side of the
State. The mutineers fought with great determination,
and in the most serious encounter, on 9th October, killed
one Belgian, forty-two blacks, and wounded two Belgians
and thirty-eight blacks. The first Belgian column on this
occasion was actually defeated, when the second, taking
the victors in reverse, restored the fortunes of the day and
defeated them.

The junction of the two columns under Lothaire and
Gillain was effected on 18th October, the date on which
the battle just referred to was fought. The .strength of the
enemy, by the capture of several caravans, had been in-
creased to some six or seven hundred men, and the reader
will be interested in the following official report of this
decisive action by Commandant Lothaire, one of the most
energetic and capable officers in the service of the Congo
State, if we eliminate the want of judgment he displayed
in the Stokes affair : —

"On the 17th October M. Gillain sent me MJNL
Michaux, Svensson, l)e Besche, Jlirgens, Konings, and
the armourer Droeven. We were thus one thousand
strong. In the morning of the 18tli our troops, compris-
ing eight hundred Albinis, attacked the camp of the
mutineers. Their camp was backed by a forest ; they did
not believe that we should follow them into it. The
combat commenced ; at eight o'clock in the morning we
assaulted the defences which they had accumulated in the
w^oods and glades, alongside the path leading to the village
where the Batetelas had concealed their women and booty.
By two o'clock Ave had overcome all these obstacles ; the
mutineers were dispersed in the forest, and the booty taken
at Luluabourg, Kabinda, and Gandu was in our hands.

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

245

It was one of the most important actions yet fought on
the territory of the Congo State."

The magnitude of this success was diminished by an
unfortunate contretemps. A few days later, the mutineers,
during their own retreat, surprised a Belgian column. At
the first volley they killed the four Belgian officers leading
it, and, being afterwards reinforced by some other muti-
neers from two or three minor posts on the Lomami, it
became necessary to resume the offensive. On 6th
November Lothaire attacked their new camp at Gongo
Machoffe, some distance south of Gandu. The result was
a signal victory. Nearly all the surviving mutineers of
Luluabourg were killed or taken prisoners ; and the com-
manding officer closed his narrative with the words : "I
cannot say if the campaign is absolutely finished or not,
but I can say that there is no longer the shadow of danger
for the State." The few survivors, who had fled so pre-
cipitately that a pursuit of five days failed to discover
their traces, were gradually cajDtured and given up to the
State authorities by the local chiefs, until there remained
of Gongo Lutete's truculent bodyguard scarcely a single
living representative. In this manner was the Luluabourg
mutiny finally wijDed out. It had cost the State, however,
the lives of many brave men ; and the State authorities
thereafter decided never to employ any considerable body
of tribesmen in the Public Force except at a distance from
their homes. The disappointment caused by the Lulua-
bourg mutiny in the views held as to the value of the
Batetelas could not help being very great.

The mutiny of the Batetelas at Luluabourg in 1895
was the precursor of the far more serious mutiny of the
men of the Dhanis column in 1897. The victorious pro-
gress of the Chaltin column to the Nile has been traced.
It is now necessary to describe the misfortunes of the
other and larger column under Baron Dhanis, whose repu-
tation had been made by the Arab campaign. When

246

THE CONGO STATE

orders were given to occupy the territory of Lado, to
organise there an effective administration, and to create
a bulwark against the Dervishes, the selection of Baron
Dhanis to command the expedition was natural, and cer-
tainly justified the assertion that he was " the right man in
the right place." Fully appreciating the importance of
the task entrusted to him, Dhanis spared no effort to
ensure success ; and it was with a column of over three
thousand men that he began his advance from Avakubi to
the Nile. His force was echelonned between that place
and the Obi when the events about to be described
occurred, and the advance guard had even reached
Dirfi.

Of the total force of three thousand two hundred men
under Dhanis, the Batetelas and the kindred tribe of the
Bakussus numbered fifteen hundred. Two thirds of these
men were with the advance guard at Dirfi, when on 14th
or 15th February 1897 they mutinied and killed their
commanding officer, Captain Leroi, and several other
officers. The cause of the mutiny is unknown, but it was
probably either reluctance to take part in a distant expe-
dition, or an uncontrollable impulse to return to their
homes between the Lomami and the Lualaba. The diffi-
culties encountered on the march were very considerable,
and one Belgian officer committed suicide from chag-rin
at his inability to make rapid progress. As the Batetelas
formed a solid body they realised that they were masters
of the situation, and that the murder of a few white officers
was the only barrier to executing their wishes. Having
perpetrated the massacre at Dirfi they retraced their
steps, murdering another officer on the Obi. Hearing of
these disasters to his advance guard, Dhanis endeavoured
to intercept the retreat of the mutineers, and on the
18th March an encounter took place between the force
under his command and the retreatino- mutineers. In
the beginning of the action the five hundred Batetelas,

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

247

forming part of his force, went over to their kinsmen,
and, to add to the confusion, it became impossible
to distinguish friends from foes, while the white officers
were an easy mark. Several Belgian officers were killed,
including Louis Dhanis, the brother of the commander,
and at last Baron Dhanis had to order the retreat. Even
this would have been impossible if Lieutenant Delecourt,
with a handful of men, had not covered the movement by
a desperate stand, which cost the lives of himself and his
companions. Li all these encounters ten Belgian officers
lost their lives. Baron Dhanis retired on Avakubi, the only
station in this region that held out ; and having provided
for its defence, which he entrusted to Commandant Henry,
he hastened to Stanley Falls to organise the measures
necessary for the recovery of all that had been lost.

Although it did not exercise any influence on the
fortunes of the Nile Expedition, this second mutiny of
the Batetelas was a rude blow to the sense of security felt
in the position of the Congo State. Rumour naturally
magnified the probable consequences, and even the losses
of the Belgians were represented at a far higher total
than the truth. These were serious enough, but several
whose names were given among; the slain succeeded in
reaching Avakubi. The movements of the mutineers
themselves were also calculated to create alarm, for they
marched in a south-westerly direction towards Stanley
Falls, destroying the stations they passed en route, so
that, in all the valley of the Ituri, Avakubi was the
only Belgian post left intact. When, however, they had
approached quite close to Stanley Falls, they suddenly
changed their course and retired in an easterly direction
towards the Semliki and Lake Edward. It was by this
time clear that their main object was to regain their
homes in Manyema, and consequently the peril of
offensive measures on their part against the State pos-
sessions might be regarded as over. None the less, an

248

THE CONGO STATE

armed l)and of over fifteen hundred fiohting; men, well
supplied with ammunition and possessing some military
training, constituted a standing danger to the authorities,
and rendered it incumbent for them to l^reak up the
power of the mutineers at the earliest possible moment.

It must be allowed to Baron Dhanis, that if he
showed some over-confidence in the excessive employment
of the Batetela contingent in the advance column, he
rightly discerned the intention of the mutineers to regain
Manyema, and that all his measures were well taken with
the object of defeating their purpose. The importance of
doing so arose from the consideration, that if the mutineers
succeeded in reaching their native country a great re-
bellion might ensue from the presence of these well-
armed men, who could declare that they had killed their
officers, and even defeated Baron Dhanis in person.
Wherever the mutineers went, or however long their
punishment might be deferred, it was imperative that
they should not reach their native territory ; and all the
steps taken by the Belgian commander w ere directed to-
wards the attainment of that purpose. Having secured
the position of affciirs at Stanley Falls, Baron Dhanis
hastened to Nyangwe and Kassongo to prepare a suitable
reception for the mutineers in that direction. As rein-
forcements, especially of European officers, were hurried
forward from Stanley Pool on the first news of the
disaster, a force of a thousand fresh troops was soon
ready to co-operate in the measures for the active pursuit
of the mutineers. The plan of campaign was for the
garrison left at Avakubi to march south on the track of
the mutineers, while Baron Dhanis proceeded to cut them
off" by an advance in a northerly or easterly direction, as
events should determine.

Commandant Henry, an officer of great energy, and
endowed with a clear head and calm courage, was the
first to strike a blow. Finding that the mutineers had

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

249

vanished from the neighbourhood of Avakubi, he decided
that it was safe to take the field against them. Leaving
a sufficient garrison in the post, he accordingly set out in
pursuit of them at the head of seven hundred men. On
30th April, while Dlianis was still at Stanley Falls, Henry
began his march and reoccupied the post of Kilongo
Louga. He then learnt that the rebels were encamped
on the plains near Lindi, that they were suffering from
smallpox, and that a black corporal named Arnoudala
was in chief command. At that moment the mutineers
were in close proximity to the
English frontier, and it was
even alleged that they con-
templated crossing it.

The following summary of
the experiences of a French
priest named Aclite, who was
taken prisoner by the muti-
neers, will give an idea of these
men and of the state of their
organisation. The scene was
in the Taru country, near the
Semliki, which connects Lakes
Albert and Albert Edward.
Ignorant of the mutiny, the
priest met a few of the State soldiers, who invited him to
come and see their white officer in his camp. The unsus-
pecting jDriest, accompanied by fourteen of his neophytes,
accepted the invitation, only to find that he had walked
into a trap. He found the camp on a plain, covered with
European huts, and crowded with men, women, and
children. He was taken to the principal tent, in front
of which sat forty or fifty negroes dressed in European
officers' uniforms, and seated on cane chairs. He was
left no time for reflection, as twenty hands were laid
upon him, and he was stripped of all his clothes, with

COMMANDANT HENUY.

THE CONGO STATE

shouts of "Kill him! kill him!" M. Achte shouted
out in the local dialect, " I am a man of God ; leave me
alone." This created a diversion in his favour. Some of
the blacks defended him, and part of his clothes were
restored to him. Two of the chiefs declared to him,
" We have killed the Belgians, who called us animals, and
who killed our chiefs and our brothers as we kill goats.
Why should we not kill you ? " It may be parenthetically
observed that there does not appear to be a word of truth
in the accusation against the Belgians. No evidence of
harsh usage has ever been adduced, and, under the cir-
cumstances of the difficult expedition in hand, the officers
would naturally show every forbearance towards the men,
on whose loyalty its success really depended. On the
other hand, it is of course clearly proved that the diffi-
culties of the march of the Dhanis column were very
great, but they were equally shared by the Belgian officers
and the black troops. If proof were needed, it would be
found in the loyalty of all the other black soldiers, ex-
cepting only the Batetelas.

M. Achte declared that he was not a Belgian, that he
had never injured the blacks, and that he was their true
friend. Some of the women began to take his part ; and
his neophytes, although subjected to ill-usage, remained
staunch in their loyalty by declaring that he had never
struck a black. He was then given a goat to cook for
food, but he refused to eat until all his followers had been
given back to him. This had a great effect on the chiefs ;
and Malumba, the principal of them all, at last declared,
" I forbid you to kill this white man. Let the man who
wishes to kill him take a gun and send a bullet through
him ! Here he is seated at my side ! " On the following
day the Frenchman was allowed to leave the camp with
his followers, but when he asked that his ass might be
returned to him he received this reply : " You shall have
nothing ! That which a Manyema has once carried off

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

he does not return. But so that you may not write to
Europe telling them that we robbed you, take ivory ; we
do not know what to do with it, as we have no one to
carry it." M. Achte's opinion of the mutineers was given
in the following words : " The revolted Manyemas are
indeed terrible savages, eaters of dogs, and some tribes
among them also of human flesh. From the AVangwana
they have learnt to smoke hemp, which, as is known, acts
like opium, and stupefies. In their caravans they have no
discipline, no idea of respect towards their chiefs." It
was clear from his evidence and from that of others, that
the mutineers were only formidable for the moment, or, in
plainer terms, while their supply of ammunition lasted,
and that, considerable as it was, could not endure for ever.

While Henry was marching southwards, Lieutenant
Sannaes had in the Semliki country inflicted a rude
repulse on the mutineers when they attacked his post
and endeavoured to serve it as they had done others.
This success at Katue had followed close upon M. Achte's
adventure in the rebel camp. This first reverse caused
strife in the rebel camp, and Malumba was murdered by
one of his lieutenants. On the 12th June Henry joined
Sannaes, and resumed his close pursuit of the Batetelas,
who were now aware of the Belgian advance. It was not,
however, for another month that he came into close con-
tact with them, and, as he wished as far as possible to
have all the advantages of a surprise, it was only on 15th
July 1897 that he delivered his attack on the camp of
the mutineers. The first detachment encountered was
quickly overthrown, but then the blacks resumed the
attack, and it wns only after a desperate struggle that
they were vanquished with a loss of four hundred killed.
In his official report the young officer wrote : —

" Our attack was delivered at sunrise, after a silent
and unsuspected night march. The Batetelas made their
general attack in return at seven o'clock. This, made by

252

THE CONGO STATE

troops very superior in numbers, was so impetuous that
our first line gave way. It required the heroic example
of all the whites and of our 1)est l)lack officers to arrest
the assailants, who continued to advance in superior
numbers. I seized this moment to order all the trumpets
to sound the charge. Then all the whites set an admir-
able example of courage and devotion by rushing at the
enemy, and drawing our soldiers after them. The
mutineers gave way little by little to flee in all direc-
tions, after three hours' bitter struggle. The pursuit
could not 1)6 carried on for more than half an hour,
l)ecause the troops were exhausted, having been on their
feet for twenty hours, and some of them had not tasted
food for forty-eight hours."

Besides the loss of four hundred men the Batetelas
lost five hundred All)ini rifies, one hundred other guns,
and over twelve thousand cartridges. The consequences
of this success were that the mutineers were broken up
into several bands. One of these, numbering two hundred
men, under a leader named Saliboko, escaped this engage-
ment, while the other bands, disorganised and disheart-
ened by the reverse in which they had participated,
scattered throughout the region, and became less and
less formidable. After his sional success Commandant
Henry was obliged, by the exhaustion of his men and his
supplies, to return to his base of operations, — but he had
done his work ; and so well had he done it, that the
power of the mutineers might be regarded as broken by
his single-handed operations.

At the same time that these results were obtained by
Commandant Henry, Baron Dhanis had firmly secured
the line of the Lualaba, and I'endered it impossible for
any considerable body of the mutineers to get across that
river. An active pursuit then began of the relics of the
band that mutinied on the way to the Nile, and the
pursuit is still continued. A great nund)er of skirmishes

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

253

have been fought, with uniform success to the State
troops. The rebel bands are fewer in number and in
strength. Where they counted several hundreds the
total is represented in tens. They are fugitives in every
sense of the word, unable to offer any serious resistance,
and thinking only of evading capture by a precipitate
flight across the forests that intervene between the
Aruwimi and Manyema. The end cannot be far distant.
Not one of the revolting Batetelas has succeeded in
reaching the tribal home, and it is correct to say that
the mutinous soldiery have already paid the penalty of
their treachery and breach of military discipline.

The Batetela mutinies naturally caused the Sovereign
of the Congo State a lively concern for the permanent
interests of the State, as well as deep regret for the loss of
many brave officers. The following letter gives eloquent
expression to these sentiments : —

" Brussels, 16^/i. June 1897.

"Sir, — The agents of the Independent State of the
Congo have been rudely tried of late. Their ranks have
been subjected to the cruel and repeated blows of fate.
Associating myself with the tokens of unanimous regret
that their sad losses have occasioned, I wish to pay a
homage of gratitude to all those who have valiantly
sacrificed their lives in the performance of their duties.

" Like every great cause, that which we serve on the
Congo has had many martyrs. To the trustees of their
virile traditions I wish to address a few words that spring
from my heart.

"The mission which the State agents have to accom-
plish on the Congo is noble and elevated. It devolves on
them to continue the development of the work of civilisa-
tion in the centre of Equatorial Africa, under the inspiration
of the principles enunciated in the Acts of Berlin and
Brussels.

254

THE CONGO STATE

" Placed in front of primitive savagery, struggling
with sanguinary customs dating from thousands of years,
they have to gradually bring them to reduction. It is
necessary for them to subject the population to new laws,
of which the most imperious and the most salutary is
assuredly that of labour,

" In barbarous countries I know that a strong authority
is needed to bring the natives, who have never been
accustomed to it, under the practice of civilisation. To
this end it is necessary to be at the same time firm and
paternal. All the same, the native population, in a
country like the Congo, is the base of the true wealth of
the region. It is to assure its free expansion that the
first efforts ought to be devoted.

" Our civilised societies attach rightly to life a value
unknown in barbarous communities. When our directinsr
will is planted among these races, its function is to
triumph over all obstacles. The result cannot be achieved
by words alone, however philanthropic their sound may
be. But if, in view of the necessary domination of
civilisation, it is permissible to reckon, when the necessity
arises, on the means of action conferred by force, the
supreme sanction of right, it is not less true that its
ultimate end is a work of peace. Wars that are not
indispensable ruin the regions in which they take place.
Our ao;ents are not ionorant of this. The dav that their
effective superiority is established, it will be profoundly
repugnant to them to abuse it. For the unhappy blacks
who are still under the empire of their sole traditions,
may be left the horrible belief that victory is only defini-
tive when the beaten army has been mutilated. The
soldiers of the State are perforce recruited among the
natives. They cannot be weaned at once from the san-
guinary customs transmitted through generations. The
example of the white officers' military discipline will
insjDire them with horror of the human trophies in which

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

255

they take pride. It is in their chiefs that they ought to
see the living demonstration of this superior principle,
that the exercise of authority ought in no way to be con-
founded with cruelty : the latter destroys the former.

"I am pleased to think that our agents, almost all
volunteers from the ranks of the Belgian army, have ever
before them the regulations of the honourable career in
which they are engaged. Animated by a pure sentiment
of patriotism, little sparing of their blood, they will be all
the more careful of the blood of the natives, who will see
in them the all-powerful protectors of their lives and
property, the benevolent instructors of whom they had so
Q;reat a need.

" Our programme for all — I take this opportunity to
repeat it here to you — is the work of moral and material
regeneration which has to be put in operation among a
population the decay and disinherited position of which
has hardly been realised. The frightful scourges, of which
they seemed in the midst of our commion humanity
the designated victims, are already yielding little by
little before our intervention. Each forward step we
make ought to mark an improvement in the lot of the
natives.

" In these territories of infinite extent, the greater
part vague and uncultivated,- — wdiere the natives only
know how to procure the meagre daily subsistence, — ex-
perience, knowledge, the spirit of invention and of
European enterprise will reveal riches hitherto unsus-
pected. If it creates wants, it satisfies them in a still
larger proportion. The penetration of virgin lands goes
on, communications are established, routes are opened out ;
the soil delivers its produce in exchange for the varied
articles of our manufacture. Legitimate commerce and
industry progress. As the economical condition changes,
property acquires an intrinsic value ; individual and public
possessions, the base of all social development, are securely

256

THE CONGO STATE

founded and respected, instead of being abandoned to the
chance of the strong-est.

" To this material prosperity, in which the interests of
whites and blacks are clearly becoming identical, the
desire to elevate themselves will soon correspond among
the latter. Their primitive nature will not indefinitely
resist the pressing efforts of our Christian culture. Their
education, once commenced, will be no longer inter-
rupted. It is in its success that I see the crowning of
the task undertaken by us, and so admirably seconded
by our priests and religious sisters. To establish a
direct contact with the natives scattered over the vast
basin of the Congo, has been the most urgent part of
our programme to be realised. This has been done in
fifteen years without the aid of any State, if not that
lent by Belgium. The creation of quite a solid group of
stations is gradually substituting, for the incessant savage
inter- tribal warfare of village against village, a regime of
peace.

" From a geographical entity, physically determined,
the Congo State is become a country with precise frontiers,
occupied and guarded at all points — a result almost with-
out example in the history of colonisation, but which is
explained by the concentration of all our eftbrts on a
single field of action.

" The difficulties that we have ourselves encountered
will be greatly reduced when the railway of the Lower
Congo to Stanley Pool shall be soon completed.

" I make here a fresh appeal to the devotion of which
our agents have already given so many proofs, so that the
creation of that means of communication may as soon as
possible bear all its fruit. It is that which will closely
tie the Congo to the mother country, which will permit
Europe, whose regards attentively follow us, to take with
full knowledoe a benevolent interest in our work. It is
she also who will impress on our progress a speed even

THE BATETELA MUTINIES

257

more rapid and decisive, and which will soon introduce
into those vast reo;ions of the Cono;o all the benefits of our
Christian civilisation.

" I thank our agents for their efforts, and I repeat to
them the expression of my royal affection.

" Leopold.

"To E. Van Eetvelde."

CHAPTER XV

The State Admixistration

The diplomatic measures which resulted iu the creation
of the Congo State, and the military achievements which
established its effective power within the wide limits
assigned to it by the respective conventions with its
neighbours, have now been described, and, in passing iu
review the work accomplished in Central Africa, it is
necessary to describe at some length the system of
administration established for the civil government and
the dispensation of justice. Before the State came into
existence the executive work of the Congo Association
was performed on the spot by a delegate who bore the
title of Chief of Expedition, and in Brussels by a working
committee presided over by General Strauch. In 1884,
when Sir Francis de Winton succeeded Mr Stanley, the
title of the local authority was changed from Chief of
Expedition to Administrator-General. The true history
of the administration commences with the formation
of the State in 1885, when the Belgian Parliament
sanctioned the acceptance by the King of the Belgians,
of the position and style of Sovereign of the Congo
State.

On the 5th October 1885 the King issued a decree
constituting at Brussels the Central Government of the
State, and dividing it into three separate departments.
These were, (l) Foreign Affairs, and Justice, (2) Finance,
and (3) the Interior, including the police of the territory

258

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

259

and the transport service. The head of each of these
departments was known as Administrator-General — a
title changed in 1891 to that of Secretary of State ; and
for each department there were in Brussels a regular
office and staff. The first occupants of these posts were —
for Foreign Affairs, Mons. (now Baron) Edmond Van
Eetvelde ; for Finance, Mons. Hubert Van Neuss ; and for
the Interior, General Strauch. In Africa the following
administration was established : — The supreme authority
under the Home Government just defined was vested in
a Governor-General, who was
assisted by a Vice-Governor-
General ; the administration
was entrusted to District Com-
missioners, of whom there were
twelve.

With regard to the office
of Governor-General, the facts
are a little anomalous. From
the beginning of the State only
two persons have held that
rank — M. Camille Janssen and
Colonel Wahis. As a rule, the
highest executive authority has
been the Vice-Governor-Gen-
eral at Boma, to whom is given the officiating title of
Governor-General ad interim. It must also be stated that
there are generally two occupants of this office — one
resident at Boma and the other on leave at Brussels, who
relieve one another every two years. The two present
functionaries are M. Fuchs, a civilian, and the Captain-
Commandant (of the Engineers), Wangermee.

Although the work had to be done in Africa, the
direction and the inspiring influence came from Brussels,
and it will be proper to describe the organisation of the
Home Government before entering upon the details of the

COLONEL WAHIS.

26o

THE CONGO STATE

local administration. Baron Van Eetvelde was specially
selected for the post of head of the Foreign Department
by his colonial experience, having represented Belgium as
Consul-General in India, and bv the evidence he had given,
in that capacity, of exceptional ability which had gained for
him the special notice and approbation of his Sovereign. It
will be seen how well he has. justified his selection for his
responsible and arduous post, by the skill with which he
has directed the affairs of the Congo State since its
creation, and not only by the skill, but by the high ideal

of government he has set him-
self: to attain in a region
where the conditions of life
are necessarily demoralising.
He has aimed not merely at
improving the resources of
Central Africa by encouraging
such trade as existed, and by
introducing new pursuits for
the employment of the blacks
ignorant of cultivation, but he
has, above all things, shown a
desire to promote their pros-
perity by providing a sure,
cheap, and convenient dispen-
sation of justice. The arrangements he drew up for the
prevention of the slave trade and for the absolute security
of individual liberty have been described in connection with
the subject to which they related ; but these, although
relating to the more important and pressing problem,
were not different in their scope and significance to those
passed in the other departments of justice and equity.
Among many other public acts that have illustrated liis
long tenure of office must be named the improvement of
communications by railway and river transport, and the
establishment of a regular postal service which makes the

COMMANDANT WANGEKMEE.

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

Congo State a worthy member of the Postal Union. To
that service will be added, before long, a telegraphic
system that will link Stanley Falls and the Great Lakes
with the capitals of Europe. As a diplomatist Baron
Van Eetvelde has shown, in several delicate and difficult
negotiations, a skill no way inferior to that he has
exhibited as an administrator. The phrase has been used
before, but I cannot find a better to define his share in
the work: Baron Van Eetvelde has been, in fiict, "the
soul of the political organisation of the Congo State."

In October 1891 Baron Van Eetvelde was transferred
to the department of the Interior, and in 1894 he was
appointed Secretary of State in a single capacity for the
whole administration of the State. This change, however,
will claim notice further on. The first Administrator-
General in the Financial Department, M. Hubert Van
Neuss, was Chief Secretary in the Finance Department of
the Belgian Government, and a financier of high training
and lame views. His work consisted in establishing the
customs system of the Congo, in devising the monetary
system, in arranging the public debt, and in drawing up
the instructions on which the local authorities had to act.
After holding this post for five years, M. Van Neuss
resigned, and, after an interval. Baron Van Eetvelde
assumed the control of this department at the end of
1892. General Strauch only controlled the Interior for
little more than two years, and this department, after
several intermediate changes, was placed in 1891 under
the charge of Baron Van Eetvelde. For a time the duties
of Foreign Minister were discharged by Count de Grelle-
Rogier, of the Foreign Department.

The very first task undertaken after the King's decree
was to create the administration of justice, and to sub-
stitute the reign of law for the anarchy which had enjoyed
immunity in Africa from time immemorial. At that
precise moment the authority of the State did not exist

262

THE CONGO STATE

beyond the Lower Congo and the line of the river to
Stanley Falls. A Court of First Instance was esta))lished
in the Lower Congo, and held its meetings, as occasion
required, at Banana, Boma, Matadi, or Ponta da Lenha.
Territorial judges, for more summary process, were
appointed to Leopoldville and other places in the
Cataracts district, while above Stanley Pool military law
was established under duly-appointed Councils of War.
At Boma a Court of Appeal was also opened, competent to
receive appeals and revise decisions in all cases of first
instance. In civil and commercial matters the Courts of
First Instance and Appeal had full powers over the whole
of the State territory. Besides, a Superior Council in-
stalled at Brussels, and composed of eminent foreign as
well as Belgian jurisconsults, acted as a Court of Cassation,
and revised any case involving a sum of one thousand
j)Ounds. To complete the legal machinery, a Public
Prosecutor was established at Boma, and he had assistants
at Banana and Matadi, while he possessed the right to
appoint others where he deemed necessary. In order to
discharge their duties, they were instructed to keep up as
close an intercourse as they could with the blacks, and
their agents were invested with the authority of a police
commissary. In the Lower Congo all men holding judicial
posts had, from the first, to be doctors of law, or, at the
least, members of a Belgian L'niversity. In the Upper
Congo this degree of perfection was at first unattainable,
but during the last few years it has been in general force,
and all judges and public prosecutors are now properly
qualified lawyers.

The reports of the Director of Justice and of the State
Prosecutor show that justice is, as a matter of fact,
regularly administered. To attain this result, examples
had to be made. The natives vielded onlv slowlv to the
idea of a regular superior authority, and among Europeans
the view that, in the eyes of the law, black men and w^hite

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION 263

men were equal needed to ])e assimilated. An idea may
be formed on the subject of crime in the Congo from the
following table, which shows the number of penal cases in
each year : —

In 1886 there were 62 cases.
„ 1887 „ 77 „

„ 1888 „ 80 „

„ 1889 „ 100 „
„ 1890 „ 121 „
„ 1891 „ 157 „

In 1892 there were 156 cases.
„ 1893 „ 198
„ 1894 „ 424
„ 1895 „ 388
„ 1896 „ 600
„ 1897 „ 622

Most of these cases were for theft or assault, and the
increased number of cases shows rather the efficiency of
the system than the spread of crime. In dealing with
the disputes between natives and natives, it would have
been hazardous and premature to attempt any direct
interference with the authority of the chiefs. At the
same time the State functionaries were in all cases
instructed to tender their good offices, and to show an
interest in mastering the details of all matters in dispute.
The effect of this display of interest was not long in
making itself visible. The natives revealed an increasing
desire to have recourse to the Belgian Court instead of to
the local fetish doctor or native arbitrator. Prisons have
been constructed at Boma, Banana, and Matadi, and, to
prevent abuses of any kind, regulations have been care-
fully drawn up. Prisoners receive the same fare as
soldiers, and are employed on useful public works.

In May 1897 an important change was carried out, by
the suppression of military law in the Upper Congo and
the extension of civil law throughout the State. An
order was issued by the Secretary of State for the insti-
tution of territorial tribunals, authorised to apply the
penal law to all the State residents, natives or not, and
at the same time restricting the authority of Councils of
War to military prisoners. In order to strengthen the
position of these tribunals, the authority was vested in

264

THE CONGO STATE

the State Prosecutor to transfer the venue, in the case
of serious offences committed by Europeans, from the
upper districts to the Lower Congo, where public opinion
would be more disposed to support the decisions of impar-
tial justice. Serious cases were defined as being : murder,
homicide, and attempts on either the lives or the
liberties of the blacks. At the same time the Court
of Appeal was strengthened by three councillors being
substituted for one judge, and, as a further guarantee of
impartiality, the councillors are of different nationalities.
The president is a Belgian ; of the other two, one is
a Swede and the other an Italian. All judgments of
first instance can be brought before this Court of Ap-
peal, and, as the blacks could not be expected to know
their legal rights, the lower Court was required to lodge
an appeal on behalf of the accused against its own
decree.

As a still further precaution against acts of tyranny
at the expense of the blacks, a Commission for the Pro-
tection of Natives was instituted. Its task was to notify
to the judicial authorities, and if necessary to the
Governor - General, all facts, of whatever nature, that
were injurious to the natives, or acts of violence of
which they were the victims. As members of this
Commission, missionaries of every religion or sect were
chosen. Finally, the President of the Court of Appeal
is charged with the task of making a tour of inspection
from time to time, with the view of ascertaining whether
the local tribunals were being properly conducted, and
with due regard for the principles of equity. While
these elaborate and extraordinary measures were taken
to safeguard the indigenous population against acts of
cruelty, it is right to record that not a single charge
had been made by natives against any official down to
midsummer 1897. This fact in itself furnishes an effec-
tual answer to the charges made from time to time by

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

persons, of whom the most charitable thing to say is that
they indulge in loose statements.

Before passing on to consider the civil administration,
it will be appropriate to briefly refer to several depart-
ments of a more or less judicial character. One of these
records the births and deaths and takes notes for the
establishment of identity. Marriages are also performed
by civil functionaries nominated for the purpose. Another
regulation relates to rights of property, which practically
did not exist before the State acquired possession of
Central Africa. Europeans held their lauds by virtue of
some, agreement with the native chief, and when they left
their holdings they practically surrendered and lost them.
Occupation was therefore the real right of possession.
One of the first acts of the State was to give European
occupants of lands the same legal rights as they would
possess in their own country. These lands were registered
and suljjected to cadastral survey. Simplicity was the
main object to be attained in all matters relating to
property ; and with this view, the Torrens Act, which had
worked so well under similar conditions in Australia, was
taken as a model. Formality was reduced to a minimum,
and the transfer of property from hand to hand was made
as easy and expeditious as possible. The certificate of
registration passed current as easily as a payment to bearer.
In the Upper Congo every non-native had the right to
take up land to the extent of a thousand acres, provided
it was done in a peaceable way by agreement with the
natives, and his title would then be recognised on the
basis of occupation. In this way the establishment of
religious and commercial settlements was facilitated, and
a commencement made in what might be called the pacific
occupation of the country.

One of the points on which the members of the Berlin
Conference laid much stress was, that the new State should
'become a member of the Postal , Union and arrange a

266

THE CONGO STATE

postal system on that basis. This had to be done among
the very first steps taken by the new administration, and
it imposed a considerable strain on its resources. The
reduced rate at which letters and parcels had to be carried
entailed a considerable loss to the revenue ; and the fact
that in the early years of the State's existence there were
no regular steamers between the Congo and Antwerp,
imported an element of uncertainty and risk into the
carriage of mails beyond the control of the State autho-
rities, because the only available boats were those sail-
ing from Portuguese ports. In the first five years a
quarter of a million of letters, etc., were despatched, and
only eleven claims were made on the subject of missing
letters, and the majority of these were proved to be
baseless. A great improvement was efiected in 1893 by
the establishment of a monthly steamer between the
Congo and Antwerp, and now the mails are carried
with remarkable punctuality and despatch.

The commencement of a re2;ular ci\^l administration
on the Congo mav be said to have begun under the
auspices of Sir Francis de Winton. He was there too
short a time to do more, however, than distribute the
work to be done in each department and to assign the
ofiicials their posts. In August 1885 he has succeeded by
M. Camille Janssen, to whom belongs the credit of having
organised the whole of the local administration. He
carried out on the spot, with equal energy and ability,
the policy sketched out and propounded by Baron Van
Eetvelde in Brussels. On the 17th April 1887 M. Janssen
was raised to the rank of Governor-General, and he was
the first to hold that ofiice and title. Soon afterwards he
returned to Europe, but after a brief interval he resumed
his position as Governor-General. On his departure the
supreme authority was directed by several members of
the administration without that title, and it was not
revived until July 1892, when Major (now Colonel) Wahis

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

267

was appointed the second Governor - General of the
Congo.

For purposes of administration, the Congo territory
was first divided into twelve districts. Their names were
Banana, Boma, Matadi, Cataracts, Stanley Pool, Eastern
Koango, Kassai, Equator, Ubangi-Uelle, Aruwimi-Uelle,
Stanley Falls, and Lualaba. In 1892 a portion of the
territory dependent on Stanley Falls and Lualaba was
detached and formed into the new administrative district
of Katanga. Two further districts, called the Ubangi
Exploration and the Camps of the Itimbiri-Uelle, were
also organised, and in 1898 the Nile territory of Lado
was converted into the sixteenth district of the State.

In these divisions the actual work of administration
was performed by officials termed commissaries of districts.
These functionaries are themselves divided into three
classes, and below these are three classes of assistants :
sub-commissaries of district, clerks of the first class, and
clerks of the second. The responsibility for the good
•order of the district and the behaviour of the staff rests
with the commissary. If owing to his carelessness or
neglect the State should suffer any pecuniary loss, he is
•expected to make it good out of his own salary. The
first and most important clause in their instructions is
to maintain friendly and amicable relations with the
natives, and to take such a part in the quarrels between
tribes or their chiefs as may be most conducive to peace
and harmony. They are also instructed to do everything
in their power to improve the mode of life of the blacks,
to soften their customs, and, above all, to put an end to
human sacrifices. Among their other duties may be
named that of providing the transport and engaging the
porters needed not only by the Government, but by
merchants. The necessity for this task to be performed
by public functionaries is obvious, because the engage-
ment of porters by irresponsible individuals might easily

268

THE CONGO STATE

result in a state of veiled slavery. The terms on which
porters are engaged are clearly defined by official autho-
rity, and are no more susceptible of deviation than
those relatino- to the engagement of men for the Public
Force.

In 1892 a new grade of the service was formed, in
the appointment of Eesidents to the camps of the greater
chiefs. The first of these officers was indeed appointed at
a much earlier period, when Tippo Tip ruled at Stanley
Falls ; but the necessity for increasing the number was
established by the expeditions on the Mbomu and the
Uelle, which were marked by treaties of alliance with
the Sultans of the north. Among their other duties may
be mentioned those of judge on the Council of AYar, of
which the ruling chief would also be a member, and they
were also vested with the powers of a judicial police. The
senior Resident was called Resident-General, and the
Residents are divided into three classes. As time goes
on, this class of administrators will be entirely superseded
by the commissaries, who may be termed the regular Civil
Service of the State.

The Finance Department is distinct from either the
judicial or the administrative, and represents one of
the chief reforms of M. Camille Janssen. It is placed
under the control of a Director of the Finances, and
superintends the service of land revenue and sales, of
the taxes, as well as of the accounts of the Government.
The postal service is also attached to this department.
The Land Department is organised in all its details, and
includes geometricians for the cadastral survey as well as
guardians of landed rights. Notarial offices dependent on
this department have also been opened at Banana, Boma,
Leopold ville, and New Antwerp.

The land revenue will form an increasingly important
element in the resources of the State as civilisation
progresses. It is therefore well to record the principles

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

269

laid down by the Government for the regulation of the
land question. Lands may be divided into three cate-
gories. First, those held by the native population.
These lands are registered accordins; to local custom and
usages. The native right of property in land is to be
regarded as conterminous with occupation. On lands
being abandoned they become the property of the State,
and cannot be purchased or dealt in without the know-
ledge and sanction of the Governor-General. The second
category of land is that which has become the property of
the whites. For the title to be valid it must have been
registered by one of the land officials, and the owner
must hold his certificate, which is sufficient proof of
possession. The lands so possessed also figure on the
cadastral survey, and the obligations imposed on the
holder are duly set forth, and include the payment of
a direct land tax. The holder has to bear the cost of
the survey, and to carry out such instructions in the
marking off" or enclosing of his lands as the land officials
may give.

The third category of lands are those known as
Domain lands. They are the property of the State,
and the net revenue belongs to it. They are either let
to third parties or worked by the State agents. A
remarkable clause in the leases is, that they do not carry
any rights of property under the soil. What hidden
mineral wealth there may prove to be, belongs to the State.
It is also noticeable that the domains are only leased
or sold to individuals in districts where the cultivation
of caoutchouc, or india-rubber, has been handed over to
private persons. Having made a reference to the mineral
wealth of the State, it is pertinent to state that mines can
only be worked by concessions specially granted by the
Sovereign. An exception to this rule is, however, made
in the case of the blacks, who are allowed to continue
such primitive mineral operations . as they have been

270

THE CONGO STATE

accustomed to do ; but this right is restricted to the lands
they occupy, and they do not possess the power to sell
or transfer it. The significance of this arrangement is,
that it left the natives in the undisturbed possession of
their rights. The chief wealth of the domains consists
in their forests, and these are not to be touched without
the express authority of the land officer or the commis-
sary, who places the value on the trees before they are
cut down. Lastly, it may be mentioned that the office
of the Intendant checks all the accounts with regularity
and in the closest detail, in the respective localities as
well as at the head centres of the administration.

The right of the State to the Domain lands has been
clearly established by precedent, and by the expressed
opinion of the most eminent jurisconsults on the specific
rig^ht of the Sovereign of the Congo to deal with them in
the manner that has been adopted. Bluntschli, among
the greatest and most generally recognised authorities
on international law, has declared that " land susceptible
of being the object of ownership, and of a character to
become so as the consequence of occupation, but not
being so, is to be regarded as vacant ; " and again, " The
State is the owner of all non-occupied land, and no
portion of it can be appropriated without the authorisa-
tion of the State." This system has been generally
recognised in the British Colonies and in the United
States of America, the two countries that have had the
greatest experience in the occupation of undeveloped and
unoccupied regions. These principles w^ere strengthened,
in the case of the Congo, by the ojDinions given on the
specific case by Mr. Westlake and Sir Horace (now Lord)
Davey, among English authorities ; by Messrs. Van Berchem,
Van Maldegham, and De Paepe, of the Belgian Bar ; and
by the eminent Russian jurisconsult. Professor De Martens,
of St. Petersburg.

To sum up on the objects and work of the Congo

THE STATE ADMINISTRATION

271

administration. Its first task was to put down the slave
trade and cannibalism. The complete success achieved
in these directions has been recorded. The next objects
were to secure the practical liberty of the black popula-
tion, and to prevent their becoming, through either their
own ignorance or the designs of other people, the domestic
slaves of anyone. To accomplish this, it was necessary
for the State, not merely to stand as an intermediary
between the employer and the employed, but to regulate
all the details of the engagements made between them.
With this object in view, the system of registration was
introduced and carried to a degree of perfection unequalled
anywhere else. With the view of training the blacks in
agriculture, for which centuries of tyranny, disturbance,
and insecurity seemed to have unfitted them, child
colonies have been established in accordance with what
may be termed a happy thought of the King. The plan
has worked well, and the blacks have risen in the estima-
tion of the Europeans as well as in the scale of happiness.
One pretty aphorism has been coined to illustrate these
new sentiments. " To know the black a little is to
alienate him from you, to know the black much is to
draw him towards you." At the same time, it must be
recorded that the administration has been largely assisted
by the voluntary and devoted efforts of the missionaries
of all the Churches and of the Sisters of Charity. It is
said that fifteen different sects are represented by these
missionaries, but out of a total of two hundred and
twenty-three there was a solid phalanx of one hundred
and fifteen Catholic missionaries, all of whom were
Belgians. Sanitary precautions have been taken, and the
natives have been taught, as far as possible, the simple
principles of hygiene, including the indispensable character
of vaccination. The eff"orts made by the State to restrict
the area open to the traffic in alcohol, which by the latest
royal decree is now limited to the lower part of the Lower

272

THE CONGO STATE

Congo west of the Mpozo, or, in other words, of Matadi,
complete the services the administration has sought to
render to the blacks over whom its sway has been
established.

I will conclude this chapter in the eloquent language
of Baron Van Eetvelde, when summing up for his master
the work done by the administration : —

" It has struggled with success against the slave trade,
restricted the traffic in spirits and firearms, protected and
encouraged the missions without distinction of creed,
assured for all flags free navigation in the inland waters.
It has created no tax, no public charge, which does not
affect the Europeans equally with the natives. Its
customs tariff excludes all differential treatment. It has
established no transit dues, nor placed any obstacle in
the way of the circulation of merchandise, whencesoever
they may have come. It has assured commercial liberty
as understood by the Berlin Act, in guaranteeing the
liberty of exchange and other mercantile transactions.
It has guaranteed the security and stability of the rights
of private property, by giving them in its land regulations
a legal efficacy, and by placing them beyond dispute by
the adoption of a cadastral system calculated on that in
vigour in the Australian Colonies. . . . The Independ-
ent State, conscious of its situation and its role, seeks
no conquests. It confines its ambition to the perfecting
of its internal organisation, to extending its machinery, to
consolidating its authority, to facilitating the exploitation
of the natural resources of its territories, to improving the
lot of the populations. It is to these numerous cares that it
devotes itself with ardour, without letting itself be turned
from its object by views which would not harmonise with
this programme."

CHAPTER XVI

The Revenue and Trade of the State

The subjects that we have now to consider are of a
more practical character than those that have principally
occupied attention up to the present point. The nature
of the work to be performed in Central Africa, and the
manner in which the Congo State has met its obligations,
have been set forth in detail. It remains to show the
resources which enabled it to discharge the onerous duties
imposed upon it by its own position and the expectations
of the Powers, and which are still available for its con-
tinued existence as a separate State or as a Belgian
colony. Another point of scarcely less importance is to
ascertain whether the trade of the region and the develop-
ment of its produce justify the view that the Congo State
will prove a source of wealth to its possessor, or only a
barren acquisition.

At the commencement it is proper to record the fact
that, practically, the whole of the cost of the first ten years'
work on the Congo was borne by the King of the
Belgians, who devoted a large part of his private fortune
to the realisation of his great and noble scheme. The
founding of the colony in those years entailed an expendi-
ture of more than £1,200,000 on the part of the King,
which will never be recovered. This large amount
represents the outlay needed to give the enterprise a
start. Without it the project of a Central African
dominion would have died of inanition, as no one else
18

274

THE CONGO STATE

felt disposed to support it, or realised the opportunity
afforded for energetic and well-directed enterprise in that
region. How complete was the ignorance or incredulity,
the clear course left for the King showed ; and how
limited seemed the hope of profitable trade in this
region may be judged from the simple facts that the
revenue for the year 1886, the first year of the State's
existence, was less than £3000, and that the exports,
chiefly ivory, were only £70,000. The Congo Association,
at the moment of its being merged in the State, possessed
only thirteen stations, and, out of two hundred and fifty-
four foreigners on the Congo, only forty-six were Belgians.
From every point of view, there seemed at that moment
little tangible return for the, comparatively speaking,
immense sum the King had sunk in the Congo, and it
must be remembered that the subsequent negotiations
with France entailed the severance of what were then
thought to be the most promising districts, in which
much of the outlay had for that reason been made.

The very first task before the new administration of
the Congo State was to procure the means of carrying on
its work, and to devise sources of revenue where none
before had existed. But it was not until July 1890
that the State acquired, by the Brussels Act, the right
to levy taxes and impose customs dues. The year 1891
was therefore the first in which it could be said to
have received any regular revenue. Before that, the
sums received were the result of commercial operations,
or the spoils of war ; and how small they were may be
judged from a glance at the tables given a few pages
further on. Before 1891 the highest sum obtained
from these sources was £20,000, and in most years
it was less than half that sum-total. Obviously, the
work could not be carried on without funds, and it
was equally clear that the King's fortune would not
last for ever. The Brussels Conference gave the authority

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 275

for the enforcement of a tariff, and the details of the
arrangement carried out will be described in due course.
But in 1890 a more immediate remedy was needed, and
recourse was had to the Belgian Parliament, which
sanctioned a loan to the State of twenty-five million
francs, or one million sterling. The sum was not all
advanced at once, but in the following form : — One fifth
of the amount, or £200,000, was handed over at once,
and the remaining £800,000 was to be paid in ten
annual instalments. The State was thus provided with
a revenue of £80,000 for the period of ten years, and
during that period the loan was to be free of interest.
At the same time, the King notified his intention of
continuiug his support to the State, in the form of a
personal subvention of a million francs. From these
two sources the State commenced its financial career with
an assured income of £120,000. Small as this sum will
appear in comparison with the responsibilities incurred,
it represented for five years the greater half of the
revenue of the State.

Among the sources of revenue first provided were
the export duties on ivory and india-rubber. These were
fixed, after agreement with the neighbouring States of
France and Portugal, at ten per cent., while vegetable
products were only charged at the rate of five per cent.
Import duties were established at the same time as
follows : — On arms, ammunition, and salt, ten per cent. ;
merchandise of any kind, six per cent. ; on spirits, fifteen
francs per hectolitre at 50° of the centesimal alcoholmeter ;
boats, machinery, and useful articles for industry and
agriculture were exempt till May 1898, and thereafter
paid only three per cent. The registration fees, the
house tax, the levy on the boats that carried on traffic on
the Congo, represented what may be called direct taxation ;
of the same character were the fees paid on the engage-
ment of blacks as servants, labourers, or porters. The

276

THE CONGO STATE

sale of lands brought in other sources of revenue besides
the sum paid for the purchase. The registration fees
and other payments were a legitimate contribution to
the Exchequer. The value of land is now fixed, (l) for
land for factories or commercial purposes, at one hundred
francs the hectare, when situated in the Lower Congo up to
Stanley Pool, and (2) at a rate of two thousand francs the
hectare, with a minimum of three thousand francs, when
situated in the interior beyond Stanley Pool. When
taken up for agriculture, land is sold at ten francs the
hectare, whatever its situation is.

Special regulations were framed for mineral conces-
sions ; but as these have not yet produced any revenue,
it is unnecessary to consider them in any detail. The
forests, which one day must constitute a great source
of wealth, are now left untouched as far as possible, in
order to enable them to recover from the ravages com-
mitted during several centuries of ceaseless warfare.
They are only cut down to provide the steamers with
fuel, and a fee of from £20 to £40 is exacted, according
to the tonnao-e of the vessel.

The tax on caoutchouc was fixed at twenty-five
centimes the kilogramme, ecjuivalent to four per cent, on
the value in Europe, but this moderate tax was only to
remain in force until the opening of the railway through
the district of the Cataracts to Stanley Pool. This being
now achieved, a decree was issued in February 1898,
announcing that from the 1st September in the same
year there would be a supplementary tax of twenty-five
centimes the kilogramme, raising the impost to eight per
cent. ; and this increase was justified, not merely by the
increased facilities and diminished cost of transport, but
by the increased value of caoutchouc itself Another
decree of the same date provided for the payment of a
licence of £200 by all persons wishing to establish a
caoutchouc establishment on the domains. Neither of

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 277

these new sources of revenue have yet come into practical
operation, and they form one of the principal channels
from which a largely increased State revenue may be
expected in 1899. When the new plantations of coffee
and cocoa begin to be productive as sources of revenue,
the day will be in sight when the State will be able to
carry on its own administration without any extraneous
or extraordinary assistance. In the meantime it may be
noted that the proportion of the State-raised revenue to
the expenditure has risen from only four per cent, in 1886
to 68-21 per cent, in 1897.

The following tables will place the whole of the finan-
cial situation of the Congo State before the reader at a
glance : —

TABLE I.

Showing the Proportion of State Receipts to Expenditure.

Year.

Eeeeipts.

Proportion.

1886

Erancs

74,261

representing

4-87 of E

-cpenditure.

1887

200,755

10-61

1888

268,306

9-21

1889

515,094

16-06

1890

))

462,602

14-69

1891

1,319,545

28-97

1892

1,502,515

31-75

1893

1,817,475

33-40

1894

2,454,778

33-25

1895

3,600,000

47-00

1896

5,887,404

56-83

1897

9,183,360

68-21

TABLE II.

Xet

Revenue

the Congo State.

Year.

Year

1886

Francs

74,261

1892

Francs

1,502,515

1887

200,755

1893

1,817,475

1888

268,306

1894

2,454,778

1889

515,094

1895

3,600,000

1890

462,602

1896

5,887,404

1891

1,319,545

1897

9,183,360

278

THE CONGO STATE

TABLE III.

The Budgets of the Congo State.

Year. Revenue. Expenditure.

1891 . Francs 4,-554,931 . Francs 4,554,931

1892 . „ 4,731,981 . „ 4,731,981

1893 . „ 5,440,681 . „ 5,440,681

1894 . „ 14,949,444 . „ 7,383,554

1895 . „ 6,004,764 . „ 7,370,939

1896 . „ 7,002,735 . „ 8,236,300

1897 . „ 9,369,300 . „ 10,141,871

1898 . „ 14,765,050 . „ 17,251,975

TABLE lA'

Gross Receipts of Congo State, or Total Eevenue.

Year.

1892 . . ■ . . Francs 4,800,896

1893
1894
1895
1896
1897

„ 6,664,615
7,754,532
„ 8,116,268
„ 10,359,900
(not available)

TABLE Y.

Total Expenditure op Congo State.
Year.

1892 .... Francs 4,764,086

1893
1894
1895
1896
1897

6,841,783
„ 8,619,152
„ 8,116,268
„ 10,359,900
(not available)

The most important element in the life of a State
is, however, not its revenue, but its trade and industrial
or agricultural activity. A Government can give an
artificial size to the revenue it raises, or it can impose
excessive taxes, which diminish, and in the end exhaust,
the resources of the country ; but there are no such means
of creatino- a fictitious trade. The value and sio-nificance
of the Conoo revenue are to be measured bv the evidence
afi"orded of growing trade and developed resources.

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 279

Just as the sources of revenue were limited when the
State came into existence, it was equally clear that the
produce of the country covered no great range when
the question of tapping its wealth was approached by
those who had undertaken the responsibility of its govern-
ment. There were only two articles, practically speaking,
available for export. One was ivory, gathered from
elephants' tusks and hippopotamus' teeth ; and the other
w^as " the black ebony," which it was the sacred mission of
the State to erase for ever from the list of African exports.
The natives were also too lazy, too easily satisfied, or too
inexperienced in labour, to make any effort to develop the
territory they possessed, or to turn to account the natural
riches that lay ready to their hand. Their energy, perhaps
also their capacity, was exhausted when they had planted
a little manioc or maize, or perhaps batatas, which could
be cultivated without further effort than scratching a
grateful soil. The indifference of the negro led to the
general conclusion that he was hopelessly lazy, incapable
of settled labour, and that his co-operation would be use-
less in the task of developing the Congo basin ; whereas
the truth was, that he was ionorant because no one had
taught him, and that he was indifferent because there
was barely a chance of his enjoying the fruits of his own
labour. In such circumstances, it was not surprising that
the ideal existence was the one which provided the barest
necessaries of life with the least exertion.

The success of the steps to be taken for the develop-
ment of the Congo region depended, in the first place, on
the capacity of the black races to be attracted to a regular
settled existence, and to the necessary application to field
labour, essential for the development of its resources in
vegetable products. Much doubt was expressed on the
subject, and those who took an unfavourable view of the
matter were more confident in their opinions than the
others. But when it is remembered what African labour

28o

THE CONGO STATE

had (lone in a condition of slavery in the West Indies and
in the Southern States of America, it seems strange that
any doubt should have been felt as to how the negro
would work on his own land in a state of freedom. In the
early stages of his social advancement and education, it is
true that he required direction and enlightenment, but of
his readiness to learn, and of his keen perception of the
change in his lot, there never was any doubt. For many
years the capacity and willingness of the natives to labour
in the fields or in the forests, on the lakes and rivers, or
along the trade routes, have been accepted as undoubted
facts, about which it is no longer possible to hold opposite
opinions. Over and above their capacity for manual
labour, the blacks have developed a keen commercial
spirit, which bears out all that so close an observer as
David Livingstone said of the possibility of raising the
intelligence and intellectual perceptions of the negro to a
level nearer the European,

The acknowledged superiority of African ivory in
colour and hardness over Indian provided it with a sure
and ready sale in the European markets. The supply of
dead ivory— that is to say, of ivory actually in possession
of the blacks — was immense, and, as they attached no
special value to it, ivory was obtainable in sufficient quan-
tities, by the barter of fancy goods, beads, or such articles
of apparel as gratified the native taste. At the same time,
all explorers and agents of the State agreed in stating that
the herds of elephants in the interior were numerous, and
promised a supply of live ivory for an indefinite period.
As a precaution against the extermination of the pachy-
derm, the King has, however, prohibited elephant shoot-
ing, except by special permission, which is rarely granted.
The exports of ivory from the Congo State in 1895 were
valued at 5,844,640 francs of Congo produce, and 6,334,280
francs of general trade — that is to say, of French and
Portuguese as well as Belgian territory. In 1896 the

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 281

corresponding figures were 3,826,320 francs and 4,853,160
francs ; and in 1897, 4,916,480 francs and 6,004,180 francs.
The export of ivory may therefore be correctly described
as steady, but as unlikely to exhibit any great increase.
On the other hand, the supply is known to be enough to
prevent any marked decline, and the precautions, taken in
good time, will avert the waste or exhaustion of the avail-
able stores of ivory.

The present condition and future prospects of the Congo
State depend, not on its old sources of wealth, practically
limited to one article, but on its new. The extraordinary
fertility of the soil, watered by the Congo and its affluents,
justified the expectation that the cultivation of vegetables,
grains, and tropical plants would be possible, and likely to
be crowned with exceptional success. Like the Nile, the
Congo leaves a rich deposit, which requires a minimum of
labour to become suitable for cultivation. In the eastern
and south-eastern provinces of the State, Manyema and
Katanga, the region is of extraordinary natural fertility,
and the climatic conditions are far sujjerior to those of
the Lower or even the Middle Congo. Here, when the
means of communication have been improved, it is safe to
predict, will be large and prosperous colonies of Europeans
living near the Equator, under conditions as favourable
as those in Ceylon, and more favourable to the health of
white men than those prevailing in Java, The richness
of the soil, the suitability of the climate, and the adapta-
bility of the negroes for manual labour, and especially as
agriculturists, were the preliminary discoveries and facts
on which the development of the capaliilities of the
Congo region was systematically and scientifically taken
in hand.

But the first product of the State was a vegetable
growth, supplied not by the art of man, but by the bounty
of nature. This was the caoutchouc, or rubber-bearing
liana — landolphia Jiorida — which was found in practically

282

THE CONGO STATE

limitless extent, embracino; the laroest trees to their sum-
mits, and justifyin!? the appellation, used by ]M. Droogmans,

of " the vegetaljle boa of the Congo region." The natives
knew something of its use, but their primitive methods of
collecting it threatened the extermination of the plant.

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 283

They were content to make an incision in the liana, and to
gather the fluid in a kind of ewer, or, more often, to collect
it in their hands, rub it on their body, and to carry it in
this way to the market, where it was rubbed off" with
sand. The chief mischief that attended this primitive
practice was, that the liana was left to die. At the com-
mencement, then, the State authorities prohibited the
blacks from making any incision in the lianas, and took
the most effectual steps in their power to enforce their
orders.

Before these salutary measures were taken, the lianas
in the Lower Congo had been practically destroyed by the
improvident methods and ignorance of the blacks, but on
the Up23er Congo and several of its tributaries, especially
the Kassai, the lianas are practically countless, and the
supply, with reasonable precautions in gathering the
harvest, is quite inexhaustible. A number of regulations,
with the view of husbanding and developing so important
a source of wealth, have been drawn up. The State
authorises the gathering of caoutchouc in the greater
part of its territories in the Upper Congo. Further orders
have been issued from time to time to ensure the proper
and more skilful collection of the caoutchouc harvest, and,
among these, that the liquid can only be extracted from the
stem. The tax imposed by the State has been previously
mentioned ; but the natives have the option of paying-
one fifth of the quantity they collect. An important
matter in connection with the caoutchouc harvest is, that
it is so easily eff"ected that it can be done by women and
cliildren. The quantity of caoutchouc annually exported
from the Congo has attained large proportions, which have
made it a successful competitor with that received from
Brazil. In 188G the export was only 159,000 francs. In

1892 it had risen to 625,356 francs ; but its enormous
development has taken place in the last three years. In

1893 the total reached 1,000,000 francs, but in 1895 it

284

THE CONGO STATE

was 2,882,585 francs; in 1896, 6,586,730 francs ; and in
1897 it took its place as the leading export of the Congo
State with 8,311,900 francs; and in these figures, only the
actual produce of Congo territory is included.

Among the other chief natural products of the Congo
must be named palm oil and palm nuts. In 1895 palm
oil was exported to the value of 935,658 francs; in 1896,
770,532 francs; and in 1897, 650,206 francs. In 1895
palm nuts were sent abroad to the extent of 1,242,898

TIMBEU OF THE CONGO.

francs; in 1896, of 1,143,605 francs; and in 1897, of
1,098,879 francs. In this direction it is not permissible
to look for any large increase in the productiveness of the
region ; and the development of the other revenues of the
State will perhaps make the palm exports occupy a still
minor place than the third, which it has now filled for
some time on the customs returns. Leaving aside the
minor exports, such as copal, arachides, and timber, the
last of which is increasing (having risen from twelve to
seventy-five thousand francs in two years), we pass from

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 285

the three chief articles in the existing trade and produce
of the Congo to those which have made in the last few
years a modest appearance in the official statistics, and
which are full of promise. In the first rank of these must
be placed colTee and cocoa ; but tobacco, the sugar cane,
the vine, and even the tea plant, are not to be ex-
cluded from the possible profitable products of Central
Africa.

The cultivation of coffee was naturally suggested by

A FOREST ON THE CONGO.

the fact that the coffee tree was found growing wild in
many parts of the Congo region, but, unlike caoutchouc, it
is essentially artificial, and demands the greatest care.
In the first place, the site of a coffee plantation has to be
carefully selected. The plant requires a damp soil and a
well-shaded position, while at the same time great heat
is needed for the production of the blossom. Four to six
years are required to develop the shrub, which attains at
maturity an altitude of from ten to thirteen feet. The
shade is skilfully obtained on the Congo by planting

286

THE CONGO STATE

banana trees amono; the coffee shrubs, as shown in the
accompanying illustration.

Nevertheless, after the lapse of a certain time, in
order to prevent the plantations being stifled, as they

reach and sometimes surpass the height of the banana
trees which have protected their growth, these are ad-
vantageously replaced by trees of a certain height, and
fulfillino- numerous conditions. Among these conditions

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 287

may be named rapidity of growth, that they do not
exhaust the soil, that they do not give too compact a
shade, that they reach a certain height as soon as
possible, and that they have some intrinsic value of their
own. Among other essences employed on the Congo, the
State has prescribed for some time past that an experi-
ment should be made with the Ireh tree, which was
thought might be employed for this purpose ; and this the
more confidently, because its juice might at the same
time be exploited for the production of caoutchouc of real
value.

The coffee trees are planted at intervals varying
according to the kind and variety ; as a general rule, the
estimate holds good of five hundred trees to an acre of
plantation. Intercalary cultivation — a method on which
planters themselves are by no means unanimous— is not
attempted on the Congo. A coffee plantation begins to
be productive in its third year ; its produce varies
according to the nature of the soil, the conditions under
which the plants have grown, and the category to which
they belong. The opinion expressed by experts on the
samples of Congo coffee is very favourable. The taste
and aroma have, as a rule, been found exceedingly good.
It has been remarked that some of the berries were
occasionally too large.

Having obtained these encouraging results, the State
has taken in hand the systematic cultivation of coffee.
Each station has been endowed with a coffee nursery, and
the cultivators are encouraged by rewards and other
stimulants to turn the land given to them for cultivation
into a coffee plantation. It was with the same object
that the State passed, on 21st November 1896, an order
obliging the recognised chiefs in the districts of Aruwimi
and Stanley Falls to cultivate either coffee or cocoa on
their waste lands. On its side, the Government engao-ed
to furnish the necessary seeds ; to allow them an

288

THE CONGO STATE

indemnity, to be fixed by the district commissary, for
each coffee or cocoa shrub on its attaining two feet in
height ; and to pay them fifty per cent, of the value of
the coftee produced — the value to be fixed by the price on
the Belgian market, less the cost of transport.

The justification of this obligation to cultivate coffee
or cocoa is simple and suflicieut. The suppression of the
slave trade and the maintenance of internal peace have
deprived the chiefs of the greater part of their resources,
but at the same time the State retained its indefeasible
right to their contributions towards its support, in taxes
of some kind or other. When those chiefs were invited
to pay tribute to the State, and replied that they had no
means of doing so, the Government made answer : " You
must pay something, but the State will give you the
means of paying it." The most promising and advan-
tageous project for both parties was to apply the measure
passed by the decree of 21st November 1896, already
cited, to all the territorial chiefs. This w^as done on 30th
April 1897 by fixing the gratuity awarded on a tree
attaining the necessary height at one penny (ten cen-
times), and by recognising their rights of property in
the plantations they cultivated, which might be trans-
mitted to their successors, subject to the assejit of the
State.

As may be deemed clear from this statement, the
State takes upon itself the provision of the seeds or
shrubs destined for the native plantations, and, over and
above an indemnity fixed for each coff"ee or cocoa tree, the
chiefs are made equal participants in the result of the
operation.

Neither of these articles yet figure prominently in the
statistics. Cocoa did not appear in the list till 1896, and
coflee only for the quantity that passed through from
foreign territory. In 1900 the result of the experiment
will be clearly established, but the plantations on the

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 289

chiefs' territories may not be fully productive for a year
later.

In tlie meantime the evidence obtained and the
reports received leave no room to doubt that the
experiment will be a great success. How great, it will
be best to leave time to tell its own tale. Tobacco, the
sugar cane, and the vine are also among the vegetable
products under trial on the Congo, but they are in a
less advanced stage of experiment than coffee, and it
is not possible to speak with equal confidence of their
chances of success. Vegetables for domestic use and
fruits of all kinds are produced in abundance, but
whether they will ever form an article of export may
be doubted. The following tables will show the growth
and the extent of the special and general trade of the
Congo State: —

TABLE I.

The Special Commerce or Export of Original Produce from the

Congo State.

Yeav.

Year.

1886 .

Francs 1,772,864

1892 . Fnu

ICS 5,487,632

1887 .

1,980,441

1893 .

6,206,134

1888 .

2,609,300

1894 .

8,761,622

1889 .

4,297,543

1895 .

10,943,019

1890 .

„ 8,242,199

1896 .

12,389,599

1891 .

5,353,519

1897 .

15,146,976

TABLE 11.

The General Commerce or Total Export from the Congo State.

Francs 7,529,979
7,514,791
11,031,704
12,135,656
15,091,137
17,457,090

In connection with the external trade of the Cono'o,
it is worthy of note that by far the greater proportion of

* Second half only.

Year.

1886* .

Francs 3,456,050

1892

1887 .

7,667,969

1893

1888 .

7,392,348

1894

1889 .

8,573,519

1895

1890 .

14,109,780

1896

1891 .

10,535,619

1897

290

THE CONGO STATE

entered Belgium. The Netherlands took 2.348.097
francs; and England, wliich at one time had a greater

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 291

trade on the Congo than Belgium, had sunk to 339,840
francs. The same tale is told with regard to the importa-

tions. Belgium possesses in that direction a not less
pronounced lead than in the exports. Out of a total of

292

THE CONGO STATE

22,181,462 francs of imports, 16,272,028 francs come
from Beloium — a result sufficient to show that the Congo
has already become a considerable outlet for the parent
State. Among the imports England figures for 2,593,247
francs. The great bulk of tlie trade to and from the
Congo under a moderate tariti", and with the principles
of free trade in vigour, goes to the benefit of Belgium.
This increase has been on an ascending ^5cale. In two
years Belgian trade with the Congo has trebled, while
English has decreased by twenty-five or thirty per cent.

Of the mineral wealth of the country nothing is yet
known with absolute certainty, and therefore it will be
best to pass over this part of the subject with the mere
observation that travellers and surveyors have affirmed
that in many parts, and especially in the south-eastern
region of Katanga, there are clear traces of gold and of
coal. A number of Belgian companies have been formed
for the exploitation of the Congo region, and in these a
considerable amount of capital has been invested with
generally favourable results. The success of those
trading with the region of the Upper Congo has been
more marked, and is based on surer conditions for expan-
sion than those interested in the Lower Congo, and the
improvement in communications must tend to increase
the prosperity of those engaged in the region above
Stanley Pool. The State benefits by all these private
undertakings ; and in some of them, such as the Katanga
Company, it possesses, by the terms of the concession, a
direct continoent interest. From these sources the State
must soon derive some increase in its revenue ; and as
new enterprises are undertaken, in consequence of the
success of those already existing, the advantage accruing
to the Government will become more marked and con-
siderable.

One of the principal factors in the commercial success
of the Congo State will undoubtedly be the ability of

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 293

Europeans to live and enjoy reasonably good health
within the territories of the State. This is a very vexed
question ; and if the conditions of life in the Lower Congo,
at Banana, Boma, and even Matadi, applied to the Upper
Congo, a gloomy view would be justifiable. But the state
of the case is not so bad as a mere reference to the some-
what high rate of mortality at Banana would lead the
casual observer to conclude. The evidence is conclusive
that, with a reasonable amount of care, and by the

J') 1.1. AI lJUMA.

oi.)servance of some simple precautions, a European can
enjoy on the Upper Congo just as good health as in
Belgium, while for European colonies on a large scale the
table lands of Katanga are suited in an exceptionable
degree.

Improvements in food, clothing, and habitation, as
well as a stricter application of the laws of hygiene, have
already produced an effect on the bills of mortality.
Sixteen doctors in the employment of the State look
after the health of the different stations, on which they

294

THE CONGO STATE

issue a report every six months. A Hygienic Commis-
sion sits permanently at Boma, and reports every three
months. The chief cases of ilhiess occur, all the doctors
agree, among the new arrivals. A period of acclimatisa-
tion appears in nearly every case to be necessary, and
the consensus of opinion is that, for this, one year is
sufficient. On the other hand, the rapid passage of new
arrivals, which the railway makes possible, to the more
salubrious regions of the upper river, seems to be a simple
and satisfactory remedy for the evil. The most careful
and systematic rules have been drawn up for the guidance
of the new-comer in the Congo State, and men of science
declare that the strict observance of these simple precau-
tions will reduce the risk to life to a minimum. Among
these regulations figure a strict abstinence in respect of
strong liquors, and the adoption of a more substantial
early breakfast than is the practice on the Continent.
The following table of deaths amono- the agents of the
State will furnish the reader with the materials for his
own opinion.

Table of INIortality of Agents of the Congo State.

Year.

Number of
Agents.

Deatlis liy
Accident,
including
Wars.

Doatlis h

y Illness.

Mortality per 1000.

At a Station.

While on Ex-
peditions.

Total.

BySicknes.'-
alone.

1885

160

1886

133

1887

152

1888

177

1889

226

1890

292

1891

408

1892

492

1 1

1893

628

1894

703

1895

758

1896

939

1897

1073

THE REVENUE AND TRADE OF THE STATE 295

These figures give an average of sixty per mille, or six
pev cent., and supply an effective answer to the allegation
in Mr. Consul Pickersgill's report, that " of every ten
whites nine are either buried or invalided within three
years." If these totals and averages are compared with
those that have been experienced by other European
States in their task of absorbing new countries and
winning them over to civilisation, it will be found that
they are much under instead of above those in different
regions of the world. In the Cameroons the average was
over one hundred and fourteen per mille in the four years
1890 to 1894, in German East Africa eighty-seven per
mille, in the Niger territory seventy-five per mille, and
in French Cochin China fifty-three per mille. In former
years the Dutch garrison in Java died out in less than
four years, and the rate of mortality among the servants
of the East India Company in the last century, apart
from deaths in operations of war, was far higher than that
incurred by Belgium on the Congo.

The question of the healthiness of the Congo region is
one that the Belgians can face without yielding to dis-
couragement, and perhaps the optimists will find reassur-
ance in the fact, which the pessimists cannot explain
away, that six hundred Europeans, including one hundred
and twenty-five English and sixty-four Americans, have,
without any State compulsion, taken up their residence
on the Congo, and principally on the admittedly less
healthy part of it west of Stanley Pool. The region is far
healthier than many other European colonies ; and the
mortality is certain to diminish in a natural manner as
the country is effectually reclaimed, when the need for
hazardous expeditions will cease, and as the conditions of
health are more accurately appreciated and scrupulously
complied with. Taking all these facts into consideration,
a mortality of six or even seven per cent, among the
agents of the State in the first period of the existence of

296

THE CONGO STATE

a new territory does not furnish any reason to shake
faith in the future of the Congo State, or to raise a doubt
that Central Africa will be another of the great producing
regions of the tropics, like Brazil and Java, Ceylon and
India, liido-Chiiia and the West Indies.

CHAPTER XVII

Railways and Telegraphs on the Congo

At different periods reference has been made to the fact
that the utility of the Congo as a navigable river was
very greatly diminished by its being unapproachable from
the sea on account of the cataracts, thirty-two in number,
with a total fall of one thousand feet, which intervened
between Matadi and Stanley Pool. Several attempts, and
many more suggestions, had been made to overcome this
natural difficulty ; but no practical remedy had been
discovered when the State was founded, and the whole
transport between the upper and lower rivers was carried
on on men's backs at great expense, and with still greater
uncertainty and delay. These obvious facts led Mr.
Stanley to express the conviction that he did not attach
any value to the Congo without a railway from Matadi to
Stanley Pool ; while Belgian travellers and administrators
regarded it as of the first necessity, in order to draw to
the coast the wealth of the interior, as well as for the
development of the interior of Central Africa itself. At
a very early stage of its existence, everyone came to
recognise that the future of the Congo State depended
chiefly on the construction of a railway that would turn
the cataracts, and supply a sure and rapid means of
transport between the ocean port and the commencement
of navigation on the upper river.

In 1887, when the State was not yet two years old, a
convention was concluded between it and the Belgian

2g8

THE CONGO STATE

society known as the " Compagnie du Congo pour la
Commerce et I'lndustrie," granting the hitter certain rights
and privileges of a very generous nature if it would
undertake to build the railway. A preliminary survey,
entrusted to. ^Nlajor Cambier and a large staft" of com-
petent engineers, was undertaken by the company, and,
two years after the first agreement, a definite arrange-
ment was concluded, bv which a distinct Congo railway

SIATAllI — GKANl) I'LACE.

com[ianv was formed fur the execution of the task in
accordance with Major Cambier's estimates and surveys.
On 29th .luly 1889 the Belgian Chamber passed a vote,
that of the capital of this company, which was to consist of
twenty-five million francs, the Belgian Government might
subscribe two fifths, or ten million francs. The other fifteen
millions were offered to pul)lic subscription, and were, as a
matter of fact, subscribed chiefly by Belgian investors.

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 299

The machinery and funds necessary for the commence-
ment, at least, of this railway being thus provided, a brief
account may be given of the accomplishment of a task
which presented many exceptional difficulties, and re-
quired nine years of ceaseless effort and enterprise to
accomplish. Major Cambier, in his first estimate, had
computed that the line could be constructed, and interest
paid on the capital pending construction, for a million ;

DINING-ROOM AT LEOPOLD VILLK.

and if the result showed that the sum had to be doubled,
it must 1)6 noted that all similar works have cost more
than the orioiual estimate, and that the total cost of this
line represents a rate of less than £10,000 a mile, which,
considering the difficulties encountered and overcome,
nmst be j^ronounced exceedingly low.

The route selected for the railway from Matadi to
Stanley Pool was originally four hundred kilometres in

3O0

THE CONGO STATE

length, but it was found possible in the course of con-
struction to reduce this to three hundred and ninety kilo-
metres, so that the length of the line in English measure-
ment is as nearly ns possible two hundred and sixty miles.
Matadi, the point of departure, is made accessible by a
new iron jetty, more than one hundred feet in length, to
ocean steamers of considerable tonnage, and the terminus,
Ndolo on Stanley Pool, lies a little south-east of Leopold-
ville, under the shadow of Mount Leopold. At Ndolo
quays and docks have been constructed, to make it the
great inland port for the Congo flotilla. In the selection
of the track for the line the engineers were hampered by
the proximity of the Portuguese frontier, which at several
points is only three miles distant. This fact prevented the
making of the detour, which would have turned the chief
natural obstacles lying in the path of the engineers in the
great rocky mountain of Pallaballa, which itself forms part
of the great Crystal range, that is the western rampart of
the Central African plateau. As that barrier could not
be turned, and as the cost of tunnelling was prohibitive,
considering the limited resources of the railway company,
other methods had to be adopted, and, after a period of
doubt, and even despondency, they have signally triumphed.

The principle adopted was that the line should follow
as closely as possible the trend of the land, and accommodate
itself to the sinuosities of the country, instead of attempt-
ing to triumph over them in preserving a straight line.
The first section of the line out of Matadi to the eastern
side of Pallaballa is exceedingly tortuous, and has been
described by a traveller along it as " marvellous and
fantastic." The track throuoh the Pallaballa Mountain is
itself nearly eighteen miles in length, and here the way
had to be made through the mountain l)y a succession of
dynamite explosions in the hard rock. In this manner
the line was carried over the summit of the Pallaballa, and
four years were occupied in the construction of the first

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 301

twenty-six miles of the railway, which included this portion.
During this period despondent views were expressed
about the undertaking, and the delay led some to declare
that it would never l)e achieved. The engineers worked
indomitably, and those who had set their hands to the
task never lost faith in the result. When the Governor-
General, Colonel Wahis, opened the first section, on 4th
December 1893, although no more than one tenth of the
distance had been traversed, the essential difficulties of
the task had been overcome. The following descrij)tion
of this part of the route, from the pen of a correspondent
of the Mouvement Geographique, who witnessed the
ceremony, gives a graphic picture of the more difficult
and picturesque section of the railway : —

" The train, on leaving the station of Matadi, passes
m 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 Eavine, which it crosses by a
bridge of sixty-five feet. It follows for a few minutes the
right bank of the ravine, and is thus 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 fore-
ground, the river rolling in rapids, and in the back-
ground 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

302

THE CONGO STATE

just made tlie 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 tlie work, that the
difficulties were the greatest. From the Leopold Ravine
to the bridge of the Mpozo, or for over four miles, the plat-
form of the line had to be cut in terraces on the side of
an immense rock of hard stone, across the thick equatorial
vegetation which encumbered every ravine. Beyond the
Ravine of Sleep (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, while at the
seventeenth it has reached nine hundred feet, or a rise of
six hundred feet in four and a half miles. Beyond this the
line traverses the Ravine of the Devil 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 emotional.
The scenery is dramatic, 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
liundred feet above the bottom of the Devil's Ravine.
The engine blows with force to the very moment of reach-
ing the station of Pallaballa. Here the trulv interestino;
portion of the journey is over. The great difficulties, the
long slopes of ascent at a maximum incline, recur no more."

This description will explain the appellation of this part
of the country by the title of the Switzerland of the Congo.
After reaching this point, the work proceeded at a greatly
accelerated pace. Four years were spent in laying down
forty kilometres, but in the next two years and a half

303

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 305

one hundred and fifty kilometres were laid, and half the
whole distance was traversed. At the same time, the
discovery had been made that the line would cost a
great deal more than had been estimated, and the
actual expenditure at this point had reached thirty-eight
and a half million francs, or over half a million sterling
in excess. In order to provide the necessary funds,
fresh powers were granted by the Congo State and the
Belgian Government, and a tripartite convention was
signed, ])y which power was given to the two former
to buy up the railway from the company. In 1898
the period when this right could be exercised was
postponed for another ten years, as the delay in the
completion of the railway had proved greater than
anticipated, without any ])lame attaching to the com
pany. The further cost of the last two hundred kilo-
metres of the line amounted to rather more than twenty
million francs, bringing u}) the total outlay to nearly
sixty million francs.

In addition to the difficulties in traversing the Palla-
balla Mountain, the engineers encountered considerable
trouble in bridging the five or six rivers that fiow
through this district to the Congo. Of these, the Inkissi
was broadest and the most difficult to bridge, and the
first structure thrown across it was swept away, thus
causing much loss in time and money. The bridge
finally thrown a(;ross is a steel bridge, and it is sus-
pended between masonry parapets of great strength, con-
structed on the opposite sides of this exceedingly rapid
river. Other bridges of importance cross the Kwilu,
the Gonga, and the Mpozo. There are ten intermediate
stations, of which Tuniba, the administrative centre, is
both the half-way house and the most important. The
trains are timed to do the whole journey in twenty-four
hours, but it is arranged that the journey shall be broken
at Turaba, and in this way it will occupy two days. The

3o6

THE CONGO STATE

fares for the through journey have been fixed at five
hundred francs for a first-class ticket, and fifty francs
for a second-class, while goods will be charged about five-
pence a pound.

During the year 1897 great progress was efi'ected,
and before its end only thirty kilometres remained to
complete the line. These were etfected by the 16th
March 1898, and on that date the iron horse steamed
into Ndolo. The final completion of the line and its
opening for through tratfic were consummated by an
official inauouration on the 6th Julv. when a grand
banquet was given at Leopoldville to the foreign repre-
sentatives by M. Fuchs, the ad interim Governor-General.
Special representatives were appointed by the Powers
interested, and a large number of Belgian and other
journalists went out to describe the ceremonies accom-
panying this auspicious event. All these visitors to the
Conoo were entertained as ouests of the State and the
Eailway Company. Colonel Thys, the managing director
of the railway, organised the expedition, and the fine ship
Alhertville was specially prepared for the conveyance of
the party to and back from the Congo. The King was
specially represented by General Daelmann and the Mayor
of Brussels. M. Buls not only was present at Leopoldville,
but, in order to give his fellow-citizens satisfactory evidence
that life was supportable on the Equator, he extended his
tour to Stanley Falls. In the course of his inaugural
address M. Fuchs dwelt on the essential need of the railway
to the Congo, and called attention to the practical value
of the King's work. Among other speakers was Baron
von Danckelman, the German representative, who extolled
the colonisino- efforts of the Beloians. and dwelt on the
friendly relations between the Congo and its neighbours.

In this manner, after nine years' labour, and a
keenly contested struggle with the difficulties of nature,
the great defect in the position of the Congo State has

307

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 309

been removed. It is now possible to convey backwards
and forwards in two days the wealth of the interior,
and the appliances of civilisation to the interior, where
formerly three weeks were needed for the transport. It
is also not only a saving of time, but of cost, and a
sore and reliable method has been substituted for a
doubtful and insecure one. Much loss was formerly
incurred by the impossibility of engaging porters at
the moment they were wanted. This risk is now
eliminated from the calculations merchants in the
Congo region have to make on their investments. But
the advantages brought by the Congo Railway to the
State are far from beino- confined to the trade of its
territory. Its construction simplifies the development
of the interior. It will enable the State to send the
material for the telegraph, for the river and lake flotillas,
for the new railways needed to develop the most pro-
mising region under its sway, expeditiously and at a
reasonable cost. It will also admit of the rapid con-
veyance of all new - comers to the Congo to a more
salubrious station, so that they may pass through their
period of probation and acclimatisation under favourable
conditions. This will tend to diminish the sickness and
lower the death-rate referred to in the last chapter.
The nearer the inner parts of Africa are lirought to
Europe, the higher will be the tone prevailing there
among the responsible officials ; and the railroad, with its
lieutenant or complement, the telegraph, will do more
to promote good government on the Upper Congo or
in the still remoter districts of the Uelle and the San-
kuru than the most perfect code of laws or the strictest
injunctions of the authorities in Brussels. From every
point of view, the railway was essential to the welfare
of the Conoio, and its construction marks what must
prove a new epoch in the future of the Independent
State. It has also accomplished its first and more

THE CONGO STATE

obvious mission in advancins; the standard of Protrress
and Labour" in Central Africa.

The port of Xdolo, w hich is of equal importance as
the terminus of the railway and as the commencement
of river navigation, has been specially prepared for the
role it has to play in the future. M. Dumont, a Belgian
engineer, carefully examined its capabilities from every
point of view before it was selected for the purpose, and
his report showed that by some simple dredging opera-
tions it could be converted into a useful port. It is
situated a little distance from the lake, and is approached
by a narrow channel, which, after flowing up to Xdolo,
continues back to the lake, so that it has an entrance
and exit from and to the Congo. The current is not
felt in this water passage, and Ndolo is completely
sheltered from the force of the winds. Quays for lading
and unlading have been constructed with a metal floor
resting on piles, and the.se, when finished, will extend
for several hundred yards. All the necessary material
for repairing ships will be collected here ; and at Kin-
shassa, the fortified islet protecting this port as well as
Leopoldville, a special slip has been constructed for the
launching of the larc^e stern-wheel steamers that were
described in the chapter on the Congo River. The first
of these was launched in connection with the inauguration
ceremonies of the Congo EaOway. The situation of Xdolo
as a port was greatly improved by the blowing up, by
dynamite, of some rocks at the entrance of the channel,
and, as time goes on, no doubt many other improvements
will be effected in a place which promises to be the
Liverpool or Antwerp of the L'pper Congo.

The accomplishment of the Congo Railway has at once
stimulated and facilitated the construction of other
necessary railways in the interior of Africa. A descrip-
tion has been given of the value of the Congo and its
affluents as navigable routes into the interior ; but railways

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 311

are needed to supplement their utility, and the completion
of the line from ]\Iatadi to Stanley Pool has rendered
them feasible by greatly reducing the cost of sending the
necessary materials to the upper river. A decision has
been arrived at by the Government of the State to
prosecute these further enterprises with energy and
without delay. They promise to furnish a solution also
of the difficult labour problem as to what is to be done
with the laljourers on the Matadi-Xdolo Railway. A
labour question on the Lower Congo will convey to the
reader an idea of how things are advancinsf in this region:
and where it was difficult nine years ago, on the com-
mencement of the line, to obtain a single labourer, there
are now thousands of black navvies dependent on such
public works as these for their means of livelihood.
Another large group of black labourers in the porters
has to be provided with work in some form or other ;
and although it may be hoped, for their own welfare and
that of the State, that the majority will be drawn into
agricultural pursuits, some portion at least will seek em-
ployment on the new railways.

The necessity existing for new railways in the interior
of the State is, of course, not so great as in the district of
the Cataracts, but there are several lines for which an
immediate necessity may be pleaded, and, what is more
to the point, they hold forth good promise of justifying
their construction by success. Of these the railway to
the Uelle, and that to Manyema, Urua, and Katanga, are
the two most important and promising. Political con-
siderations, and the present highly interesting position of
affiiirs on the Upper Nile, invest the former undertaking
with the greater importance for the time being, but the
latter railway, or rather railways, are not less necessary,
and hold forth a greater promise of reward. Of course
the two lines named do not represent the only directions
in which the State will have to construct railways, l)ut

312

THE CONGO STATE

they are those that lie \\ithin its programme for the
immediate future. The Uelle Railway, in particular, will
surely be taken iu hand with no more delay than the
preliminary arrangements require.

Under these circumstances, the following sketch of these
projected enterprises will supply the reader with the
essential fa(;ts relative to two important new agencies
for the propagation of trade and civilisation in the Dark
Continent.

On the nth January 1898 the King signed a decree
sanctioning the construction of a railway in the valley
of the Uelle, and the expenditure of three hundred thou-
sand francs by the State in the preliminary surveys. It
is well to establish the fact, in the first place, that the
line has a justification in more practical considerations
than political problems. The rich basin of the Uelle,
covering an area of one hundred and fifty thousand
square miles, was described by Emin Pasha, whose
authority could not be disputed, as an immense field
open to traffic and industry, where the extraordinary
wealth of the region awaited the eff"ort of the exploiter
of virgin soils. In this region, coffee, tobacco, and the
sugar cane are actually cultivated by the natives without
trouble, and, as they are by instinct agricultural, they
only need better methods to attain a degree of prosperity
that will justify Emin's phrase in calling the Uelle region
the granary of Equatoria.

These considerations turned the scale in favour of the
Uelle route as the l)est for reachino- the north-east districts
and the Nile. There were other considerations in support
of this view. The principal counter suggestion was in
fsivour of the Aruwimi, but the Aruwimi passes through
a region much less thickly peopled than the Uelle. The
Uelle also provides a more direct and easier route to
Redjaf, while at the same time there are important parts
of this river tliat are utilisablc for navisjation. AVe must

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 313

not be misunderstood. The river is really of use, chiefly
for local traffic on the native canoes ; but on the Itimljiri
River steamers can proceed from the Congo as high up as
Acuetana. The proposal, therefore, is first to construct a
short line from Acuetana to Eringa — both on the Itimbiri
— and to continue it across country from Eringa to the
Panga Falls on the Uelle. Above the Panga Falls the
Uelle is navigable to Niangara, and consequently the
short line from Acuetana to Pano;a will connect two
important water routes. Panga is also in connection
by water route with the Ubangi, although for a consider-
able part of the distance it is only navigable for canoes.
The total distance of the line from Acuetana to Panga is
two hundred and fifty-five kilometres, or, say, one hundred
and seventy English miles.

This comparatively short section would constitute the
Uelle Railway, properly so called, but after it has been
achieved will arise the question of how it is best to con-
tinue it to the Nile ; and then will come the point to be
decided, whether the Panga-Niangara section of the Uelle
should be regarded as a permanent section of the line, or
whether it will be best to continue the line without a
break from Acuetana beyond Panga, without a break to
Redjaf. There is hardly room for serious doubt that
the latter course will be adopted, although it signifies the
construction of a railway of six hundred and sixty miles.
There are, as it happens, many local considerations that
will reduce the cost and facilitate the completion of such
a line. The country is almost perfectly fiat. There is
plenty of wood and lime. The tribes of the Uelle make
excellent bricks, and they are themselves capable of
performing regular work. The local resources will
consequently largely aid the operations of the rail-
way contractors. There is therefore every justification
for hopeful views with regard to the Uelle Railway
and its continuation to the Nile.

THE CONGO STATE

The second I'ailway, or rather railways, is intended to
do for the regions of the Manyema, Urua, and Katanga
exactly what the line just described will do for the north-
east. The provinces of Manyema, Urua, and Katanga are
the three richest and most promising in the State. Man-
yema is watered l)y the main course of the . Congo,
navigable, with several breaks, to the Devil's Gates above
Kassongo, Urua by the Lualaba, and Katanga by the
Lufila. The whole of this region is of extraordinarv
fertility ; and Katanga, where copper mines have been
found to exist, will in all human probability turn out
a second Transvaal. Much of this region is served by
admirable water routes, but there are gaps in the navi-
gation that diminish their value. The radical purpose
that the new lines have to accomplish is to remove these
defects and to supplement the service of nature. With
this object in view, the first thing to be done is to connect
Wolf Falls on the Lubefu, at the head of navigation, by
the Kassai-Sankuru-Lubefu, with the point of resump-
tion of navigation on the Upper Congo at Xyangwe
Falls. This line would cross the intervening river of the
Lomami, at a little distance above Bena Kamba. A
second railway would branch oft' from this line at the
Lomami and reach the Devil's Gates, at the termina-
tion of the navigable stretch of river above Nyangwe.
From the Devil's Gates a further line would be required
to reach Lake Tanganyika. The situation would then
reach unbroken river navigation to Wolf Falls on the
Lubefu, and thence unbroken railway communication to
the Devil's Gates in the first place and the lake in the
second. The diff'erence in time between the present
moment and what will then be the case can be judged
from the following statement. Under existing circum-
stances, four months is considered a good average period
for the journey from Antwerp to Tanganyika. When the
railway is made as far as the Devil's Gates it will take

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 315

thirty-nine days, and when to the hake itself only thirty-
five days.

Above the Devil's Gates there is a splendid stretch of
navigahle water on the Lualaba, and the railway will
make it easy to convey a steamer to this part of the
river. When that has been done, Katan2;a will be
brouglit within six weeks of Antwerp. A railway will
at some future date have to be constructed . through
Katanga, but the need for it is not so pressing as for
the lines named from the Lubefu to the Congo. It will
come within the range of practical operations a little later
on, but its precise direction can safely be left over until
the Lubefu-Nyangwe and the Lomami-Lualaba (Devil's
Gates) lines have been constructed. The former is in length
only two hundred and fifty kilometres or one hundred and
sixty -five miles, and the latter three hundred and seventy-
five kilometres or two hundred and fifty miles. There
are, moreover, no serious difficulties to })e overcome in
either of these directions. The further railway pro-
gramme of the State remains, therefore, clearly defined
and easy of accomplishment. Several short lines arc
needed to establish the immediately requisite means of
f;ommunication in the eastern and north-eastern districts
of the State. They represent, however, a total railway
construction of less than six hundred miles in the first
stage of the question, and the accomplishment of this is
well within the power of the Government and of the
existing companies interested in the Congo.

The question of telegraphic means of communication
on the Congo is intimately connected with that of the
railways. It has formed the subject of several decrees
since the year 1893. On the 27th November in that
year it was ordered that all telegraphic or telephonic
lines could only be laid down by the special decree of
the Sovereign, and that the State could construct these
lines on or across private propert\' wherever they deemed

3i6

THE CONGO STATE

it to be necessary. It was also decreed, on the same date,
that a telegraphic line should be made at the cost of the
State from Boma to Matadi, Leopold ville, Stanley Falls,
Manyema, and Tanganyika, and that the necessary sum
for the construction of the first section was to be included
in the budget of 1894. In July 1895 the wire had reached
Matadi, and in September 1896 Tumba, the capital of the
Ciitaracts district. It was then to be continued pari
passu with the railway, and reached Stanley Pool soon
after the first engine, and some months before the date
of the ofiicial inausfuration.

On the 18th February 1898 a second decree was pub-
lished, ordering the construction of branch telegraph lines
from the main line to Tanganyika — to Redjaf on the one
side, and Katanga on the other. At the same time, the
conditions were made known under which concessions
would be made to individuals or companies for the
construction of telegraphs or telephones, and preserving
for the State complete control over the lines, and in every
other respect safeguarding its legitimate rights.

The practical difiiculties in the way of laying tele-
graph wires across Africa claim brief comment. Many
persons thought that the best and easiest way would be
to lay a cable in the bed of the Congo ; but a more careful
examination of the question showed that a cable would
be too dear and too heavy, while there was, moreover,
no reasonable probability of being able to launch on the
river cable-laying steamers. The cable proposition was
no sooner examined than it had to be dismissed. The
next plan was to lay the wires underground ; but the
difficulties arising from the forest, the character of the
margin of the river, and the extra labour it would entail,
rendered this mode impossible. An aerian wire was
therefore the only practical mode remaining ; and it has
been adopted, with equal success and economy. The wire
will l)e made of phosphorised bronze, with steel posts seven

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPHS ON THE CONGO 317

metres in height, and placed at intervals of one hundred
and fifty metres. The cost of the line to Tanganyika is
estimated at three million francs, and of this sum eight
hundred thousand francs figure in the budget for 1898.
The task of constructing these telegraph lines has been

BKIDGE AT BOMA.

entrusted to Mr. Mohun, a consul of the United States in
Belgium, who was with the Belgian forces during the Arab
campaign. He has five electricians under him, and is
accompanied by a military escort under Captain Verliellen.
It is hoped that the lines will be completed by 1900.

THE CONGO STATE

Jt is also to be noticed that the telephone lines have
been laid alongside the telegraph wire from Boma to
Matadi, and thence on to Stanley Pool. They have been
in working order as far as Tumba during the last three
years.

These facts will show the reader what considerable
progress has been made in all branches of the Com-
munication Department, and that we are on the eve
of still more important changes in this direction in the
Congo region than that effected by the railway to Stanley
Pool. The State has been much hampered in its opera-
tions 1)y the want of a few short inland railways and
of telegraphs. Its dithcult task has been rendered more
difficult by the slowness with which it could move stores
and men, and also by the months of time needed to
send news from its remote possessions on the Nile and
Tanoanvika. The measures indicated will remove these
impediments, and place the State in an improved position
to execute its "work. At the same time, the inner regions
of Africa will be furnished with the means of developing
the wealth that lies dormant in their bosom, until capital,
intelligence, and well-directed human enterprise shall make
it fructify for the general good.

CHAPTER XVIII

The Peoples of the Congo State

References have been made repeatedly in the course of
the preceding pages to the character of the negro race
generally, and to some of the principal tribes of Central
Africa specifically, but a more precise treatment of this
branch of the subject will not be out of place, as the
future of the Congo region depends as much on the
character of its inhabitants as on its capacity for cultiva-
tion. It is difficult, if not impossible, to state with any
degree of confidence what the population of the Congo
State is, and, in assuming it to be thirty millions, one is
only taking a mean figure among conflicting estimates.
But this population is, it must be remembered, the
attenuated total left by internal warfare, the Arab slave
raids, and the practice of anthropophagism. Before a
very long period has elapsed, the State will surely possess
a black population, accustomed to ideas of legal right,
sanctity of contract, and individual security, that will not
be less than one hundred millions in number. That may
be a serious prospect for the rest of Africa ; but the Congo
State has only sought to discharge its obvious duty in
estal)lishing tranquillity and justice, and in putting down
the worst practices of barbarism. Whatever the con-
sequences, the task is in hand, and cannot be laid aside.
At some future epoch the black race may be called upon
to take its part in the solution of problems gravely
affecting the progress of humanity, but for the moment

320

THE CONGO STATE

this prospect is in every way too remote to arouse any
real apprehension.

It is well, perhaps, to give prominence to the fact
that the negro has many good points, and that, as Living-
stone said, there is no reason per se why he should not
in the course of ages attain a mental intelligence that
would place him somewhere on a level with his white
brother. Without going so far into the future, let us
merely say that the Belgian officers have come generally
to the opinion that " the less one knows of a negro the
more he is alienated from you, the more he is known the
more he is drawn towards you." The two following
anedotes will do something to support the view that he
is capable of real attachment and devotion ; and it is well
to show the reader, at the very commencement, that the
black has his good points in a not less marked degree
than the whites.

Among these, devotion to a particular officer or leader
is perhaps the most notable. When Chaltin was engaged
on one of those expeditions which have made him the
hero of the Belgian forces on the Congo, he owed his life
to the self-sacrifice of Moio, one of his black lieutenants,
who in an ambuscade covered his chief with his own
body, and died pierced by hostile spears, ^'an Kerck-
hoven was another officer who commanded the devotion
of his men. When some of his followers on his first
expedition heard that he had come back for a second,
they hastened at their own expense to Boma, and when
they saw their old officer they exclaimed, " Here we are,
master ! We were told you had come for a long and
hard expedition. We have already served three years
with you. Here we are again ! Do you wish to have
us ? " But perhaps the most striking story of all was
that — already narrated, but which will bear repetition —
of the servant and cook, who, after the return of his
master, a Belgian officer, to Europe, became so distressed

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE 321

at the separation that he declared that he coukl not live
without his master. The master was in Brussels ; the
black servitor in Africa, without any means of performing
the journey, — but he worked his way to Marseilles, where
he arrived without a sixpence in his pocket. He there
engaged himself as a cook, and when he had saved the
exact sum of his ticket to Brussels he hastened to his goal.
On reaching the Belgian capital he knew only the name of
the officer he sought, but by good fortune he found him ;
and one morning the latter was astonished when his old
black attendant walked into his room, with the remark,
" Here I am, master. I could not live away from you ! "
There must be some brighter future for a race that can
act like this ; and Shanu, the most intelligent of Congo-
lese, may not have been exaggerating when he declared
to the Belgian Colonial Society, " Learn how to lead the
black, and he will let his throat be cut for you ! "

The population of the Congo region is divided into a
large number of tribes distinguishable from each other by
their tattoo marks. It is both impossible and unneces-
sary to name all these tribes, but the principal of them in
their relations to the State may be briefly enumerated. In
the Lower Congo the right bank is held by Musarongos,
and the left by Bakongos, Basundis, and Bakuendas. The
Batekas, who occupy the shores of Stanley Pool, are more
numerous, and constitute a large part of the indigenous
population west of Stanley Falls. The Bayanzis are
another important tribe of the Middle Congo, and are
physically one of the finest races of Central Africa. They
are devoted to the pursuits of fishing and boating. In
this respect they resemble the more numerous Bangalas,
who share with the Batekas the predominance in number
and importance of the riverain population. They are
considered the most capable and intelligent race of the
Congo, and they assimilate European ideas with remark-
able facility. They have good memories, learn their drill
21

322

THE CONGO STATE

easily, uiul can soon ac(|uire a smattering of French. On
the otlier hand, they are cruel by habit, bloodthirsty
in war, and cannibals always by instinct and often by
practice. The Bangala is said to be the only black who
can get into a passion. The Batetelas, tlie Mangbettus,
and the Mongos are three other tribes that claim notice,

BATKKAS.

while the Dwarf races of certain districts offer a curious
ethnological study. Cases of devotion on the part of the
blacks have been cited ; but these do not prevent its
being true, as a general I'ule, that the negro race is
inconstant and fickle, sudden in its emotions, loyal under
one set of circumstances, but easily passing to treachery

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE

3^3

uiuler {mother. The most favourable view to take of
them, as a whole, is that they are inalleal)k\ and that
civilisation has now to win them over to her cause. It
is not what they have been, or are, that we have to con-
sider, hut of what they may become in the hands of
skilful and willing teachers.

Although the tribes ditler amono- themselves in
customs, and even in the degree of barbarism to whii'h
they have sunk, they are practically of the same family
or stock which has been given the name of Bantou. The
pure Bantou race is of extremely fine physique, and
justifies Sir Harry Johnston's description as resend)ling,
in their nudity, antique bronze statues. Their com-
plexion in the interior is paler than that of those on the
coast, but they are all more or less distinguished by
their small hands and feet, and b}' their extraordinarily
abundant heads of hair. The Mombettus, a tribe of the
reoion between the Aruwimi and the ^Ibomu-Uclle, are
distinguished by exceptional quickness in comprehending
European methods. They never hesitate in their replies,
their train of tliouoht is clear and connected, and their
manners are frank and enoaoino. Bevond them come

COO

the Xiam Niam. or Azandes, who are, however, of the
Nouba family. The Niam Niam are noted for many
qualities that the Bantou races have not yet attained.
They are. in the first place, loyal to their engagements,
and they use a mixed diet of vegetables and game.
Woman also ranks higher among them. She has not a
market value, as is the case uni\ersally throughout
Central Africa, and the Niam Niam does not purchase
his wife. They are passionately devoted to music, and
an Italian traveller has said that they will sometimes be
so engrossed in playing their manilolins, that they will
play for twent\' - four hours without stopping to eat,
drink, or sleep. All the negroes are more or less
addicted to music and dancino;. If thev have anv

O V w

324

THE CONGO STATE

religious observances, it takes this form ; but the noisy
drum, not the soothing mandolin of the Niam Niam, is
the national instrument. It is made in every size ; the
drums of some tribes are even twenty feet in depth, and
the noise they make can be heard for a great distance, — in
some instances, it is declared, for over six miles.

It is also to be noted that the inhabitants of the
Upper Congo are very much superior to those of the
coast provinces, and this is to a considerable extent
explained by the fact that the former have j)ractically
escaped the taint and deterioration due to the indulgence
in alcohol. Again, the tribes dwelling on the banks of
the rivers are notably superior to those living away from
them. This superiority is due, no doubt, to the danger
and physical exercise demanded of men who live by
fishing and boating : but here it is sufficient to record
that the best porters in the service of the State, as
well as the crews and pilots of the Congo flotilla,
are taken from these tribes. The Mongos, in particu-
lar, are famous for their physical strength and endurance.
They constitute the bulk of the artillery in the Public
Force, as well as being the best pilots of the river.

At the same time that the natives of the up-country
are superior in capacity for work as well as for endurance
to those of the coast, they are satisfied with a lower scale
of remuneration. This is perhaps due to the cheaper
cost of necessaries, but it is also to be attributed to the
state of the labour market, where the demand far exceeds
the supply. The daily pay of the porters in the Cataracts
district was, before the completion of the railway, fifteen
pence a day, besides their food, which was estimated to
cost another five pence. But on the Upper Congo,
porters can be obtained at one penny or two pence a day,
while their food costs considerably less. The dearness of
labour on the Lower Congo was one of the impediments in
the way of rapid commercial progress in the region above

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE 325

the Cataracts, but the State has now to face a considerable
social problem in the provision of some fresh opening for
the forty thousand porters whom the Stanley Pool Railway
will deprive of eniplo}'ment. This [)roblcm, serious as
it may i)rove if treated ^\■ith indifference or ignored, can
be solved by the systematic development of the rich
plains of Tumba and Inkissi. There grain of various
kinds can be grown, and the raising of stock, which has
been proved to be possible on the Congo, as well as
the petite cultm-e, offer a means of employment to a
far larger number of negro labourers than the abolition
of porterage across the Cataracts district will set free.
As M. Paul Conreur has said in one of the interesting-
letters he writes from time to time, in the Belgian press,
from the Congo: "If the native is to buy our manu-
factures, he must be provided with the means of doing so ;
and labour alone, the exploitation of his own territory,
will procure them for him."

The Dwarf tribes of Central Africa form rather a
curious detail in Central African life (recalling what
Homer and Herodotus wrote of the pigmies) than an
important element in the present condition and future
prospects of the -Congo region. At the same time, all
reports agree in assigning to these diminutive men a
fiir higher order of intelligence than the blacks of superior
physique by whom they are surrounded. There is also
no doubt that all the dwarfs are of the same race,
although the four principal tribes are isolated from each
other in the midst of the negro population. The Tique
Tique dwarfs of the Uelle and those of the Aruwimi are
scarcely to be distinguished from the AVambuttis of the
Upper Ituri, who have been fully described by Lieu-
tenant Dineur. This nomad dwarf race is to be found
between the 28th and 30th deo;rees of east longitude
and the 1st and 3rd degrees of north latitude. The
men average in height 4 ft., and are never known

326

THE CONGO STATE

to exceed 4 ft. G in., \mt they are physically well
developed and exceedingly strong. The women are
smaller in proportion, ])ut extraordinarily prolific, the
Belgian officer having l)een assured that cases were
known of their having as many as six at a hirth.
They have no regular villages, Lut live in extemporised
camps consisting of brushwood huts in the forest, moving
from place to place as the necessity arises for shifting
their camping ground. The AVambuttis are enormous
meat-eaters, but none of the Dwarf tribes are cannibals.
They are also exceedingly clean in their persons and
habits. They do not bury but burn their dead, and
in this, as in many other points, show a marked difference
to the negroes. In fact they are quite distinct, and
reveal many reasons to suspect them of being an offshoot
of the Caucasian stock. As the Wambuttis are hunters
by instinct and tradition, it is not surprising that they
are averse to agriculture or sedentary pursuits in any
form. They will not contribute, at least for many genera-
tions, to the material wealth or resources of the State.
On the other hand, their physical strength, powers of
endurance, and general intelligence qualify them in a
very special degree for a military career, and the Congo
State may discover among these Dwarf tribes a valuable
and trustworthy military contingent. Their shortness
of stature will not in itself suffice to disqualify them,
when it is remembered what a prominent and gallant
part the Goorkhas play in the Indian wars of the British
Empire.

Looking at the peoples of the Congo region as a
whole, we find that the black races generally are
characterised l)y improvidence, carelessness, indifference
to the future, and laziness. Some of these qualities were
due exclusively to the circumstances of their life and to
the conditions under which they worked. Everything,
and life most of all, was uncertain. The black cloud of

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE 327

slavery, fetish worship, and cannibalism hung over
Central Africa. The severity of life may be judged from
the fact that it was a common phrase among these
anthropophagous people for a man to say to an enemy,
" To-morrow you will rest in my stomach." Experience
during the brief period since order and something like
security have settled down over this region has shown
that the black is willing to work, and that only a little
supervision is needed to prevent his becoming lazy.

XATI VIC FlvsrrVAT,.

The worst that has l)een laid to his charge is, that during
the heat of the day he will often throw aside his task and
seek repose. A rational supervision, unattended by
personal violence, which the black most bitterly resents,
and which arouses his vindictive feelings, will provide
a remedy for this not unnatural tendency.

The great motive power in Central Africa will be the
spread of Christianity. To that influence we can alone
look for the reoeneration of the negro race ; and it is
possible to record the encouraging fact that it has already

328

THE CONGO STATE

begun to make itself felt, through the energetic and well-
directed efforts of the missionaries. The child colonies
are inculcating new principles of conduct at the same
time that they are teaching the dignity and necessity
of labour. Before these efforts were made, the blacks
could not be said to possess any religion at all. They
never prayed, the idea of invocation seems never to
have presented itself to them, and it was only by sugges-
tion that some evidence was extracted as to their belief
in some future state. All was vague, repulsive, and even
barbarous. The black met even natural calamities with
defiance and threats. To indulge in some form of cruelty
was their only idea of devotion. They had no opinion of
anyone who failed to show himself superior in malice,
commercial chicane, and, above all, in moral energy, to
themselves. Their obedience was to be won simply by
the domination of a superior capacit}- for wickedness in the
fetish doctor and the chief under the old regime, and in the
new regime it will have to be retained by firmness and
consistency in maintaining a simple and easily intelligible
system of law^ ; in other words, the rudimentary principles
of justice. But the softening infiuence of the Christian
religion will prepare the ground ; and, when the black
has learned the first main truth of doing to his neighbour
what he would he should do unto him, he will the more
willingly pay allegiance to a system of government that
does not demand a blood tribute and that respects his
rights.

The great and supreme want of the black peoples of
the Congo is em.ployment, and this can only be secured
by increased openings for agricultural enterprise. This
development of the natural resources of the State is neces-
sary for the continued prosperity, and even livelihood,
of the inhabitants, as well as for the benefit of the ad-
ministration. But the openings oflfered are not confined
to tilling the ground and pursuing some special cultivation

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE

like thcat of coffee. There is an unlimited field open for the
raising of cattle. The natives themselves are meat-eaters,
and fresh meat is for Europeans the first essential in the
preservation of health ; but it is always difficult, and in
many districts impossible, to obtain it. But, great as has
been this difficulty in the past, the growth of population
that will follow the maintenance of peace, the cessation
of the slave trade, and the improved hygienic principles
adopted and carried out, must lead to its becoming greater.
A diminution in the available supply of game has also to
be expected, so that from every point of view there is
need to take prompt measures to raise stock wherever the
conditions are favourable. The experiments made in
cattle-raising and horse-breeding, although on a small scale
hitherto, have proved encouraging in their results. One of
the Belgian companies succeeded in raising three thousand
head of cattle, and, on the Upper Ubangi, Commandant
Hanollet, who has recently succeeded Chaltin in the com-
mand on the Nile, imported thirty-five horses, twenty-six
asses, and thirty-eight cows and bulls, which he distri-
buted among the different stations of his district. Owing
to the success which attended the acclimatisation of these
animals, permission was given to the same officer to
import, on behalf of the State, two stallions, three mares,
and three donkeys from the Canary Isles, and to establish
a breeding establishment at New Antwerp. The animals
have become fully acclimatised, and the most sanguine
hopes are entertained as to the eventual success of the
experiment. What has been attempted on a small scale
will have to be carried out systematically on a large, as a
great deal more has to be done than merely to supply the
necessary proper food for the white administrators. It is
a question of providing thirty, and Ijefore long fifty, millions
of people with an employment by which they may earn
their livelihood as well as obtain their needed sustenance.
While the future of the Congo region depends mainly

330

THE CONGO STATE

on the success that attends the measures taken to render
the black peoples happier, more prosperous and more
disposed to continue in the paths of prosperity and
civilisation, it must not be overlooked that, as the direct-
ing power must be long retained by the Europeans, their
well-being also demands the closest attention of the State.
There is every reason to say that this has been given, and
that, so far as advice and assistance could ensure the
complete immunity of the white staff from disease and
death, nothino' has been left undone. Regulations have
been drawn uj) for diet, clothing, and housing, based on
the recommendations of medical men who have gained
their experience on the spot. A large part of the diet is
supplied by the State, a liberal equipment allowance is
made on engagement for Congo service, and the character
of the houses in wdiich the Europeans reside has been
steadily improved, brick being now employed wherever
possible. These improvements must tend in the course
of a little time to diminish the death-rate, but it is fully
admitted that a process of acclimatisation has to be passed
through, which averages one year. This period can ])e
passed through better in the interior than on the coast ;
and the construction of the railway, by facilitating the
despatch of new arrivals to the Upper Congo, will con-
tribute to the main object. The part that the whites
have to play is essentially that of leaders and educators,
in the best sense of the word. They have troublesome
pupils, and they will often be discouraged by the slowness
of the apparent result, but for the efficient discharge of
their onerous duties they will need themselves the best
health that Europeans can enjoy under the Equator. The
development of the resources possessed by the Congo
region, and the discovery of new, will improve the lot of
those carrying on the task of government, and supply
them with the luxuries that are necessaries in the tropics.
Before concluding this chapter, the reader will be

331

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE

interested in having a brief account of the princij^al towns
which the State authorities have founded, and which owe
their growth and importance to tlie fact that they are
either commercial or administrative centres.

Commencing on the west, Banana, at the very entrance
of the Congo, necessarily claims first notice. Here for a
time the whole trade of the Conoo was concentrated. In
those days it w^as Portuguese, and the factories of many
nationalities with flowering gardens gave the spit of sand
on which it had been created a special brightness and an
artificial importance. A British and a Portuguese Consul
permanently reside there, and it still enjoys, on account
of its sea breezes, the reputation of the most healthy spot
on the Lower Consjo. But the course of events has shifted
the centre of interest farther east, and the role of Banana
in the history of the Congo must be regarded as a thing
of the past.

The next tow^n that we come to is Boma, which is of
special importance as the seat of the civil administration,
being the headquarters of the Governor-General and of
the Court of Appeal for the Congo. Under these auspices
it has become the most European town in Central Africa.
The older houses are in wood or iron, while the newer arc
in brick made in the Boma brickfields. The town itself is
divided into two parts, Boma Rive and Boma Plateau,
communication between which is kept up b}^ the fine Royal
Avenue, with its magnificent bananas and baobabs, and
a tram runs free three times a day for all. Owing to the
large number of officials, Boma contains a great many
pretty villas, and the various public buildings, oftices,
churches, hotels, and factories give it an unusual air
of activity and life. Nor is the varied native life less
interesting than the European. There may be seen in
every variety the black servitor of the white man ; the
black caterer of wants that the advent of civilisation has
alone made known on the Congo ; the black chieftain,

334

THE CONGO STATE

slowly and sometimes not creditably, but still iioue the
less surely, assimilating himself with the ways of modern
life ; and last, but not least, the black soldier, the legion-
ary who has to carry and uphold the blue banner across
a vast continent. Boma is protected by the strong fort

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BOMA.

of Chinkakassa, below the town, which effectuallv com-
mands the approaches to it and the navigation by the
river. Boma will continue to be the chief outlet of the
Congro reo-ion for some time to come, althouoh it now
seems only too likely to be superseded as a port by Matadi,

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE

and cis a capital, at some not very remote date, by
Leopoldville.

What Boma proved to Banana, Matadi is very likely
to prove to Boma. The Congo, after widening between
the two places, narrows to a thousand yards at Matadi,
and the current Hows with tremendous force. A few
years ago Matadi was a place of no importance. Its
selection as the starting-point of the line to Stanley Pool
marked the true change in its fortunes. The construction

tiCENE ON BOMA I'lEli.

of an iron pier has enabled large vessels to discharge their
goods alongside, and Matadi at once became the most
important port on the coast. Being at the head of the
railway, Matadi will inevitably become the chief outlet
of the trade of the Congo region. It already shows all
the external signs of prosperity, and, where twelve years
ago there was only a steep uninhal)ited rock, there is now
a rising and nourishing little town. At the same time, it
must be allowed that the heat is greater and the conditions
of life more trying at Matadi than at Banana, but the

336

THE CONGO STATE

advaotafi'e.s are suc-li as far out\veiy;li the drawjjacks. At
Matadi there is a permanent camp of the Pul)lic Force,
and steps will be taken to defend it from the side of the
sea, as has been done in the Ciise of the lower part of
Boma.

Leaving the three seaports we come to the inland
towns ; and of these, Leopoldville, the chief town of the
Stanley Pool district, is the most important. In face,
probability points to the selection of this place as the
ultimate ca2:)ital of the Congo State. At the same time,
it is deserving of note that the terminus of the Cataracts

Hu>rirAL AT l;u.MA.

Railway has been fixed at Ndolo, a few miles south-east
of Leopoldville, and that a transfer of site may be
necessary unless it becomes clear that Leopoldville will
grow up, or rather down, to Ndolo. The newly fortified
islet of Kinshassa also commands Ndolo rather than
Kinshassa. Leopoldville itself is built round the skirt of
Mount Leopold, and lies amid thick plantations of bananas,
cocoauut trees, and palms. Here much progress has
been made in the breeding of cattle ; and the necessity of
supplying the wants of the numerous white residents,
employes of the State and of the railway, has stimulated
the eftbrt.

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE

337

Minor stations, but all possessing a future of greater
promise, are Coquilliatville (the capital of the district of
the Equateur), New Antwerp (the administrative centre of
the Ubangi-Uelle), Tumba (of the Cataracts), Basoko (of the
Aruwimi-Uelle), Stanley Falls, and Nyangwe (of Manyema).
All these stations are of present and increasing im-
portance, but here it is only necessary to refer very
briefly to any of them. Stanley Falls is interesting on
account of its associations, and New Antwerp because the
Belgians believe that it is destined to be the most pros-
perous place on the upper river.

The first station at Stanley Falls was created by
Mr. Stanley on the island of Usana, but a little experience
sufficed to show that the site was badly selected. In
1888 Captain Van Gele removed the station to a spot on
the right bank of the river, a little distance below the
island. The station lies in the midst of fields that have
been carefully cultivated under the direction of the State
authorities, with the view of ascertaining what products
can be most successfully raised on the Congo. Here were
made the preliminary essays in the planting of coffee and
€ocoa, which justified their systematic adoption as pro-
ducts favourable to the realisation of the objects of the
Government. The house of the former Resident and of
the present Commissary of the district lies, however, on
the left bank of the river, near the old camp of the Arab
chief Rashid. On that side of the river, also, extensive
orchards and fields of rice, manioc, and sugar cane have
been planted. Occupying a position in the very heart of
the State's territory, and at a convenient point for the
communications with both the north-eastern and south-
eastern districts of the State, Stanley Falls seems destined
to acquire greater importance than ever with the lapse
of time.

Still greater expectations are held with regard to New
Antwerp, a name specially chosen by the King of the

338

THE CONGO STATE

Belgians for this capital of the Ubangi-Uelle district.
It ranks at present, after Boraa, as the most important
place on the Congo. It was founded by Hanssens and
Coquilhat in 1884 in the midst of the numerous and then
hostile tribe of the Bangalas, and in the subsequent years
it owed its expansion and increased importance to the efforts
of Van Kerckhoven, who was the first to induce the Ban-
galas to enlist as porters. New Antwerp is situated on
the right bank of the Congo, close to the 19th parallel of
east longitude ; and as its houses are constructed in red and
white brick, with slate roofs beneath the shade of palm
groves, it presents a singularly picturesque and attractive
appearance. It has been called the most coquettish little
town of Central Africa. Here also cultivations of coffee,
cocoa, and tobacco have been extensively undertaken,
and, in regard to supplies for a considerable Avhite popula-
tion, no other station can be said to be more favoured.
An extensive and well-directed brick manufactory has
been established at New Antwerp ; and as the unanimous
decision of all the medical authorities in Central Africa is
in favour of brick-built houses, on the ground of sanitation,
it follows that this industry may be largely and usefully
developed. As time goes on, the stations east of New
Antwerp must not only increase in importance, but many
new stations will have to be founded to meet the g-rowino:
requirements of trade and population.

Two chief conclusions result from this brief considera-
tion of the peoples of the Congo State. The first is that
the white population, now numbering between three and
four thousand persons, is domiciled in a number of small
towns, where life is already supportable, and where the
conditions of life are likely to improve. The residences
supplied for the accommodation of the Europeans are now
adapted to their needs, a satisfactory and sufficient diet is
obtainable at, certainly, the stations we have named, and
the precautions that should be taken in respect of clothes.

THE PEOPLES OF THE CONGO STATE 339

medicine, and habits are beginning to be understood.
What may be called the necessary preliminary and ex-
perimental stage of European colonisation may be said to
have been satisfactorily passed through, and those residents
who in the future proceed to Central Africa will profit by
the experience and the efforts of their predecessors. But
at the same time it is right to state that there is no
immediate object to be served by the too rapid increase
of the European population. A sudden influx of whites
would be injurious to the best interests of the country
and its peoples. All that is wanted is a sufficiency of
Europeans, or rather of Belgians, to keep the machinery
of government in motion, and to supply the requisite
directing power for every necessary enterprise in the
moral as well as the material development of the region.

The second conclusion relates to the black population
of the State. There a considerable population, to which in
certain districts the term dense might even be applied, has
to be raised from a very low state of existence, verging
almost on hopeless and irreclaimable barbarism, to some-
thing approaching the level of civilisation. The task can
only be performed by a strenuous and systematic effort to
elevate the well-being and intelligence of the negro races,
at the same time that the strong arm of the law maintains
tranquillity and forbids all acts of inhumanity. A suffi-
cient start has been made to guarantee a satisfactory
result, with a continuance of the same intelligence in
direction and of the same energy in execution. The
negroes are amenable to the influences tliat have been
brought to bear upon them. They have yielded an
obedience to the law, undertaken the regular daily toil
that they formerly shirked, and abandoned for the greater
part the savage and barbarous practices of cannibalism and
fetishism. It would not be true to say that cannibalism
and cruelty among the black races are dead throughout
the vast region of the State, but it is true to declare that,

340

THE CONGO STATE

wherever a State station has been founded, there is a wide
and ever-increasing zone round it in which such practices
are no longer followed, and are no longer possible. The
policy of the State is as ably and consistently carried out
as it is clearly defined. The task imposed on it is a
heavy one, and its strength might easily be overtaxed ;
but within the limitations that it assigns itself it has
accomplished great and striking results, and it has never
wavered for a moment, under peril and discouragement
and uncharitable criticism, in its effort to reach the goal
of its aml)itions. Success has come so quickly and so
unequivocally, that a new peril seems to some too active
imaginations to have arisen on the horizon. In Central
Africa the Congo State is creating an immense, contented,
and law-abiding black nation. Whither will the experi-
ment carry us ? Will the world be brought face to face
with a black peril in some future century, when under the
blue banner with the golden star two hundred millions of
intelligent and educated blacks live in prosperity and
contentment ? The future must decide its own difficulties,
but even in the suggestion of such possibilities is involved
the admission how well the State has done and is doing
its work. For many generations that w^ork will need to
be continued with the same degree of excellence. The
blacks are still in their infancy as a people. They may
never even attain manhood ; and the one essential to their
continued Vv^ell-being is the presence of their white edu-
cators and leaders, who supply the initiative, in which
they seem to be completely lacking. If they ever do
attain an equality with white men, it w^ill be the greatest
human triumph in the history of the world.

CHAPTER XIX

The State and its Neighbours

The various conventions and arrangements concluded
between the State and its neighbours have been cited and
described in their proper place and order. There are
some larger or more general considerations suggested by
the subject of these international relations that claim
attention, and it is to be noted that the future of the
Congo State is involved as much in the views its more
powerful neighbours hold about it as in the manner in
which the State itself discharo-es the onerous duties
imposed by the General Acts of Berlin and Brussels.
The indifference of Europe, which allowed the King of the
Belgians to acquire so considerable a portion of the African
Continent, has given place to more interested views, and
these have made the chief neighbours of the State its
vigilant and almost hostile critics. The slightest diminu-
tion, for instance, of effort in carrying out the difficult
clauses relating to the spirit traffic is visited with censure,
and almost pronounced sufficient to justify the sentence
that the State had forfeited its right to live. Under these
circumstances, it becomes necessary to consider what part
the independent and neutral State of the Congo is likely
to, or can advantageously, play in the larger African
questions, and how far its fortunes may be affected by the
ambitious policies of its neighbours.

Of those neighbours it is unnecessary to consider
Portugal. Nothing is now likely to cloud their relations,

341

342

THE CONGO STATE

and the frontiers they hold in common are not those that
excite the covetousness of outsiders, or that will have to
be traversed by railways, telegraphs, and trade routes, for
the benefit, not of one part but of the whole of Africa.
The elimination of Portugal reduces the number of the
State neighbours to three — France, Germany, and Eng-
land. Under the head of England come for the present,
and a still indefinite future, the questions of the Egyptian
frontier and the Upper Nile.

In the first period of the existence of the Congo
State, France showed herself a most exacting neighbour.
She took every advantage of her superior power ; and
where she had no rights, and even no interests, she refused
to yield on the map a yard of territory, or in the cabinet
to recognise a sinoie claim, without making; the King of
the Belgians as Sovereign of the Congo State pay dearly
for the concession. Time may justify the exacting policy
of the French Government ; all that can be said at present
is that it still awaits reward of any practical value. The
final act of opposition on the part of the French Govern-
ment was committed in 1894, when it coerced the State
so far as to diminish the territory of the Bahr Gazelle
ceded to it by the terms of the convention with Great
Britain. But in the few years since that episode an
improvement is perceptible in the views expressed in
France on the subject of the Congo State, as well as in
the attitude of the French Government. The perception
is becoming clearer, that the best way of making the
French sphere in Central Africa of any practical value is
by utilising the Congo Railway as a means of communica-
tion with the Ubangi, while the Itimbiri route may supply
the best route to the Semio. These considerations have
caused a more amiable attitude on the part of the Quai
D'Orsay, and perhaps it is not beyond the views of the
directors of French policy that it may be preferable to see
territory that cannot be French covered by the blue

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

banner with the golden star. It is safe for the immediate
future, at all events, to assume that the Congo State will
not be exposed to any grave peril from the side of France,
and even that it will experience less hindrance than for-
merly in establishing and enjoying the full measure of its
rights.

The outlook on the side of Germany is not so clear ;
and for several distinct reasons. With France the
Congo State has had to conduct several delicate and
difficult negotiations, and there have been not fewer
than three separate rectifications of frontier, each to
the disadvantage of the State. On the other hand,
there have been no negotiations and no delimitations
with Germany — the common frontier remaining as de-
fined in the subsidiary arrangements following the Berlin
Conference,

The boundary line between the territory of Germany
in East Africa and the Congo State is formed by the
30th parallel from the 1st degree of south latitude to
the 1° 20' degree of south latitude, and also by an
imaginary " straight line drawn from the point of inter-
section of the 30th degree of east longitude with a
parallel of 1" 20' of south latitude to as far as the northern
extremity of Lake Tanganyika." This definition repre-
sents the first and more northerly section of the German-
Congolese frontier. The second section is formed by
the median line of Lake Tanganyika, and cannot give
rise to any dispute or difference of opinion. The only
points of divergence of interest or opinion that can arise
are localised to the comparatively short section north of
Lake Tanganyika, where it will be noted the frontier has
not been demarcated on the spot.

At the time of those limits being assigned to the
Congo State, the rights of Germany herself in East
Africa were only in embryo, and it was not until the
year after the Belgian Conference that Great Britain, by

344

THE CONGO STATE

tlie agreement of 26tli October 1886, recognised Ger-
many's sphere of influence on the mainland in a region
which had been part of the old possessions of the Sultan
of Zanzibar. The point of land contact occurs in a
quarter where no exhaustive explorations had been made,
and where the character, and even the appearance, of
the country was quite unknown. Still, notwithstanding
this vagueness, no steps whatever have been taken to
give it consistency and a definite form. The journey
of a German ofiicer, Count von Gotzen, across Africa in
1893-94, throws some light, however, on this part of
the State territory, and the evidence he supplies as to
the configuration of the country is certainly conducive
to clearness of view, and, in that sense, to the avoidance
of difficulty. In the first place, it will be well to note
that among the chief results of the German officer's
journey was the discovery of Lake Kivu, situated be-
tween Lakes Albert Edward and Tanganyika, and, by the
admission of Count von Gotzen, well within the limits
of the Congo State as defined at Berlin. The following-
translation of the passages from Von Gotzen's work, DvrcJt
Afrika von Ost nach West, describing Lake Kivu, will
supply the reader Avith the clearest information on the
subject : —

" The bed of Lake Kivu, according to my measure-
ments with the hypsometer, is at an altitude of about
4800 feet (1485 metres). Its extent should be con-
siderable, for on my crossing it I saw the immense
sheet of blue water disappear far off in the clouds. Its
general direction is from north to south. It is impossible
for me to say how far it extends to the south, and
whether it has a length of a hundred kilometres, or
of more or less. The exploration of its southern part
will be the task of some future explorer. It will become
necessary the day ivhen the limits hetiveen the Congo
State and German East Africa hai'e to he fixed in a

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 345

definite fashion. All that is known to-day is that a river
flowing from the north-north-west, and bearing the name
of the Rusisi, flows into the northern part of Lake Tan-
ganyika. This is, no doubt, the southern affluent of Lake
Kivu, the only one which it appears to have, and which,
since the discovery of communication between Lake
Tanganyika and the Congo, must be considered as
belonging to the basin of the latter river. . . . 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.
Violent gales, which cast against the rocks white foam,
and at the appearance of which the light canoes of
the fishermen hasten to save themselves in the inlets,
are exceedingly rare there. When one turns one's gaze
to the north, a sort of immense barrier, formed by
the Kirunga-tscha-Gongo and the four other Virunga
mountains, is to be seen. It is a purely volcanic
region. . . . The neighbourhood of Kivu is extremely
fertile, and rich in provisions of every kind."

The discovery of Lake Kivu necessarily attracted
much attention in the Congo State, and steps were taken
to make the authority of the Government effective on
its shores, for it was soon established that the whole of
this lake lay west of the imaginary line from the point
of intersection of the 30th parallel of east longitude and
the 1° 20' of south latitude to the northern point of Lake
Tanganyika, which marked the State's boundary. With
this view, two stations, Lubenga and Luahilimta, were
established on the eastern shore of Kivu, and several
exploring expeditions, of which that under Lieutenant
Lange claims specific mention, were sent to discover, if
possible, a navigable route from Kivu to Tanganyika by
the river named Rusisi, to which Von Gotzen refers.
These explorations have shown that the region is exceed-

346

THE CONGO STATE

ingly rich, and abounds in fine pasturage ; while the river,
although its banks are exceedingly marshy, is navigable
for part, if not the whole, of its course.

The effective occupation of Lake Kivu has contributed
to increase the growing irritation of the Germans at the
failure of their colony in East Africa. The Belgian
triumph over the Arab slave hunters was a benefit to
humanity and the natural consequence of the State's
operations, but it seriously injured German trade east of
Tanganyika. The efficient discharge of their duty in
keeping out alcohol hy the State agents has inflicted a
further loss on those German traders whose fortune was
made by supplying the negroes with the most fiery and
deleterious spirits that German skill in toxic produc-
tion could invent at a minimum of cost. Germany, like
France, is creating colonies to order, but she has still
to find one that can pay its way. The decline of the first
and most promising of them in East Africa, after twelve
years' effort and expenditure, has not made the German
Government amicably disposed towards the neighbours
whose energy and success have been the direct cause of
the falling off in its trade and development. Despite
the wishes and commands of emperors, trade follows
its own track ; and in Central Africa the current is
westward by the great Congo River, and the railways
that will supplement and complete its utility.

In the early stages of the life of the Congo State
the attitude of the German Government was specially
amicable towards it, and Prince Bismarck lent his powerful
support to the scheme more unreservedly than any other
statesman at the Berlin Conference. But after the Arab
campaign a change came over the views of the German
Government; and this was clearly reflected in the tone
of the following correspondence, which, on the side of the
German representative at Brussels, was certainly neither
conciliatory nor a favourable instance'of diplomatic courtesy.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 347

Brussels, 20th November 1895.

Monsieur le Comte d'Alvensleben,

Go-man Minister at Brussels.

In continuation of the conversation tliat I had with your
Excellency last Saturday, and with the view of terminating the diffi-
culties to which the execution of Mr. Stokes has given rise, I beg to
give your Excellency the assurance that M. Lothaire shall be brought
before a tribunal that shall be competent to throw complete light on the
whole affair, to decide on the accusations of which he is the object, and
to inflict on him, in case of his guilt being proved, a punisliment in
proportion to the gravity of the offence.

As I have already had occasion to say to your Excellency, tlie
Government regrets that the legal formalities were not observed in the
procedure pursued against Mr. Stokes. The Government of the Inde-
pendent State of the Congo is disposed besides to pay in consequence to
the Imperial Government a sum of one hundred thousand francs, by way
of reparation for the losses the men of Mr. Stokes's caravan experienced
through the fact of their being illegally deprived of their head.

Your Excellency has been good enough to inform me that eighty-six
of the porters of Mr. Stokes's caravan, natives of German territory, are
now illegally detained by our authorities.

If such is the case, the Government will give orders to place them
at liberty, and to send them back to the coast at its expense. And for
each of those who have been illegally detained and cannot be sent back
to their native homes, it is ready to pay the Imperial Government an
indemnity of one thousand marks in favour of the family or tribe to
which they belonged. On the occasion of the arrangement of this
question, your P^xcellency observed to me that the premium of ten
per cent, that the Congo State paid its agents for the ivory that they
bought is of a nature to prejudice the commerce of the German Pro-
tectorate. As I have assured your Excellency, this premium does not
exist, and will not be paid in the future for the collection of ivory to the
State agents. Edmond A^'an Eetvelde.

II.

Brussels, 2Wi November 1895.

Monsieur Van Eetvelde,

Secretary of State of the State of the Congo.

The luidersigned has the honour to inform the Secretary of
State of the Congo that he has communicated to his Government his
note of the 20th inst. relating to the execution of INIr. Stokes. I am

348

THE CONGO STATE

directed to reply to you that my Government, after having taken note
of the regret expressed by the Congo State on the subject of the
illegaUty of the procedure adopted iu the Stokes aflair, has equally
taken note of the promise of the Congolese Government in regard to
the judicial action tliat will be commenced against M. Lothaire. The
Imperial Government accepts the sum of one hundred thousand francs,
which is offered it by the Congo State as indemnity for the incon-
venience and loss suffered by the companions of Stokes, who were
natives of territory subject to the influence of Germany.

The Imperial Government equally accepts the engagement taken by
the Congo State to set at liberty and to conduct to the coast, at its
expense, the eighty-six porters of Stokes, natives of German territory,
who were detained as ]irisoners in the Congo State, and to pay for
each missing porter a sum of one thousand marks as an indemnity to
the relations or chiefs of the tribe of these porters.

As to the ijromise of the Congo State that its agents shall no longer
receive a premium on the collection of ivory, the Imperial Govermnent
hopes that this promise applies equally to caoutchouc and other
products.

In begging you to be so good as to acknowledge the receipt of
this comnnuiication, we add that, according to a telegram from Major
Wissmaun, the employes of the Independent State, and especially the
Commandant of the Tanganyika district, continue to observe an illegal
attitude. We reserve to ourselves the measures to be taken on this
subject. CoMTE d'Alvensleben.

III.

Brussels, Srd December 1895.

Monsieur le Comte.

In reply to the letter that your Excellency has adcbessed to
me under date of 25th November last, the Government of the Inde-
pendent State of the Congo has the honour to confirm herewith the
propositions made to the Imperial Government as set forth in my
communication of 20th November, and to state that the Congo Gov-
ernment is ready to remit the sum of one hundred thousand francs,
offered as reparation for the prejudice suff"ered by the men of the Stokes
caravan through being illegally deprived of their chief.

It conceives that it ought to acquaint the Imperial Government
that, according to recent telegrams from Zanzibar, the Stokes column,
including the native wife of that merchant, had arrived on the coast
with a stock of ivory acquired on Congolese territory. If such is the
case, it is persuaded that the Imperial Government will in equity take
into consideration this new state of things.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

With regard to the commercial premiums that the Government
Avould pay its agents, although it is of opinion that this question
comes under the domain of its internal administration, and tliat it
forms no part of its international engagements, it may recall here
the fact that it has already had occasion to assure your Excellency
that this premium does not exist.

The Government has no knowledge of the irregular acts which,
according to a telegram from jNI. Wissmann, might he attributed to its
agents in the region of tlie Tanganyika ; but it at once declares that
it M'ill examine the communication announced by the Imperial Govern-
ment, with the most sincere desire to establish the relations between
the State and the German possessions on a footing of the best
neighbourship. It hopes that the German Government will, on its
side, receive in the same sjiirit the information that it has to place before
it on the subject of the traffic in arms and of the contraband commerce
which are carried on in the region of the Lakes by the Arabs, the
former slave merchants being desirous of returning to their former
illicit actions. Edmond Van Eetvelde.

IV.

Brussels, Uh December 1895.

MONSIEUE LE COMTE.

In continuation of my letter of 3rd December, I beg to remit
herewith to your Excellency a cheque for one hundred thousand francs
on the National I'ank, to the order of the Caisse des Legations at
Berlin. Edmond Van Eetvelde.

BiiusSELs, Uh December 1895.

Monsieur Van Eetvelde.

The undersigned has the honour to reply as follows to the
communication of 3rd December made to him by M. Van Eetvelde,
Secretary of State for the Independent State of the Congo.

In its note of 20th November the Government of the Independent
State of the Congo declared, on the subject of the premiums to be jmid
its agents and officers on the collection of ivor}^, that these premiums
did not exist, and will not be paid in the future.

In my reply of the 25th of that month the Imperial Government
took note of this promise, and expressed at the same time the hope
that these premiums will be paid neither on ivory nor on caoutchouc,
nor on any other produce.

In its communication of the 3rd December the Congo Government
seems to maintain that the payment of such commercial premiums to its

350

THE CONGO STATE

agents is not in contradiction witli its international engagements, and
adds that these premiums do not exist. The promise given in the

communication of 20th Xovember — which relates to ivory only saying

that in future these premiums will not be paid, is not repeated for
caoutchouc and other articles in the note of 3rd December ; but, under
a veiled form (in verschleierter form), the Congo State seems even to
claim that it has tlie (indisputable) right to create such premiums.

The Imperial Government can in no way agree to this interpretation,
and cannot conceal its astonishment (Befremden) at the Congo State
seeming to Avish to withdraw a promise made such a little time before.

The Imperial Government considers that the Government of the
Independent State of the Congo, which itself carries on commerce, deals
a heavy blow to commercial liberty as guaranteed by the Congo Act, in
allotting premiums for the gathering in of the produce of the country by
agents and officers charged with public functions.

It is evident that it cannot be a question of free competition if on
one side ordinary merchants trade with the natives, when on the other
hand these same natives find themselves in the presence of agents and
officers carrying on trade who, in their quality of representatives of the
Government, exercise a great influence on the populations, and often
exercise over them the power of life and death.

The Imperial Government would regret should the Congo State not
take these observations into account. It is a question that the Congo
State will have to examine, by considering its reputation (Ansehen)
and its situation with regard to the Governments of civilised countries.
The Imperial Government has a practical interest in no longer seeing its
interests injured in any way by the granting of these premiums. For
these reasons the Imperial Government, before considering the difference
as entirely ended, demands formally that the Congo State declares
candidly (unumwenden) that in the future no premium will be paid
on caoutchouc anel other produce as well as on ivory.

COMTE dMlvEXSLEBEX.

Brussels, llfh December 1895.

MONSIEUU LE CoMTE.

In reply to the communication of yoiu- Excellency of the 9tli
of this month, I beg, without entering into the examination of the
question of right, to declare formally that there does not exist any
commercial premium for the agents of the Independent State of the
Congo, and that the Government has no intention of establishing any,
neither for caoutchouc nor for ivory, nor for anj' other produce
whatever. Edmoxd Yax Eetvei.de.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

351

Notwithstanding the positive and categorical state-
ment of Baron Van Eetvelde, the Germans do not appear
to have been satisfied, and, in different forms, the same
charges that the Secretary of State so effectually disposed
of have been brouo;ht forward from time to time in the
German official papers. A Hamburg journal, of semi-
official authority, went so far as to make the following-
statement at the commencement of the present year,
while another organ impugned the right of the State to
establish stations on the east shore of Lake Kivu. The
statement referred to read as follows : —

" The Congo State has signally violated the principles
of free trade in the basin of the Congo by imposing
export duties on ivory and india-rubber to an extent
which renders competition impossible, and that it intends
to place similar duties on copper, in spite of all protests,
based on the freedom of trade guaranteed by the Berlin
Congo Act. All the chiefs recognised by the Government
are bound to plant coffee and cocoa under the superintend-
ence of State officials, and receive ten centimes for every
coffee or cocoa plant seventy-five centimetres or more,
hut no share of the ijroceeds of the croiJ. The Govern-
ment has laid on these products an export duty of nine
francs thirty -five centimes per one hundred kilogrammes."

The italicised sentence is a perversion of the truth, the
fact being, as already explained in chapter xviii., that
the net proceeds of the crop are equally divided between
the chiefs and the Government. The bias of the article
is revealed in its complete disregard of facts. The Berlin
Congo Act, as the writer chooses to term the General Act
of the Berlin Conference, gave the State no powers of
levying taxes on its produce. They were not conferred
until the Brussels Conference. The duties alleged by the
Germans to be an infraction of the principles of free
trade, of which Germany is known to be such a zealous
advocate, are imposed by the rights conferred by that

352

THE CONGO STATE

conclave of Powers-, including Germany, and are strictly
limited to the scale of an international tariff in Africa.
Moreover, these imposts are the legitimate and necessary
sources of strength by which a Government alone has its
beino- ; but it would be difficult for the German critic to
show how the placing of an export duty, necessary as it
is for the support of the administration, can have any
other result than to handicap the article produced in the
markets of the world. If the writer is confused in his
logic and perverts the facts, there is no misconstruing
his animosity, and, unfortunately, there is too much
reason for apprehending that the German Government
has designs on Tanganyika, and the northern strip of
frontier in which lies Lake Kivu, that are not in strict
accordance with the definition of the eastern frontier as
laid down at Berlin.

Under these circumstances it is desirable, in the
general interest, that no time should be wasted in com-
mencing the necessary specific delimitation of the
German-Conoolese frontier, and in discoverinsj; what
precise designs lurk beneath the criticism and scarcely
veiled censure of German diplomatists and official writers.
Of one thing it is permissible to feel convinced, and that
is, that the longer the discovery is piit off the more serious
it will be when revealed.

There remains for consideration the relations between
the State and its British neighbours ; and these are, from
some points of view, the most important and the most
delicate of all. If a general term has to be employed
to descril)e their whole tenor, it is true to say that the
attitude of the British Government throughout has been
extremely sympathetic to the work of the King of the
Belgians in Central Africa. The bent of English feeling
in the matter is entirely in the same direction, although it
has to be admitted that there is a deficiency of accurate
information as to the civilisiuo- work done in the Congo

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

region, and also that some sympathy was alienated from
the State by the untoward execution of Mr. Stokes.
The diplomatic discussions and engagements between the
Governments have been of an amicable nature, and the
convention of 1894 was specially framed with a view to
making the Congo State a participant in the benefits that
would follow the reassertion of Egyptian power in the
provinces wrested from it by the Mahdi. For the moment,
pending the realisation of Sir Herbert Kitchener's plans at
and above Khartoum, the full terms of the convention may
be regarded as dormant ; but there is no room to doubt
that, in the course of time, they will be literally fulfilled.

At the same time that the relations of the British and
Congo Governments have been marked with cordiality,
the latter has experienced at the hands of a few English
critics some unmerited censure and scant justice. Al-
though the Belorians seem to entertain doubts on the sub-
ject of the Congo as a colony, and to shrink from all
responsibility in Central Africa, they are extremely
sensitive to outside criticism of the acts of their country-
men on the Congo, and especially to the criticism of
Englishmen. This statement will at least justify a plea
to the opponents or sceptics as to the value of the work
on the Congo, to make sure of their facts before attacking
a work that has so much merit, or injuring the sentiment
of a friendly and well-disposed nation. I have, personally,
no doubt that this plea will not be summarily rejected by
Sir Charles Dilke, the most formidable critic the State
has had to encounter, and whose opinion on all inter-
national and imperial questions carries the greatest weight
with his countrymen. I believe myself, that if Sir
Charles Dilke will reconsider all the facts of the case
relating to the position in Central Africa, and as to the
manner in which it bears on the whole of the larger
African question on the Nile and the Lakes, he will
modify the opinions he has expressed in opposition to

356

THE CONGO STATE

the existing Congo administration. The same careful
study that he has directed to every branch of foreign
policy will show him that the Belgian administration in
Central Africa, with no material advantages on its side,
and under many added difficulties, has performed a great
and useful task, and that it has upheld and advanced
the cause of civilisation. It would be impossible to
expect that, in a work carried out under the conditions
prevalent in this part of the world — a mere handful of
whites among millions of blacks, sunk, for the most part,
in the lowest stages of barbarism, superstition, and can-
nibalism— there should not be some regrettable occur-
rences, some acts of high-handed authority, some arbitrary
measures of militarism, like Lothaire's execution of Stokes.
The marvel is only that they have been so few.

The charges brouoht bv Sir Charles Dilke in his
motion in the House of Commons, on 2nd April 1897,
for the summoning of a new Conference, came under two
heads. The first was, that the officers of the State
encouraged cannibalism, or at least systematically sanc-
tioned it during the Arab campaign ; and the second, that
they were debasing the black races, and paving the
way to their extinction, by the introduction of alcohol,
and, more specifically, of gin. Had either of these charges
been true in even a less degree than Sir Charles Dilke
• alleged, they would not merely have constituted a grave
breach of the Brussels General Act, but they would have
destroyed the claim of the Congo State to the sympathy
and admiration of the civilised world. The extreme
gravity of the charges, their discrediting and destructive
character, if substantiated, render retractation and repara-
tion the more necessary when they are shown to have
been baseless, and when, in the case of a highly competent
and broad-minded statesman like Sir Charles Dilke, they
can only have been advanced through a misreading of
evidence and a misinterpretation of facts.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

357

In order to show how baseless these charges are, it is
necessary to cite their particulars. Sir Charles Dilke
said, in his speech supporting his motion, " The Congo
State is in the habit of making razzias with cannibal
allies. A distinguished African explorer and a public
functionary, whom I have the honour of knowing, told me
once that Baron Dhanis was by far the best of the officers
of the Congo, that he was a man of noble character and
excellent reputation, but still that he used to ration
his men ivith human Jlesh. I thought that that was a
horrible African story, but the recently published book of
Captain Hinde prores heyond the least doubt that it was
the 7'eal truth. The last expedition of Baron Dhanis was
directed by six white officers, and comprised live hundred
Haussas and twenty-five thousand cannibal allies. Captain
Hinde is an intimate friend of Baron Dhanis. The soldiers
were rationed for months with human flesh. The captain
goes further, and explains how cannibalism was a great
element in the success of the campaign."

The charge was therefore of the most sweeping kind,
and it was represented as being proved " beyond the least
doubt " by the statements of Captain Hinde, a friend and
admirer of Baron Dhanis. The first point to be clearly
ascertained, therefore, is, What are those statements ?

An examination of Dr. Hinde's book, TJie Fall of the
Congo Arabs, to which reference has previously been
made, will show that the statements therein do not
support Sir Charles Dilke's charge. There is a great
deal therein as to the prevalence of cannibalism among
most of the tribes of the Con so basin, but the authorities
of the State can in no way be held responsible for the
practices of the negroes and the state of their society
before the effective establishment of their authority in
Central Africa. Cannibalism, not less than the slave
trade, was the curse and the stigma on our common
humanity, which led the King of the Belgians to begin an

35»

THE CONGO STATE

adventure, under the banner of civilisation and progress,
that would have appealed to the chivalrous instincts of a
knight of Caerleon. But no shadow of responsibility for
the existence of the plague spot could rest on those whose
mission was to remove it, yet it is only by such a course
of reasoning that Sir Charles Dilke could speak of "the
twenty-five thousand cannibal allies " of Baron Dhanis.

The policy upon which the Congo State has had con-
sistently to act has been to grapple with the problems
and difficulties of its position in turn, to husband its
limited resources, and to finish the work it had in hand
before it undertook another. In 1892-93 the object to
be achieved was to put down the slave raids of the Arabs,
to drive these invaders out of the country, and to thus
accomplish the first half of the task of civilising the Dark
Continent. It was a task of the greatest difficulty and
danger ; the Arabs were well armed and formidable as
warriors ; they were of the same race, and in some cases
the same men, who had followed the Mahdi in his trium-
phant progress from Obeid to Berber. No one could tell,
as an experienced English missionary and resident on the
Congo said, which side would conquer ; and the triumph
of the Arabs on the Upper Congo meant the obliteration
of civilisation, the massacre of every white man from
Stanley Falls to the Cataracts. These, indeed, are facts
of which there cannot be " the least doubt."

Under such circumstances, was the State and its
representative, Baron Dhanis, to reject the co-operation of
Congo Lutete and his cannibal tribe ? To have rejected
it, would have meant not only one danger the more in
leaving the powerful and warlike Batetela tribe unem-
ployed in the rear of the expedition during its critical
campaign, but it would have been to leave unprofited a
golden opportunity of bringing home to the blacks the
fact that they need no longer fear the Arabs, and that the
knell of the slave razzias had sounded. Gongo Lutete

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 359

was first the ally and the tool of the Arabs. His chastise-
ment by the State troops was the first episode in the
struggle which concluded at Nyangwe and Kassongo.
When he gave in his submission and tendered his alliance
against the Arabs, it would have been folly, from every
point of view, to have rejected it. At such a juncture
the reader will see for himself that it was impossible to
make the terms of acceptance the institution of a great
moral reform in the extinction of cannibalism. The
blacks had to be taken as what they were, and not as
what they should become. Yet that is the only line of
argument by which this alliance, for a temporary but
paramount consideration, can be denounced. On the
same reasoning it would be sound to denounce the alliance
of Warren Hastings with the Rajah of Benares, and of
Wellesley with one Mahratta chief against another,
because the practice of burning their widows alive was
common to them all.

The statements in Dr. Hinde's book relate exclusively
to the acts of Gongo Lutete and his Batetela followers.
There is absolutely no justification for the statement that
Baron Dhanis, or any other Belgian ofiicer, " used to
ration his men with human fiesh." The soldiers of the
State never have been cannibals ; the men of the Dhanis
column were chiefly Haussas from the coast, and at all
times cannibalism has been a penal offence under the
Code of the Cong-o. The acts of cannibalism described
by Dr. Hinde were committed exclusively by the con-
tingent of Gongo Lutete. Baron Dhanis had no power to
prevent them, and there is no reason to believe that he
was aware of their occurrence until after the event. The
scientific observation of Dr. Hinde as to the effect of the
practice on the sanitation of the camps, and its con-
sequent influence in promoting the success of the cam-
paign, is a personal remark for which the Doctor must
bear all the responsil)ility himself, and for which, neither

36o

THE CONGO STATE

directly nor indirectly, can the State authorities be called
to account.

The passages which specially relate to the matter at
issue in Dr. Hinde's book are the following : (it is un-
necessary to reproduce those which only contain the
gruesome details of a horrible and repulsive subject.)

" It was here (the Lomami, 26th November 1892)
that the cannibal tendencies of our allies, and the marau-
ders who followed our camp, showed itself to our eyes
for the first time. On returning across the town after
having followed the inhabitants one or two miles beyond,
I remarked that the killed and wounded had all dis-
appeared, and some of my men told me that the allies
had cut them into pieces, and carried them off to serve
as food. I attached no faith to the story. On returning
to our camp we were again attacked. The allies saved
themselves by a hasty flight, leaving behind them, scattered
along the route, a number of human arms, legs, and heads,
which the men, to whose statements I had paid little
heed, hastened to point out to me as jDroof they had not
lied. ... It is easier to imag;ine than to describe our
disgust, for we found that the marauders who followed
our camp, and our allies, made no difference between our
killed and wounded and those of the enemy."

The evidence of the witness cited in support of Sir
Charles Dilke's charge is therefore clear that acts of canni-
balism w^ere confined to the Batetela contingent, which
numbered probably not more than ten thousand men.
They did in the campaign exactly what they were accus-
tomed to do in their own villages, and it was impossible
for the Belgian authorities to punish, much less to seek to
cure, a rooted national practice during the progress of the
keen struggle with the Arabs that was to decide their
own fate.

But it is impossible to let the misrepresentation pass
unnoticed that they did nothing, and that by a studied

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

361

indifference they encouraged the practice. Dr. Hinde
mentions at least two cases in which the Belgian officers,
even at this critical moment, took effective measures to
stop cannibalism and to punish its promoters. Having
learnt that the Bason oos were in the habit of receiving;
supplies o*f human food by boat, orders were given to fire
on and stop these boats as they descended the Lomami.
As a matter of fact, the Belgians did fire on these vessels,
l)y which many cargoes were saved, and they finally suc-
ceeded, in putting a stop to the traffic. Another incident
is mentioned by the English officer. It relates to a Basongo
chief whose cannibal instincts were so deep-rooted that,
after every attempt had l)een made to wean him from his
ways, he was executed by Baron Dhanis as an example.
These measures were the true indication of the sentiments,
on the subject of cannibalism, of Belgian officers, of whom
Baron Dhanis is not, as Sir Charles Dilke seems to re-
present, an exceptional but a typical rej^resentative. No
English writer or public man should leave himself open
to the charge of suggesting, even by inference, that it is
possible for Belgian officers to have any other opinion on
the subject of cannibalism than that held by their own
countrymen.

The subsequent action of the Congo Government has
shown what are its views and policy on the subject of
cannibalism. It is a penal offence. The killing of a
man for food figures on the Code of the Congo State as
murder, and, wherever that code is in force, that clause
has as much validity as in Europe.

The second charge made by Sir Charles Dilke against
the Government of the Congo State was, that " Gin is
the principal article of import into the Congo State," and
that the negroes are consequently in process of degenera-
tion, and moving towards complete extinction, through
the extensive introduction of spirits into Central Africa,
by the permission and under the flag for which so much

362

THE CONGO STATE

respect and admiration have been claimed. If this charge
were true in feet, it would constitute a serious breach of
the General Act of Brussels. It would destroy the title
of the King, and the men who have carried out his orders,
to the claim of having done a great and worthv action.
On the other hand, if it is not true, if it is demonstrably
false, the gravity of the charge recoils with tenfold force
on those who make it. In this case it is not true, it is so
obviously in disaccord with the facts, that one is only at
a loss to understand how Sir Charles Dilke could have
been misled into makino- such a statement.

During the year preceding Sir Charles Dilke's speech
the import of all spirits into the Congo represented one
and a half per cent, of the total imports ; in the year
following it the ratio fell to one per cent., not only
because the total imports had increased, but because
the actual import of spirits had diminished. In 1895,
1,465,590 litres of alcohol were imported, in 1896 the
figures fell to 1,215,726 litres, and in 1897 still further to
1,138,125 litres — thus showing a diminution in quantity
of twenty-five per cent, in two years.

As a matter of fact, the Congo State, from the first
period of its existence as the Congo Association, has con-
sistently set its face against the spirit trafiic, and it is
due to the measures of the King of the Belgians, and to
his imperative injunctions, that the illicit importation of
spirits has failed to pierce the western barrier raised by
his wisdom and energy in Central Africa. If the Govern-
ments of Germany and France had acted in the same
manner, the "nigger-killer" would never have been
known throughout that vast portion of the Dark Con-
tinent. At the same time it has to be noted that before
the formation of the Congo Association the liquor trafiic
was established on the Lower Congo by the Portuguese,
the English, and the Americans. Even philanthropy
would not have supported repressive measures against

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 363

the authors of this traffic on the part of the State. The
existence of the state of things at Banana and Boma had
to be recognised, and the only course left to the Govern-
ment in controlling the trade, and in preventing its
expansion, was to place as heavy an import duty as
possible on the article. A tax of fifteen francs the
hectolitre (equivalent to one shilling the gallon) was
in the first place imposed, and on the 2nd April 1895
this was raised to twenty-five francs.

But in the region above the Cataracts it was possible
to take firmer oround. There the traffic in alcohol was
practically non-existent, the other Europeans had no foot-
hold, and the State could pass its own laws for the
prohibition of the use of alcohol. It did so in the most
effective manner by a succession of decrees, which
restricted the use of the alcohol allowed to be imported
to non-Africans, and forbade its being employed as an
article of exchange with the natives. It also restricted
the supply of spirits to any individual to three litres a
month. Even the gift of spirits to a native was for-
bidden, and every infraction of the laws on this subject
was punishable by fine or imprisonment. In no other part
of the Continent of Africa was the same eff"ort made, were
the same precautions taken, to cope with every infraction
possible, or at least conceivable, of the liquor traffic.

The following are the three principal clauses of the
Governor-General's order of 9th March 1897, regulating
the introduction of alcoholic liquors above the Kwilu : —

" Article 1. No distilled alcoholic drink shall be
introduced or sold above the Kwilu, without the
authority of the Governor-General or of his delegate.

"A request for this authority should state the names,
Christian names, and the profession of the non-natives
making the request, and mention the kind and quantity
of distilled alcoholic liquors to be introduced.

" The authority will be always revocable.

364

THE CONGO STATE

" Article 2. Merchants residing above the Kwilu, and
authorised to sell distilled alcoholic driaks, are required to
keep a register showing on one side, under the date, the
receipt of the different kinds of spirit in their separate
categories, and on the other side the names and ranks of
the purchasers, as well as the quantities furnished to each
of them.

" A copy of this register, as well as an inventory of
the alcohols in store, shall be drawn up every three
months, and sent by the proprietor or the agent of each
factory to the district commissary, or to the functionary
appointed by him.

"Article 5. Contravention of these articles (1 and
2) shall be punished, conformabh' with the stipulation of
the twelfth article of the decree of 16tli July 1890, by
a fine of from one thousand to ten thousand francs, and
by a sentence of penal servitude of from five days to five
months, or by one of these penalties alone. All heads of
houses of commerce, or other persons having employes or
workmen under them, are responsible for contravention of
the present order, as is set forth in article 14 of the decree
of 16th July 1890."

Sir Charles Dilke made a subsidiary charge, to the
effect that the chief article likely to be conveyed by the
Congo Railway in the first stages of its existence was
alcohol. The directors of the company made a reply
showing that in 1896 the proportion of spirit carried on
its line was less than two and a half per cent. But there
was still further and clearer evidence on the subject, and
that was in the gradual diminution of the territory open
to the traffic in alcohol. The decree of 16th July 1890
prohibited the importation or the sale of spirits in the
territories above Inkissi. In March 1897 this prohibition
was extended to the zone situated above the river Kwilu,
and a more recent decree (September 1897) has still
further increased the region of proliibition by fixing it

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 365

at the river ^Ipozo, wliicli joins tlie Congo near Matadi.
To make the difference clear to the reader, it may
be explained that Inkissi represented, practically speak-
ing, the 15th degree, the Kwilu the 14th and the
Mpozo the 13th degrees, of east longitude; but the real
significance of the operation lay in the fact that these
changes meant the gradual exclusion of the whole of
the tract covered by the new railway from the area of the
liquor traffic. The railway, which was apprehended by
Sir Charles Dilke as likely to prove a potent auxiliary in
the spread of the use of alcohol, has therefore been
turned to a different purpose. Alcohol may not traverse
its iron way, and its point of departure, not its terminus,
marks the limit of alcohol introduction.

These facts will show the reader how carefully the
State authorities have endeavoured to check and control
the liquor traffic. Not one of the other Governments
involved has made anything like the same systematic and
strenuous effort in the matter. The Belgians have had to
deal with a denser black population than any others, and
their own numerical strength has been fcir less in propor-
tion. Of them it has l)een said, with no exao;o;eration,
that they had undertaken in Central Africa the task of
giants, while they only disposed of the resources of pig-
mies. No one who looks at the facts which it has been
my privilege to place before the public from the most
authentic sources, and after careful examination of the
official statistics, can doubt that the Belgians have in
every respect accomplished a great work on the Congo,
and in no particular has that work been more conspicuous
than in the very two departments of the administration
selected by Sir Charles Dilke for attack. Cannibalism is
rapidly becoming as extinct as the slave trade, and the
importation of alcohol has been reduced to the smallest
limits.

It is not to be wondered at if the Belgians should

366

THE CONGO STATE

smart under undeserved criticism, and if thev should
retaliate with obserA-ations as to the interested motives
of English opposition, for which I am confident there is
at present no justification. The unfortunate Stokes afiair,
caused by an error of judgment on the part of an otiicer
who had done good work for the State, cannot recur, for
the simple reason that military law has been superseded
bv civil law throughout the State. The estrancrement
caused by that incident, and the suspicions it engen-
dered, are surely not destined to endure when it is seen
how closely the interests of the British dominion in Afiica
and of the Congo State can be made to combine, and
how the destiny of the one seems by a natural process to
fit into and to supplement the work and mission of the
other. It would be a lasting pity if the natural process
of friendly accord and gravitation towards a course of
united action should be prevented by harsh and biassed
criticism on the part of English critics, even when moved
by a sense of justice and not of jealousy. One plea, on
broad and general grounds, may well be advanced without
ofiending the amour propre of the censors, and, at the
same time, without making oneself the partisan of the
Congo State. Let such criticism as is directed on the
administration be swayed by a desire to get at the truth,
to recocmise the facts, to make no statement that is not
supported by the figures, and, above all. to recognise that
if in one minor detail some wrong has been done, and that
all mav not have been for the best, no human undertakino^
should be judged otherwise than by the general result and
the preponderant efiect of the measures taken. It is on
that ground that the Congo Government can fearlessly
take its place at the bar of history. It has done its work
conscientiously ; from any point of view it has done it
well : if we only think of its limited resources, we shall not
refrain from pronouncing it marvellous.

Yet there is no disputing the fact that the most

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

367

unfriendly criticism bestowed on the Congo State of
recent years lias apparently originated in England, for it
has appeared in the press of that country. It is easy to
meet and expose a statement which is not in accordance
with facts and figures, and to win from a chivalrous
opponent like Sir Charles Dilke the admission that he is
mistaken ; but it is not easy to counteract the hostile
influences, wherever they may originate, that do not care
for facts, that will make no admission, and that hope to
benefit by a w^ell-j^lanned system of discrediting the object
attacked. In fact it is impossible. All that can be hoped
is, that these schemes bear so clearly their own impress
that they will defeat their own ends, and that in course
of time the editors of great English journals will see that
those who freely attack the work of the Congo State have
some object in doing so, and in insisting that the persons
making the charges shall furnish some better preliminary
evidence of their good faith and accuracy than their name,
of which nobody ever heard until it figured at the foot
of an indictment against a friendly State, and a people
entitled to our sympathy and goodwill. In this way
there will be a practical solution of the difficulty. There
will be no stifUng of criticism when the Cono;o State has
erred, but there will be at least some prior examination
of the point whether there is evidence of an intention to
err. The Congo State, in common with the rest of the
world, must be judged by its deeds ; but at least no
one should be allowed to say with impunity that the
gin trade constitutes the bulk of its commerce when
it is only one per cent., nor should correspondents like
Mr. Sjoebloem be granted free play in the London
papers, when his assertions can be thus answered by
Colonel Wahis, Governor-General of tlie Congo at the
time : —

" Sir, — On my return to Europe, several articles
recently published in the English press on Congolese

368

THE CONGO STATE

affairs have Ijeen l3rought to my notice, and particularly
an interview with the missionary, Mr. Sjoebloem, who has
made a personal attack on me,

" I will not leave without reply the accusations
levelled ao;ainst the agents of the State. Durino- the
inspection that I have lately made in the districts of the
interior, I had occasion to examine into their adminis-
tration, to see how the natives were treated, to meet the
greater number of the missionaries, and I formally declare
that it is absolutely false to represent the agents of the
State as inhuman and cruel towards the native popula-
tions. If there have l)een individual abuses, as have
happened everywhere else, I have ascertained that the
instructions given l)y the Government to its agents on
the subject of their relations with the natives have been,
as a general rule, carried out. I will examine in order
the accusations of Mr. Sjoebloem.

" To commence with, he reproduces the old statements
brought forward by the Rev. Mr. Murphy in The I'imes
of 18th November 1895. As soon as those facts arrived
within my knowledge, I gave orders to examine into the
afftiir, and an inquiry was made in February 1896 by
Judo;e De Lancker.

" This inquiry reduced Mr Murphy's allegations to a
little less than nothing. Not a single witness could be
found to confirm the alleged murder of a native woman
by a soldier of the Lofila post. Again, it was proved
that the mutilation, of which a little girl was the victim,
had been connnitted by a native, who was sentenced to
five years' penal servitude for the crime. So far as
concerns the alleged attack in November 1894 on the
village of Bompanga, ' without any kind of provocation,'
I have obtained proof that the operation against that
village was provoked by acts of insubordination.

" When I was at Coquilhatville in November 1896^
I took the initiative in having; an interview with Messrs.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 369

Banks and Sjoebloem on tlie subject of the facts to which
Mr. Murphy had called the attention of the pubHc, and
I informed them of the result of the inquiry. I must
oppose a formal contradiction to the fantastic account Mr.
Sjoebloem gives of our interview. Mr. Sjoebloem says
that I refused to receive the evidence of natives that he
had brought with him in order to attest the trutli of a
fact of which he accused some soldiers.

" The point in question was precisely to discover if in
the affair of Bompanga the five soldiers, sent to arrest a
chief who refused to present himself before the District
Commission, had attacked the natives, or if the latter
had endeavoured to prevent the arrest, and thus provoked
an attack.

" I told Mr. Sjoebloem that a detailed inquiry had
already been made on this subject, and that, from the
depositions and examination of the circumstances, it
appeared that the five soldiers, who found themselves
confronted by a great number of natives, had done
nothing but repulse an attack.

"I added, that the natives collected by Mr. Sjoebloem
were evidently the same who had denounced the soldiers
as the aggressors in the first instance ; that I consequently
knew what they had to say ; that the facts dating back
more than eighteen months, and having been gone into in
the presence of Europeans and natives, whose responsi-
bility was involved, there was clearly no further motive
for another incjuiry.

" With strange obstinacy, Mr. Sjoebloem constantly
returned to the accusation which had already been
several times examined. He did not furnish me with
any useful detail for the investigation that I desired to
make, but he openly showed tlie evil sentiments that he
cherished towards our agents. It was then that I told
him that he was himself accused by a number of natives
of inciting the people to resist tlie orders of the autho-
24

370

THE CONGO STATE

rities, that these accusations appeared well founded, and
rendered him liahle to legal penalties.

" I may add here, that, if Mr. Sjoebloem has not been
prosecuted at this moment, it has been precisely because,
on account of these circumstances, any action against him
would have resembled reprisals, and it seemed desirable
to avoid this.

" In his recent interview Mr. Sjoebloem brings forward
some new facts. Forty-five villages have been burnt.
Where ? When ? By whom ? A native w^as killed by
a soldier at Ebira in February 1895, and the Rev. Mr.
Banks, the superior of Mr. Sjoebloem, who has lived at
Bolengi since 1887, and whose evidence will certainly not
l)e suspected, has declared on oath that up to March
1895 he has never had any complaint to make.

" Mr. Sjoebloem has seen natives' hands cut off. It
has undoubtedly l)een the case that soldiers have cut oft'
the hands of enemies killed after a combat. The mutila-
tion of corpses is a custom which exists, or has existed, in
the greater part of Africa. A warrior carries away the
hands or heads he has cut off, as proof of his valour. In
the Congo State, more than in many other countries,
great efforts have been made to bring about the dis-
appearance of these abominable practices. The penal law
declares them to be crimes, and punishes any mutilation
of corpses with penal servitude, for terms varying from
two months to two years.

" Of all the facts cited by Mr. Sjoebloem, one alone
is true, and this has been surrounded by the missionary
with fiilse details. I refer to the aff"air of Mandaka
Yagigo. It is true that this village, having refused to
pay its tax, had to be punished in October 1896. The
inhaliitants resisted, and lost a certain number of men.
The punishment in itself was legitimate, but, contrary to
instructions, a fault was committed in giving the command
of the troops to a black non-commissioned officer. Mr.

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

371

Sjoebloem insinuates that the guilty officer was not
punished. He was dismissed the service.

" It is not for me to decide the progress made by the
Cono;o State since its orioin, or to describe the remarkable
results obtained, as much from the point of view of
material progress, as from that of the improvement of the
moral and social condition of the native populations. But,
as head of the local Government, it is my duty to protest
loudly against the insults of which Belgian officers have
been made the object. I have seen them at their work, I
know the difficulties of their task, I have been able to
appreciate the elevated view they take of their duties, and
I am proud to say that the officers in the Congo service
have maintained their title to esteem and to respect.

" Wahis."

These unceasing attacks on the minor actions, as well
as the general policy of the State, have not, unnatu-
rally, given rise to an impression that they were inspired
by a settled purpose of hostility. Sir Charles Dilke's
language and statements made responsible persons at
Brussels think that " there v.-as a set purpose to create
for the Cono'o State difficulties both in Africa and in
Europe, to discredit it by magnifying isolated facts, and
by preparing, under the colour of |)hilanthropy, 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 popula-
tions 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 Cono;o State alone, and the division of its territories
is boldly spoken of." That such views should prevail
among Belgian men of affairs is regrettable, but not
altogether extraordinary, when we remember the form of

372

THE CONGO STATE

attack, and tliat foreigners are unable to distinguish
l)etween the expressions of an individual Englishman, if
of proiTiiiient position and distinguished, and of the
public opinion of the country. At the same time it is
clear that, in taking this extreme view of British policy
and intentions, the authorities at Brussels were misled as
to the significance and importance of the criticism })y
which their sentiments were injured.

The policy of the British Government since the
Anglo-Portuguese Convention, which was the direct pre-
cursor of the Berlin Conference, has been uniformlv
friendly, and directed towards the strengthening of the
Congo State. The Congo State has, on its side, been a
party to the establishment of the necessary telegraphic
communications across Africa which will link Egypt with
the Cape. Article 5 of the Agreement of 1894 with the
Congo State provides for the construction of the telegraph,
on the importance of which Mr. Cecil Rhodes has so very
wisely laid stress, for, where the telegraph is, the railway
will not be many years in following. But it is by no
means clear that Mr. Rhodes is accurate in saying that
" Germany is not interested in this matter." She has
long been waiting for some opportunity of claiming com-
pensation on Tanganyika and Kivu for the diminished
value of the part of East Africa that England too gener-
ously ceded her out of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and it is
very possible that the realisation of Mr. Rhodes's plans
will appear to her the psychological moment. But if
Germany's grasp closes on the Lakes, where then will be
the free water-way from Cairo to the Zambesi ?

The first step in the process of securing the telegraph
in the earlier stage, and the railway in the later, along
the eastern boundary of the Congo territory, will be the
support of its Government against any aggressive action
on the side of Germanv, when it becomes clear that she
claims to be interested in the matter. The State has

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

survived all perils I'rom the side of France ; there is no
sound reason for supposing that any exist on the side of
tlie British possessions ; but the future relationship witli
Germany is not so clear, and may even l)e termed clouded.
With a benevolent attitude on the part of (lireat Britain
these clouds nmst pass away, witliout any serious deviation
from the terms of the frontier limitations assigned for the
State at the time of the Berlin Conference.

There are, however, larger considerations that justify
the view that there is a community of interest and that
there should be identity of action between Great Britain
and the Congo State. A great deal has been said and
written of late on the subject of the alliances England
should seek, but, among all the suggestions made, there
has not been one to the effect that she should range
herself on the side of the well-doers and with the cause of
right. She cannot play the part of policeman all the
world over ; but where she has interests, where she has
planted her feet, there she should combine her action
with that of those who are doing the same good work
that she wishes to do herself Mr. Cecil Rhodes said in
the speech to which reference has been made, that his
measures will give England "Africa, the whole of it."
That is an unhappy phrase, which may well defeat its own
object. To attempt to turn it into practical fact would
be to strain our limited strength, to compel us to con-
centrate on Africa the attention and the effort that are
needed in the far more important and valuable Continent
of Asia, and to lead us to pursue the phantom of power
and commercial prosperity, while Russia secured the
substance, in China and India.

In Africa, Great Britain possesses immense territories
that it will take centuries to develop. She can find there
employment for millions of money and for thousands of
Englishmen. For the completion of her communications
and the proper extension of her commerce she certainly

374

THE CONGO STATE

needs, on the part of lier neighbours, a simihir policy of
oommercial liberty to that she carries out herself. "Well,
she has such a neighbf)ur in the Congo State. Even
Mr. Rhodes is not a more advanced ad\ ocate of railways
and telegraphs than the King of the Belgians has shown
himself to be, and, long before Mi'. Rhodes's railway has
touched Tanganyika, the telegraph and the State railroad
from the Lomami and Lualaba will have reached the
same destination. In these operations are to be seen, not
the progress of a rival, but the harmonious action of an
ally and an associate in the common task of civilisation.
Yet the suggestion of an impossible and unnecessary
scheme like making "the whole of Africa" English is
calculated to alarm those who were disposed to work in
accord with us, and, by alarming them, to raise difficulties,
suggest counter projects, and generally retard progress.

There is, however, no reason to believe that the
phrase cited represents either the drift of British policy
or the immediate projects of Mr. Rhodes ; and it would
not surprise anyone if Mr. Rhodes himself admitted that
his phrase was not a happy one, except so far as he may
have been thinking of commerce and not of conquest.
The policy of Great Britain cannot be based on surer
foundations than to respect the treaties it has signed as
long as the other side respects them, and to co-operate
with those who are doing good work analogous to its own.
The question that arises in connection with Africa is : What
other nation or State is engaged on the same task and is
discharging the duty in the same spirit ? Is it France ?
Is it Germany ? Are they carrying out a definite pro-
gramme for the elevation of the black race in the scale of
civilisation, and for making it fit to enjoy the benefits of
peace, security, and education ? Are they promoting the
interests of trade, not for the merchants of Marseilles or
Hamburg, but for the world and Great Britain ? Are
British traders welcome under the Tricolor or Black

THE STATE AND ITS NEIGHBOURS

375

Eagle? Are the frontiers open or closed? Will the
Germans give Mr. Rhodes a right-of-way east of Tan-
ganyika, or tlie French one on the Niger? Everyone
knows that the answer to all these questions is in the
negative. It is precisely liecause the points involved are
answerable alone in the affirmative where flies the bine
banner with the golden star that it may be claimed for the
Congo State that it is discharging an analogous task to
that undertaken by Britain throughout the world, and
that therefore their interests must harmonise with the
only real harmony arising from identity of view and of
object.

There remains but one practical question. How far
is it true to say that the Government of the Congo State
has done good work in Central Africa ? Its motives have
been impugned and its achievements minimised by some
English critics, but, in my humble opinion, this attitude
has been due to some misconception, and to the fact that
the appalling position of black savagery from the slave
trade, cannibalism, and fetishism had not been sufficiently
taken into account. The record of the work of the
Government that I have been able to provide, of the
motives that have inspired its policy, and of the results
that have flowed from it, will, I hope, make the Congo
State, and the men who have framed its constitution in a
large spirit of toleration and justice, more widely and more
favourably known to the British public. The Belgians
have done there a work of which we should have been
proud if they were Englishmen. They have done it with
slender resources in men and money. The conquerors
of half the globe can well applaud the action of a small
State and admiraljle people, over the birth of whose
constitution English statesmanship exercised a fostering
care ; and from no quarter will praise and recognition be
more welcome to the Belgians and their Kino- than from
England, the great colonising and slave-delivering State

376

THE CONGO STATE

of the world. Will anyoue deny, in face of the facts, that
this approbation has not been deserved ? On the other
hand, it is wanted to encourage those who have to con-
tinue the half-completed task, and to crown the triumph
of civilisation in a region where each successive victory
has served to show how heavy was the task to be done,
and how oreatlv it was needed in the name of outraged
humanitv.

CHAPTER XX

Belgium and the Congo

Foe the completion of this survey of the brief but
pregnant history of the Congo State, and of the growth
of civilisation in Central Africa during the short space
of twelve years, there only remains to place before the
reader the facts relating to the connection between
Belgium and the Congo at the present time. Belgium
herself has taken but a small part in the creation of
the Congo dominion. She was too timid to essay the
adventure, and too cautious and critical to do otherwise
than diminish and disparage the value of what was taken
in hand on her behalf As a Belgian colony, the Congo
State has been created in the parent State's own despite.
But while it is right that these facts should be clearly
recognised and understood, it has also to be remembered
that the great majority of the men who have done the
fighting and the ruling on the Congo, and who have
secured for the King's scheme a real chance of success,
are Belgians. The bulk of the trade of the country is
also with Belgium, and Antwerp is closely associated
with the development of Central Africa. That region
seems to offer a boundless prospect for profitable in-
vestment ; and if the Belgians are dubious as to their
capacity to establish a vast colony, they have never
in any part of the world shown doubt or hesitancy
when the enterprise claiming their support off'ered good
security and a reasonable interest. These considerations

377

378

THE CONGO STATE

render it impossible to say that Belgium is indifferent
to the CWgo. There is abundant evidence to the
contrary ; and wlienever the State really needed it the
Chandlers always came to its assistance, with the general
support of" pul)]i(' (tpinion. To the King's efforts and
Providence has been due the fact that Beloium has
been able to indulge her own idiosyncrasies by escaping
responsibility and indulging her bent towards timidity,
while at the same time she did not lose the prize
awaiting the Prince who displayed, in the early stages
of the question, the requisite foresight and courage.

The part taken l)y Belgium in the affairs of the
Congo, up to the definite project made in the Chambers
for the taking over of the State in the early spring of
1895, has been described in several of the preceding
chapters. For the sake of clearness, it will be well to
recapitulate the chief points in connection with which
the Belgian Government so far modified its attitude of
indifference as to lend its aid to the Congo State. In
the first place, it permitted, in 1885, the King of the
Beloians assumino- the title of Sovereign of the Con2;o
State. In 1887 the Chambers sanctioned the first Congo
loan of six millions sterling. In 1890, after the second
Brussels Conference had arranged for the imposition of
a tariff', the Belgian Government was authorised to make
an advance of one million sterling, in a sum down of
£200,000, and an annual grant of £80,000 a year for
ten years, without interest. In return for that con-
cession, Belgium obtained the right, by a formal con-
vention with the Congo State, to take over the African
dependency at any date within ten and a half years
from its signature. The period expires in January 1901.
At the same time as the convention conferred on Belgium
the option of taking over the Congo, the revelation of
the King's will of the preceding year gave public noti-
fication of the fact that, in any event, the Congo State

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

379

would revert to Belgium, and could only be repudiated
by an act of self - stultification. No eagerness was
exhil)ited to convert the concession irito a reality, and
several years more [)assed without any change being
produced in tlie position.

At the end of 1894 the completion of the Arab
campaign, the growth of trade, and the increased
attention given to African affairs, seemed to justify an
attempt to rivet the connection between the two
countries, and to remove the anomalous conditions that
prevented the Congo State being treated as a Belgian
colony. At the same time there were other considera-
tions pointing to the necessity of some fresh arrangement.

The State had been created under many difficulties,
and, with a view to preventing the great work expiring
of inanition, aid had to be sought in many quarters,
and resources raised wherever possible. These had
resulted, at the date spoken of, in (first) a certain
financial deficit, and in (secondly) the risk of losing-
valuable and extensive lands on the Cono;o which had
been hypothecated to some Antwerp financiers as secu-
rity for necessary advances, unless the principal were paid
off by a day then close at hand. The financial position,
as well as the wish to regularise and strenothen the
relations of Belgium and the Congo, brought matters
to such a point at the end of 1894 as to determine the
Belgian Government to submit a Projet de Loi to the
Belgian Chambers for the taking over of the Congo.

As the preliminary to this measure, a formal con-
vention was concluded between France and Belgium on
5th February 1895, defining with })recision the right
of pre-emption ceded to France in 1884, and modified
in 1887 in favour of Belgium herself. The following
is the full text of this important document : —

Considering that, in virtue of the hitters exchanged, tlie 23rd and
24th April 1884, between M. Stranch, President of tlie International

38o

THE CONGO STATE

Association of tlie Congo, and M. Jules Ferry, President of Council and
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French RepuTilic, a riglit of preference
has been assured to France in the event of the Association wisliing to
realise its i)ossessions, and that this right of preference was maintained
when the Independent State of tlie Congo re])laced the International
Association :

Considering that, in view of the transfer to Belgium of the posses-
sion of the Independent State of the Congo, by virtue of the Treaty of
Cession of 9th Janiiary 1895, the Belgian Government will be substi-
tuted in regard to the obligation contracted iinder this head by the
Government of the said State :

The undersigned have agreed to the following proposals, which
shall henceforth regulate the right of preference of France in regard to
the Belgian colony of the Congo.

Article 1.

The Belgian Government recognises for France a right of preference
over its Congolese jjossessions, in the event of their alienation, under
compulsion, in whole or in part.

It will equally give effect to the riglit of preference of France, and
will make it, in consequence, an object of prior negotiation betM'een the
Government of Belgium and that of the French Republic— all exchange
of Congolese territories with any foreign Power, all concessions, all
allocation of the said territories, in whole or in part, to the hands of
a foreign State, or of a foreign company invested with the rights of
sovereignty.

Article 2.

The Belgian Government declares that it will never cede gratuitously,
in whole or in part, these same possessions.

Article 3.

The arrangements made in the above articles apply to the whole of
the territory of the Belgian Congo.

In faith of which the undersigned have drawn up the present
arrangement and attached their seals.

Made in duijlicate at Paris the 5th February 1895.

Baron dAnethan.
G. Hanotaux.

While this document cleared the ground so far as
Belgium was concerned, it must be noted that it gave

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

clearer expression, at the least, to those rights of pre-
emption which France acquired at a moment of difficulty
in the history of the Congo International Association.
The article with regard to concessions and allocations
of territory may even be pronounced going beyond the
original stipulations. This convention had special relation
to the Treaty of Cession between Belgium and the Congo
State of 9th January 1895, which now claims careful
consideration, as forming the basis of the subsequent
discussion in Belgium ; but, before passing on, it may be
stated that this convention possesses no present validity,
as it necessarily lapsed at the same time as the Treaty
of Cession to which it was linked.

The convention of 3rcl July 1890 had given the
parent country the right to take over the Congo colony
at any date within a period of ten and a half years. The
following is the text of the Treaty of 9th January 1895,
by which it . was proposed for the first, and up to this
moment the only time, to give effect to the right.

TREATY FOR THE CESSION OF THE INDEPENDENT
STATE OF THE CONGO TO BELGIUM.

The King-Sovereign of tlie Congo having made known, in liis letter
of 5th August 1889 to the Belgian Finance Minister, that if it seemed
good to Belgium to establish before the sjiecified term closer relations
with his possessions of the Congo, His Majesty would not hesitate to
place them at her disposal, and the two High Powers being agreed to
carry out this cession at this moment :

The following Treaty has been concluded between the Belgian State,
represented by Count de Merode de Westerloo, Minister of Foreign
Affairs ; M. de Burlet, Minister of the Interior and of Public Instruction ;
and M. de Smet de Naeyer, Minister of Finance, acting under reservation
of the approbation of the Legislature, — and the Independent State of the
Congo, represented by M. E. Van Eetvelde, Secretary of State of the
said Independent State : —

Article 1.

His Majesty the King-Sovereign declares that he cedes from this

382

THE CONGO STATE

time to Uelgiiiiu the sovereignty of the territories coinprisinfi; tlie
Indepeiideiit State of tlie Congo, with all the rights and ohligations
attached thereto, and the Belgian State declares that it accejjts this
cession.

Article 2.

The cession comprises all the real and personal ])roi)erty of the State,
and notahly :

1. The jiroperty of all lands belonging to the public or i)rivate
domain, under reserve of the obligations and charges indicated in
Annexe A of the present Convention.

2. The shares and founders' riglits assigned to it by the consti-
tution of the Railway Comjiany, as Avell as all shares and rights
assigned to it under the arrangements mentioned in the Annexe A.

3. All buildings, constructions, installations, plantations, and other
properties established or acquired by the Government of the Inde-
pendent State, the i)ersonal objects of every kind, and the live stock
it possesses, its boats and landing-stages with their material, as Avell as
all its military equipment.

4. Ivory, caoutchouc, and the other African products which are
actually the ])roperty of the Inde])endent State, as well as the provisions
and other merchandise belonging to it.

Article 3.

On the other hand, the cession includes all the debts and all the
financial engagements of the Independent State, as set forth in the
Annexe li.

Article 4.

The date at which lielgium shall assume the exercise of its right of
sovereignty over the territories included in Article 1 will be determined
by Royal Decree.

The receipts obtained and the disbursements eti'ectcd bj' the Inde-
pendent State of the Congo from the 1st January 1895 are to be to the
account of Belgium.

In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present Treaty and attached their seals.

Made in duiilicate at Brussels, 9th January 1895.

Edm. A'ax Eetvelde.

Count de Merode de Westerloo.

j. de burlet.

p. DE Smet de Naeyer.

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

383

It will be noticed that this treaty was signed l)y the
Belgian Plenipotentiaries, " under reservation of the
approbation of the Legislature " ; and as that appro-
bation was never given, this treaty never came into
practical effect.

An elaborate Exjjose des Motifs, with the fullest
details as to the political and financial position of the
Congo State, was prepared, and placed before the
Chambers on 12th February 1895, when their appro-
bation was requested for the proposed Treaty of Cession.
The main point that the framers of this interesting docu-
ment set themselves to prove, was that, from every point
of view, the hour had arrived when it would be proper
and wise for Belgium to take over the personal direction
of the Congo State. On the same day the Projet de Loi
for the approbation of the cession was also submitted to
the House of Representatives by Count Merode. Its text
was as follows : —

Leopold ii., King of the IIelgians,
To all present and to come, Salutation,
On file Proposifioii of our Council of Miniiifera.

We have decreed, and decree :

Onr IVIinisters of Foreign Affiiirs, of tlie Interior and of Pu])lic
Instruction, of Finance, of Justice, of Agriculture, of Industry, of
Labour and Public Works, of War, of Railways, Posts, and Tele-
graphs, shall j)resent in our name to the Legislative Chambers the
Projet de Loi, of which the following is the tenor : —

Article L

Is approved, the Treaty of Cession annexed hereto, concluded the
9th January 1895, between Belgium and the Independent State of the
Congo.

Article 2.

There is opened at the Finance Department an extraordinary credit
of five million two hundred and fifty thousand francs, to assure the

384

THE CONGO STATE

execution of the Treaty of 9t]i January 1895. This credit will be
covered by an emission of warrants on tlie Pul)lic Debt.

Given at Brussels the lltli Fclmiary 1895, by the Kin^.

Leopold.

(Here follow sij^niatui'es of seven iVIinisters.)

Placed before tlie Chamber on 12tli February, it was
referred for consideration to a Special Commission of
twenty-one members, whose names were announced on
the following day. During more than three months the
Projet de Loi continued to be discussed and dissected by
the Special Commission. In the same period the enemies
of the Congo — the majority of them naturally timid and
averse to all adventure, but some honestly doubting the
merit of the scheme — were alert in their opposition, and
a loud-voiced utterance was given to the statement that
" Belgium was opposed to the taking over of the Congo,"
by the late M. Couvreur, at that time correspondent of the
Times at Brussels. There were some also who contended
that the claim of the Antwerp group, with M. Browne de
Tiege at their head, was invalid, as being in contravention
of the arrangement of July 1890 with Belgium. These
arguments were not the only, or perhaps the chief, reasons
for the decision of the Special Commission proving hesi-
tating and slow of expression. The moment was not
altogether auspicious for the effective silencing of the
State detractors. The resources of the State were still
very inadequate, and its trade had not begun that forward
movement which has since become so marked. The State
Exchequer showed a deficit, and it was to make that good
that Belgium was invited to take over the Congo. The
suspicions of some of the noisier and more implacable
opponents of the African work were aroused and given
an air of plausibility, l)y the admitted deficiency of the
State Exchequer to meet an obligation to a creditor and
a certain part of its regular expenditure. It was alleged
with ever-increasing confidence that the Congo was a

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

385

sieve into which the Belgian nation might pour its
millions without prospect of return. While these were
the views of fiery socialists, it may be pointed out that
the Chambers of Commerce of Antwerp, Ghent, and the
chief trade centres of the country, were unanimous in
presenting addresses in favour of tlie occupation of the
Congo.

It so happened that the Railway Company of the
Congo was at this moment also in difficulties, or rather,
at the end of its available resources. Everyone knew that
the future of the Congo State was more or less bound up
with the construction of a railway, and in 1895 less than
one fifth of the line had been finished, while all the capital
was gone. The facts were, that in those fifty miles the
extraordinary and the almost insuperable difficulties of
the line were encountered, and that the remainder of the
undertaking, although greater in length, presented far
fewer difficulties, and was, as a matter of fact, finally
achieved for a less sum than the cost of the distance
covered in 1895, when the co-operation of the Belgian
Government was invited. But facts do not deter party
rhetoric, and the failure of the Railway Company to make
the railway for a million — an impossible task — was a
good enough argument for the Radicals of the Brussels
Chambers to assail the whole African enterprise, and to
pronounce it " a sad and lamentable failure."

These were the attendant circumstances under which
the Bill proposing that Belgium should take over the
Congo State was brought before the Chambers at Brussels.
They were certainly not favourable, and calculated per-
haps to make the Belgians think more of the debts and
difficulties of the Conoo State than of the immense field
it offered to national activity of every kind. Before the
discussion was concluded, news also came of the mutiny
at Luluabourg, and waverers were strengthened in their
doubts by the prospect of a mutiny of the native army.
25

386

THE CONGO STATE

Under these circumstances, it was not very surprising tliat
the Special Commission should have had recourse to a
compromise.

On the 24th of May the Commission reported in favour
of the adoption of the provisional measures required by
the situation, instead of the approbation demanded by the
Government for the Treaty of Cession. The proposal to
convert the Congo State into a Belgian colony was thus
allowed to drop, but a helping hand was offered in order
to enable it to continue its work. Two days after the
notification of the decision of the Commission, Count
Merode gave in his resignation ; but the other members
of the Government were willing to accept the conclusions
of the Commission and make the best of them. On the
14th June two fresh Projeta de Loi were submitted to the
Chamber — one authorising the advance of six and a half
millions of francs to the State, and the other lending
the Railway Company five millions of francs. A debate
ensued on the 26th-27th June, when both propositions
were carried, and the new convention of lltli June,
sanctioning these advances, took the place of the pro-
jected Treaty of 9th January 1895. The following is
the text of the convention, so far as it related to the
State ; the amount of the advance sufticing to clear off
the obligation to M. Browne de Tiege — thus saving very
valuable allocations of territory — and also to meet the
deficit on the current account : —

Article 1.

The Belgian State is authorised to advance, by way of loan and
with all rights reserved, to the Independent State of the Congo, a
sum of six million eight hundred and fifty thousand francs.

Article 2.

The advance made by Belgium in execution of Article 1 shall
eventually bear interest, and its repayment shall be eventually
demandable at the same time and under the same conditions as the

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

387

advance made by ISclgiiun to tlie ludependent State in execution of
the Convention of 3rd July 1890.

Article 3.

A credit of six million eight hundred and fifty thousand francs is
open at tlie Department of Finance. It shall he covered, either l)y
the general resources of tlie Treasury or by the emission of warrants
of the Public Debt.

ARTrCLE 4.

The present Convention will come into force the day of its i)ul)lica-
tion in the Monifpur.

The following is the text of the corresponding con-
vention with the Railway Company : —

Article 1.

The Government is authorised to grant to the Eailway Company of
the Congo a loan of five millions of francs. The sum shall be handed
over to the Company as the needs of construction arise.

Article 2.

There is opened at the Treasury the necessary credit.

In this manner was it arrano;ed that Belgium should
defer the taking over of the Congo State. The reasons
have been given, and are sufficiently obvious. At the
moment there were doubts as to its value, and these were
enough to largely influence the masses in their views on
the subject. The fruit was not yet rijje — the psycho-
logical moment had not arrived ; and as the title of
Belgium to the reversion of the Congo was clear and
indefeasible, by the King's will as well as by the formal
convention bearing on the subject, there was no grave in-
jury in the postponement of the only natural solution. At
the time of the Treaty of Cession there was practical
unanimity among the intellectual elite of the Belgian
nation, as well as in its commercial and industrial world,
as to the intrinsic value of the Congo State, and as to the

388

THE CONGO STATE

imperative duty of tlic countiy to ensure its permanent
possession.

But these enlightened views could not be expected to
])ernio<ite the ranks of an uneducated <lemocracy. Only
tlie ])lainest and most irrefutable facts could sway their
opinions : and tlicse pointc(l to the embarrassment, and not
the Houri.shing condition, of the Central African dominion.
In the three years that have intervened, a great impro^■e-
ment has been effected in the financial and industrial
position of the Congo State. The railway also has been
converted into an unequivocal success, instead of the
failure it was assumed to be when all the funds were
exhausted after the crossing of the Pallaballa range.
Enough has been done to show anyone that the colony in
Central Africa is certain to be a remarkable success within
a brief period of years ; and if events were to compel
Beloium to make a decision suddenlv as to the taking
over of the Congo State, there is no question that she
would do so at once and without a moment's hesitation.
The question of Belgium and the Congo, after a long
period of doubt and vacillation, has therefore reached this
point. Belgian opinion is no longer undecided in its views
as to the value of the colony created by the King of the
Belgians. It recognises the merit of his work, and is
even beginning to feel gratitude for it. Were the Projet
de Loi of January 1895 reintroduced in the Chamber
this winter, it would be passed unanimously. If, for
other reasons wliich will now be glanced at, it should
not be so introduced, there is still no longer the shadow
of a douljt that, whenever the decision has to be taken
l)y the Belgian Legislature and people, it will be formed
promptly, decisively, and irrevocably in favour of the
^■iew tliat the Con^o State is an inalienable Beloian
colony, obtained by the wisdom of their Sovereign and
by the patriotic efforts of worthy representatives of the
Belgian race.

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

389

But the responsibilities and, let it be added, the expe-
rience of active administration, have brought other issues
into view, and have suggested that the premature con-
version of the Independent State of the Congo into a
Belgian colony might be attended with more dangers than
advantages. The Congo State has reached its present
condition of prosperity because it has been free from the
drawbacks of Parliamentary government. If every inci-
dent in its career had been made a party issue in the
Brussels Chambers, it might well have been that the
State would have perished amid the close attentions of
its candid friends.

The prosperity and development of the Congo State
under the only regime it has yet known have led the most
intelligent observers in Belgium — and not only the most
intelligent, but those also who are the most sympathetic
to the undertaking on the Congo — to form a very strong
conviction that, in the interest of the State itself, it would
be dangerous and premature to substitute for the wise and
cautious administration of the King the cumbrous and
often ill-judging direction of a legislative assembly. At
the present time the Congo is governed by a simple and
swift-dealing autocracy. The Government of the King-
Sovereign — with its easy but efficient mechanism, with the
power of initiative possessed by its ruler, who is able to
form rapid decisions and to put them into immediate
effect, and who has, above all, the special knowledge
necessary for the maintenance of a consistent policy — has
brought the African enterprise through many perils to a
point of remarkable prosperity and assured stability.
But much of the good acliieved would be undone, and
manv unforeseen danoers would be invited, if for tlie
confident hand of an experienced Prince there were substi-
tuted the direction of a Parliamentary government, so ill
adapted to the needs of a colony still in its infancy.

Instructed opinion is therefore unanimous in Belgium,

39"

THE CONGO STATE

that, iu the interests of everyone concerned, it would l)e
unwise to change the existing state of things on the
Congo during the life of King Leopold. Under the
present system the Belgians possess all the advantages of
a colony without any of the inconveniences, and, as long-
as the King survives, the situation will remain unchanged.
When in the course of time a decision has to be taken on
the subject of the reversion of the Congo, the position of
Belgium will on legal grounds be unassailable, and there
will undoubtedly be no delay in the notification of her
decision, for it must be remembered that she will have
merely to express her acceptance of the legacy left her
by her Sovereign. The subsidiary title of Belgium to the
Congo under the terms of the convention of 1890, even
if renewed for another period of ten years from 1900, as
will probably be the case, is calculated only to provide for
every contingency, the main claim always being that her
King, as soon as he had made the reversion secure by the
diplomatic arrangement in which he induced France to
waive her prior rights as against Belgium, bequeathed it
free of cost and, so far as he could ensure, of risk, to his
own people. The bands and links between Belgium
and the Congo have been strengthened, and are being-
riveted more and more every day ; but, for the reasons
given, there is no necessity to hasten the time of absolute
union.

Whenever the question Ijetween Belgium and the
Congo may be regularised, there is in the meanwhile no
doubt of several facts in connection with the African
situation. In little more than twelve years since the
founding of tlie State — in a period only five years more
remote, if we start from the elevation of the Association s
rtag at Vivi 1)}' Mr. Stanley — a great work of civilisation
has been achieved in Central Africa. Civilisation has not
merely been introduced, but led far on the road to a signal
victory. A great part of an unknown and inaccessible

BELGIUM AND THE CONGO

391

continent has been opened to commerce. Last, but not
least, Belgium has secured, with little cost and effort, one
of the most promising colonies of the world.

The reader of the preceding pages, or the student of
the subject, will have no difficulty in arriving at a sound
conclusion as to how this great work has been brought
about. The colonial triumphs of England have been
those of a race ; and although famous names figure along
the track of empire as beacons, the achievement has been
performed by the nation — by succeeding generations of our
countrymen. The founding and the maintenance of the
Congo State has, on the contrary, been the outcome of
the energetic efforts of the King of the Belgians. The
work he set himself to accomplish was in itself difficult,
but it was rendered far more difficult by the doubts and
fears of those who ought to have resolutely supported it,
and by personal detractors. The success attained carries
with it its own reward, in the silencing of the hostile and
the calumnious ; but it would have been the more rapidly
secured, if the Belgian nation had thrown themselves
without reserve or hesitation into the task consecrated by
the life's labour of their Sovereign. Whenever the
psychological moment arrives for Belgium to take over
the Congo, she will receive a colony not merely created
by the wisdom of King Leopold 11., but rendered secure
at all points by the prescience with which, in a succes-
sion of diplomatic conventions, lie has provided for every
contingency.

APPENDIX

— ♦ —

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 Eohenria, &c., and Apostohc 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 ; tlie 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 Ijuxembourg, &c. ; His
Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, &c. ; His Majesty the
Emperor of All the Russias ; His Majesty the King of Sweden and
^^orway, &c. ; 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
misunderstanding 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 a])pointed as their
Plenipotentiaries, to wit : —

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of J^russia, Otho, I'rince
von Bismarck, his J'residcnt of the ]*russian Covnicil of Ministers,
Chancellor of the Empire ; Paul, C(nuit von Ilatzfeldt, liis Minister
of State and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; Auguste Buscli, his
Acting Privy Coinicillor of Legation and Under-Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs ; and Henri von Kusserow, Privy Councillor of Legation
in the Department for Foreign Affairs ;

393

394

APPENDIX

His ]\rajesty the Emperor of Austria, King of J>oliemia, &c., and
Apostolic King of Hungary, Emeric, Count Szechenyi de Sarvari
Felso-Vid6k, Chamberlain and Acting Privy Councillor, his Ambas-
sador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty
the German Emperor, King of Prussia ;

His jNIajesty the King of the Belgians, Gabriel Auguste Count Van
der iStraten Ponthoz, Envoy Extraordinary and i\Iinister Plenipotentiary
at the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia ; and
Auguste, IJaron Lanibermont, Minister of State, Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary ;

His Majesty the King of Denmark, Emile de Vind, Chamberlain,
his Envoy P^xtraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of
His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia ;

His Majesty the King of Spain, Don Francisco ]\Ierry 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 IMinister PlenijDotentiary of the United States
of America at the Court of His Majesty the German p]mperor. King of
Prussia ; and Henry S. Sanford, ex-Minister ;

The President of the French Kepublic, 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 IMajesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxem-
boiu'g, Frederick Philiitpe, Jonkheer Van der Hoeven, his Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Pleniiwtentiary at the Court of His ]\Iajesty
the German Emperor, King of Prussia ;

His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, &c., Da Serra
Gomes, Marquis de Penafiel, Peer of the Realm, his Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister IMenipotentiary at the Court of His IMajesty the
German Emperor, King of Prussia ; and Antoine de Serjja Pimentel,
Councillor of State and Peer of the Kealni ;

His Majesty the Emperor of All the Eussias, Pierre, Count Kapnist,
Privy Councillor, his P^nvoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
at the Court of His jMajesty the King of the ^Netherlands ;

His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, &c., Gillis, Baron
Bildt, Lieutenant-General, his Envoy Extraordinary and IMinister Pleni-

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 395

poteutiary at the Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of
Prussia ;

His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, Mehemed Said Paslia,
Vc'zir and High Dignitary, his Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
at tlie Court of His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia ;

Who, being provided witli full powers, which have been found in
good and due form, have successively discussed and adopted : —

L 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 com-
prised 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 assimilees "), the general principles
enunciated in Articles C VI 11 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 stij)ulated 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 instrmnent, they (the Signatory Powers)
have collected them into one General Act, composed of the following
Articles : —

Chapter 1. — Declaratiou. relafice io Freedom of Trade in fhe Basin
of the Cone/o, Us Moufhi< and rircuinjao^nf Rf^t/ioux, n-ith ofher
Provixionx rounecfed tliereiriiJi.

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 bcjunded by tlie watersheds (iir moiuitain ridges) of the

396

APPENDIX

adjacent basins, namely, in i)articular, tliose of the Xiara, the Ogowe,
the Scliari, and the Xile, on the nortli ; by the eastern watershed line
of the afflnents of Lake Tanganyika, on the east ; and by the watersheds
of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge, on the south. It therefore
comprises all the regions watered by the Congo and its affluents, includ-
ing Tanganyika, with its eastern tributaries.

2. In the maritime zone extending along tlie Atlantic Ocean from
the i)arallel situated in 2° 30' of south latitude to the mouth (jf the
Loge.

Tlic northern boundary will f(jllo\v 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 Ogowe, to which the provisions of the present
^Vct do not apply.

The southern boundary will follow the course of the Loge to its
som'ce, 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
Avill ascend the Zambesi to five miles above its confluence with the Shire,
and then follow the watershed between the affluents of Lake Xyassa 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 undert;ike
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 favom'able 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 \)oyU 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. Tlu)se trading
vnider 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.

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 397

Article 3.

Wares, of whatever origin, imported into tliose regions, under what-
soever flag, hy sea or river, or overhmd, shall be snbject to no other
taxes than sncli as may be levied as fair compensation for expenditure
in the interest of trade, and Avhich for this reast)n must be ('(pially borne
by the subjects themselves and by foreigners of all nationalities. All
ditlerc.ntiul 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 tlie Natives, of
Missionaries and Travellers, as inell as relative to Relvjious
Liberty.

All the Powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the
aforesaiil 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 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 objects of especial
protection.

Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guar-
anteed to the natives, no less than to subjects and to foreigners. The
free and public exercise of all forms of Divine worsbin and the right to

398

APPENDIX

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 R('r)ime.

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 la'otectorate engage, as soon as circunistaiices permit them, to take
the measures necessary for the carrying out of the preceding provision.

Article 8. — Right of Surveillance vented in tlie Iniernational
Navujation 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 of the Congo, instituted in virtue of Article
17, shall be charged with supervising the application of the principles
proclaimed and perpetuated (" consacres ") by this Declaration.

In all cases of difference arising relative to the application of the
principles established by the present Declaration, the Goveruineiits
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 tlte 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, tlie 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,

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 399

and to encourage, by the maintenance of peace, tlie 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 coiuitries,
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 1L

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, l)ind themselves
to lend their good olfices 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 belliger-
ents, 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 o[)erations.

Article 12.

In case a serious disagreement originating on the subject of, or in the
limits of, the territories mentioned in Article 1 and i)laced 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 ai)pealing 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, witliout 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 larovisions 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.

400

APPENDIX

not only for tlie direct navigation from the open sea to the inland ports
of the Congo and vice versa, bnt also for the great and small coasting
trade, and for boat traffic on the conrse of the river.

Consecpiently, on all the conrse and months of the Congo there will
be HO distinction made between the snbjects of Riverain Stiites and
tliosc of non-Kiverain States, an<l no exchisive privil(;ge of navigation
will be conceded to companies, corporations, or private persons
whatsoever.

Th(!se provisions are recognisfid by tlie .Signatory Powers as becom-
ing 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 depot tax,
or to any charge for breaking bulk, or for compulsory entry into port.

In all the extent of the Congo the shijjs 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, &c., if actually used.

The tariff of such dues shall be framed according to the cost of con-
structing 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 enuniex'ated in the
tliree preceding paragraphs shall be levied, shall not involve any difi'eren-
tial treatment, and shall be officially published at each i)ort.

The Powers reserve to themselves to consider, after the lapse of five

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 401

years, whether it may be necessary to revise, by common accord, tlie
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 construcled witli
the special object of obviating the innavigability or correcting the imper-
fection 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.

xIrticle 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 subse-
quently 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 employes 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,
26

402

APPENDIX

grade, and powers of the agents and employes, 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 simimon 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 tarifis 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 dii-ect 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 employ^ 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 prima 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 con-
junction with him inquire into the conduct of its agent or employe.
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

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 403

Article 17 with the execution of the present Act of Navigation, shall in
particular have power —

L 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 Inter-
national 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 Avithin 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 vhtue of
Article 24.

5. To appoint officials for the general service of navigation, and also
its own proper employes.

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 pay-
ment 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 these 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 1 4 ; but unless their intervention has been

APPENDIX

called for by the International Comiuission or its agents, in terms of
tlie preceding Article, they shall be liable to the payment of the pilot or
liarbour 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 niiseil 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 (" solidarite ") 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 Eiverain Powers, or by the intervention of the Inter-
national 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, aifluents, 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.

TJiere 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 worlvs and establishments created in pursuance of the jiresent
Act, especialh 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 regime de la neutralite "), and
shall therefore be respected and protected by belligerents.

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 405

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 jSTavigation, 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 versa, 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 tliere will
be no distinction made between the subjects of the Eiverain 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 depot, 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 afiluents 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 imper-

4o6

APPENDIX

fections of the river route on certain sections of the course of the Xiger,
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.

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 cii'culation 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 jjrotect foreign merchants and all the
trading nationalities on all those portions of the Xiger which are or may
be under her sovereignty or protection as if they M-ere 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 tenns,
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 jiortion 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

GENERAL ACT OF THE BERLIN CONFERENCE 407

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 transj^ort 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 he
observed in order that new Occupations on the Coasts of the
African Continent may he held to he 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 them-
selves 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 obli-

4o8

APPENDIX

gations 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
|X)ssible, the same in no case to exceed a year.

It will come into force for each Power from the date of its ratifi-
cation by that Power.

Meanwhile, the Signatory Powers of the present General Act bind
tliemselves not to take any steps contrary to its provisions.

Each Power will addi-ess its ratification to the Government of the
(Jerman 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 di'awn 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.)

^ >

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

A. Beernaert, 88.
Achte, M., story of, 249-251.
Acuetana, 313.
Adda, the, 211.

Africa, causes of its attraction, 6-7,
8 ; first declaration concerning, 14 ;
Africa and Asia, the phantom and
the substance of imperial powei-,
373.

Afi'ican Lakes Corporation, the, 88.
A. I. A., 87.
Akalunga, 191.

Albert, Lake, 5, 33, 84, 191, 192, 193,
344.

Albert Nyanza, Lake, 79.

Albertville, 85.

Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 11.

Alcohol on Congo, 271, 272, 361 ;

total import of, 362 ; restrictions

on, 363.

Alvensleben, Count von, 148, 347-

350.
Amadis, 122.

America, United States of, 15 ; re-
cognise Association, 45.

Amerlinck, Dr., 135.

Angola, 60 ; kings of, 75.

Ankorro, 76, 77, 81.

Anti-Slavery Society, the, 180.

Antwerp, port of, 4.

Appeal, Court of, 262 ; strengthened,
264.

Arab.s, their power, 37, 109, 110 ;
defeated, 119; resort to the offen-
sive, 161 ; cross Lualaba to attack
Dhanis, 170 ; defeat of, 173 ;
expelled from Stanley Falls, 176 ;
campaign against, summarised, 181-
182 ; English missionary on, 209-
210.

Archduchess Stephanie, 87.
Arnoudala, 249.

Aruwimi, 29, 78, 79, 108, 109 ; conse-
quences of the camp, 130-131 ; 161,
223, 312.

Askaris, 27.

Austria, frontier of, 241.
Avakubi, 214, 247, 248.
Azande (Niam Niam), 80, 112.

Bafuka, 215.
Bagamoyo, 14, 21.

Bahr Gazelle, 118, 193, 194, 195, 196,

197, 211, 215, 224.
Baker, Sir Samuel, 5, G, 80, 94.
Bakongos, 321.
Bakuendas, 321.
Bakussus, 246.
Bakutas, the, 32.
Balubas, the, 31, 32, 177, 182.
Bamboula, a faithful black, 24, 25.
Banana, 42, 333.

Bangalas, 30, 109, 226, 321, 322, 338.
Bangasso, 115 ; description of, ibid.
Bangweolo, Lake, 5, 62, 63, 76, 77,

144, 145, 191.
Banks, Rev. Mr., 370.
Banning, M. Emile, 11, 50, 147, 148.
Bantou race, the, 323.
Banzyville, 80, 114.
Barainbos, 121, 130.
Baron Dhanis, 87, 88.
Baron Lamhermont, 87.
Barttelot, Major, murder of, 36-37.
Basoko, 109, ill, 132, 163, 337.
Basongo, 361.
Basongos, 32.
Bassango, 119.
Basundis, 321.
Batekas, 321.

Batetelas, 177, 233, 242, 322, 358,
360 ; rise at Luluabourg, 243 ;
end of Luluabourg rising, 245 ;
mutiny iinder Dhanis, 246 ; French
prisoner of, 249-251 ; defeated,
252 ; power broken, 253.
Baudouinville, 85.
Bayanzis, 321.
i Becker, M., 24, 25.
I Bedden, 216.

INDEX OF

SUBJECTS

Bedowe, 118.

Beernaert^ M., 64, 68, 154, 156, 159.
Behaini, Martin, 75.
Belgian Society of the Upper Congo,
162.

Belgian officers, tribute to, 35, 36,
139, 179, 375 ; vindicated, 361.

Belgians .smart under undeserved
censure, 366 ; views of, thereon,
371.

Belgium, it.s debt to the two Kings
Leopold, 2 ; character of its people,
3 ; its remarkable acquisition in
Africa, 7 ; 37 ; acquires right to
the Congo superior to that of
France, 61-62 ; satisfaction in, 63 ;
Senate, the, 66 ; constitution of,
67 ; 153 ; Chamber grants the State
a loan, 154; convention with State,
154, 155 ; claim to the Congo, 159-
160; interests on the Congo, 377 ;
part taken by, 378 ; separate claims
on, 378-379 ; treatv with France,
379-380; treatyof cession, 381-382 ;
renders financial aid, 386-387 ; no
loom for doubt as to views on the
Congo, 388.

Bena Kalunga, 179.

Bena Kamba, 132, 133, 134, 145, 162,
314.

Bena Malele, 177.

Berghe-Sainte- Marie, 205.

Berlin, conference at, 46 et seq. ;

General Act of, 56-57, and

Appendix.
Bia, Captain, 77, 135, 140, 143, 144.
Bienaime, M., 222.
Bismarck, Count William, 47.
Bismarck, Prince, his statement on

the Congo, 46 ; arranges Berlin

Conference, t'fcj'c?.; elected President,

47 ; speeches of, 47-48, 53-54, 55-

56 ; 346.
Blacks, the, aphorism on, 271.
" Black ivory," a phrase for Slave

Trade, 5.
Blue Mountains, the, 78, 79.
Bodson, Lieutenant, 111, 134, 137 ;

kills Msiri, and death of, 138-139.
Bolobo, 29, 231.

Boma, 27, 42, 262, 333 ; varied life

at, 333-334.
Bomas, the, described, 173-174.
Bomokandi, 118, 119, 231.
Bom])anga, 368, 369.
Bonchamps, Marquis de, 134, 137, 138.
Bongoyo, 212.
Bonvalet, Captain, 212.

Borchgrave, M. Edraond de, 11.
Bouree, M., 148.
Bowara, 80.

Brabant, Duke of, 3, 18. See Leopold
II.

Braconnier, Lieutenant, 28.
Brasseur, M., 77.
Brazil, 283.

Brazza, M. de, 28, 29, 37, 61.

Brazzaville, 28, 40.

Briart, Dr., 135, 141.

British policv re Slave Trade, 49 ; the

true, 373-374.
Browne de Tiege, M., 384, 386.
Broyon, M., 22.

Brussels, first conference at, 11 ;

declaration of, 14 ; 25, 26, 101, 102 ;

second conference at, 146 et seq.;

declaration of, 148-150 ; General

Act of. summarised, 150-152.
Brussels, Mavor of, 306.
Buls, M., 7, 306.

Bunkeia, 135, 136, 140, 141, 143.

Burdo, M., 23, 24.

Burlet, M. de, 382.

Burton, Sir Eichard, 4, 85, 94.

Busch, Herr, 47.

Cabinda, 60, 62.
Cabo Lombo, 60.
Cajot, Sergeant, 219.
Cam, Diego, 75.

Cambier, Major, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,

298, 299.
Cameron Bay, 191.
Cameron, Commander Lovett, 5, 11.
Camps, the, 267.

Cannibalism on Con,L;o, 104-105, 356
et seq.; law on, 361.

Caoutchouc, 276, 281 et seq.

Captain Shar/erstrom, 87.

Cassart, Sergeant, 135, 169, 243.

Cataracts, the, 297.

Chaltin, Commandant, saves Stanley
Falls, 176 ; 212 ; defeats Mbili, ibid.;
further successes, 213 ; wounded,
ibid. ; commands a column on Nile
Expedition, 214 ; describes his
march, 215 ; reaches the Nile,
216 ; defeats Dervish force, 219 ;
occupies Redjaf, 220-221 ; as a
commander, 221-222 ; 320, 329.

Chamber of Representatives, the,
159 passim.

Chambezi, 76, 77, 145.

Chari, 211.

Chige, battle of, 166.

Chiloango, 59, 60.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

411

Chimay, Prince de, 147.
Chingambo Mountains, 76, 77.
Chinkakassa, 232, 334.
Christiaens, Captain, 212.
Christianity, beneficent influence in

Africa, 327-328.
City of Aiitiverp, 87, 117.
City of Bruges, 87.
City of Brussels, 87, 117, 133.
City of Charleroi, 87.
City of Ghent, 87.
City of Liege, 87.
City of Ostend, 87.
Cocoa, on the Congo, 288-289.
Coffee, on the Congo, 285-288.
Colonel North, 87.
Colonel Wahis, 87, 88.
Commissaries, the, 268.
Committee for studying the Upper

Congo, the, 26.
Congo (kingdom), 75.
Congo, soil of, 281.
Congo Independent State, the, the

germ of, 18-19 ; exact mode of its

being formed, 58-59 ; its limits, 60-

61 ; its neighbours, G3 and chap.

XIX.; conditions imposed on, 71-

72 ; progress effected by, 152 ;

convention with France, 188-190 ;

convention with England, 190-

196 ; administration, objects of,

270-272 ; European life in, 292-

294 ; table of mortality in, 294 ;

better climate than suppo.sed, 295 ;

the work done in, 375-376 ;

administration, see chap. xv. ;

revenue of, cliap. xvi. ; treaty

with Belgium, 381-382 ; causes of

its progress, 389-390.
Congo Railway, 364, 385, 387, and

chap. XVII.
Congo River, the, 26 ; question of

its basin, 49 ; basin of, defined, 50 ;

the river, 71 et seq.; provides real

explanation of success of State, 72 ;

fleet on the, 87, 88 ; rapidity of

current, 91.
Conreur, M. Paul, 325.
Coppejans, M., 222.
Coquiihat, Captain, 30, 226, 338.
Coquilhatville, 337.
Courcel, Baron de, 47, 53.
Couvreur, M., 11, 384.
Crespel, Captain, 20, 21.
Crime on the Congo, 263.
Crystal Mountains, the, 75, 300.
Curzon, Mr. G., important statement

of, 196.

Daelmann, General, 306.
Daenen, Captain, 118, 130.
Daily Telegraph, The, 26.
Danckelman, Baron von, 306.
D'Anethan, Baron, 380.
Darfur, 224.
Daumas, 87.
Davey, Lord, 270.

Deane, i[r., 34 ; his gallant conduct,

34-35.
De Besche, M., 244.
De Bruyn, 166 ; heroism of, 167.
De Heusch, Lieutenant, 179.
Dekere, 80.

De Lancker, Judge, 368.

De Lange, M., 177.

Delcommune, M., 77, 78, 85-86, 132,
134, 135, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143,
144, 167, 169.

Delecourt, Lieutenant, heroic death
of, 247.

De Leu, M., 24.

Velicerance, 87.

De Martens, M., 270.

De Paepe, M., 270.

Derscheid, Lieutenant, 77, 135.

Dervishes, the, 130, 190 ; exaggerated
views of, 221.

Devil's Gates, the, 314, 315.

Devos, Sergeant, 212.

De Winton, Sir F., 258, 266.

De Wouters, Lieutenant, 169, 174,
178, 179 ; death of, 180.

Dhanis, Baron, 109, 163 ; his force,
165; 167; his operations, 169;
reache.') Nyangwe, 170 ; ruse of,
ibid. ; destroys Nyangwe, 174 ;
captures Kassongo, 175 ; marches
on Kabambari, 177 ; repulsed, ibid. ;
resumes offensive, 179 ; his skill,
180-181 ; describes campaign, 181-
182 ; honours for, 182-183 ; com-
mands a column for the Nile, 214 ;
his troops mutiny, ibid. ; mutiny of
his troops, 245-246 ; his measures
to retrieve position, 248 ; secures
line of Lualaba, 252 ; 357, 358, 359.

Dhanis, M. Louis, 247.

Dibue, 244.

Diderich, M., 135.

Dilke, Sir Charles, attack by, 355 ;
(question of cannibalism, 356 ; mis-
reading of evidence, 357-358 ; the
evidence of his witness, 380 ;
question of gin, 361 ; answer to this
charge, 362 ; on the railway, 364-
365 ; an apjjeal to his sense of
fairness, 367.

412

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Dineur, Lieutenant, 325.
Director of Justice, Report of the, 200 -
202.

Dirfi, 213, 214, 222, 246, 247.
Districts, the twelve, 267.
Djabbir (station), 113, 119.
Djikaluwe, 144.
Domain lands, 269, 270.
Doorme, Lieutenant, 174.
Droeven, M. 244.
Droogmans, M., 282.
Drums, 324.

Dubois, Lieutenant, 34 ; assists in
defence of Stanley Falls, 35 ;
drowned, ibid.

Due d'Uzes, 87.

Duchesne, Lieutenant, 165.

Duffle, 1-29.

Du Fief, M., 144.

Dumont, M., 310.

Buxi'^n, 207, 213, 214, 222, 231.

Dutalis, Lieutenant, 23.

Dutrieux, Dr., 21.

Dwarfs, the, 322, 325-326.

Edward, Lake, 247.
Ekongo, 75.
Ekwanga, 214.
Elepliants for transport, 23.
Embata, 124.

Emin Pasha, 124, 129 ; murder con-
firmed, 175 ; 312.

Emin Relief Expedition, 109.

En Avant (steamer), 27, 28, 32, 80,
87, 88.

England, 40 ; concludes convention
with Portugal, 42 ; English opinion
on the Congo State, 352 et seq. ;
English critics of Congo, 355 et seq.;
how her Emjjire was won, 391.

Equateurville, 232.

Eringa, 313.

Europe, changed views on Africa, 40.
Europeans on Congo, 330.
Expose des Motifs, 383.

Faidherbe, 87.
Fashoda, 192, 193, 194.
Ferrv, M. Jules, 380.
Fievez, M., 211.
Flag, the, of Congo State, 103.
Flanders, the Count of, 16.
Florida, 87.
Forests, 270.

France, 33, 37, 40, 41 ; opposes Anglo-
Portuguese Convention, 42 ; re-
cognises Association, 45 ; obtains
right of pre-emption, ibid.; 59;

waives pre-emption in favour of
Belgium, 61, 152, 153 ; negotiations
with, 186-190 ; exacts concessions,
194, 342-343 ; treaty with Bel-
gium, 379-380.

Franee (steamer), 87.

Francqui, Lieutenant, 77, 135, 143,
144, 167.

Frees, Albert, 179.

Frere, Sir Bartle, 11, 15, 20, 69.

Frontiers of State, 185 jjassu/i.

Fuchs, M., 259, 306.

Gama, Vasco da, 75.
Ganda, 129.

Gandu, 140, 144, 164, 168, 242, 243.

General Sanford, 88.

Geographical Society, Royal, 144.

Geographical Society, Belgian, 144.

Germany, 37, 40, 343-352 ; opposes
Anglo - Portuguese Convention,
42 ; recognises A.s.sociation, 46 ;
German East Africa 346, affected
by Arab overthrow, ibid. ; official
correspondence with, 347-350 ;
attack on Congo State, 351 ; her
policy, 372.

Gillain, Commandant, 174, 179, 244.

Gin, 361. See Alcohol.

Gironde, 88.

Gladstone, Mr., Government of, 195.
Gobila (a chief), 28.
Goblet d'Alviella, Count, 11.
Gois Kapopa, 168.
Gold in Katanga, 292.
Goldsmid, Sir Frederic, mission of,
45.

Gonga, 305.
Gongo, 79.

Gongo Lutete, 133, 163 ; defeated
and submits, ibid. ; description of,
164-165; 167; rallies his men, 168;
tried and shot, 176 ; consequences
of his execution, 242 et seq., 358.

Gongo Machoffe, 245.

Gordon, General Charles, 6; his
projected Congo mission, 30 ; plans
on the Congo, 69 ; 80 ; puts down
slave hunting, 94 ; on " the Slave
Trade,'' 106-107 ; his opinion of
Niam Xiam, 112-113 ; 129.

Gotzen, Count von, 85, 344, 345.

Grant (explorer), 4.

Granville. Earl of, 42.

Great Britain, convention with
Congo State, 190-196.

Grelle-Rogier, Count de, 261.

Grenzer, the, 238.

INDEX OF

Hakansson, Lieutenant, 135, 140,
141.

Hamburg paper, false statement of,
351.

Hamed - ben - Mohamed, 36. See

Tippo Tip.
Hanollet, M., 211, 222, 329.
Hanotaux, M., 188, 380.
Hanover, 68.

Hanssens, Captain, 29, 30, 338.

Hatzfeldt, Count P., 46, 47.

Hau.ssas, the, 35, 117, 177, 225, 226.

Henry, Commandant, 247 ; an ener-
getic officer, 248 - 249 ; defeats
Batetelas, 251-252.

Henry, Prince of the Netherlands,
15.

Herodotus, 106, 325.

Heynians, Captain, 80.

Hinde, Dr., his " Fall of the Congo

Arabs," 105, 164, 166, 167, 169,

173, 179, 357, 359, 360.
Hochstetter, M. de, 11.
Hodister, M., 97, 162 ; mui'dered,

ibid.
Homer, 325.
Ho2)e (steamer), 27.

Ibembo, 111.

India-rubber, 281. See Caoutchouc.

Inkissi, 305, 325, 364, 365.

International Association for the Ex-
ploration and Civilisation of Africa,
the, 15, 17 ; questions as to its
status, 41 ; treaties concluded by,
58 n. ; becomes Congo State, 58-
59.

Irebu, 84, 231.
Ireh tree, 287.
Iriadi Kuiliu, 60.
Isanghila, 28.

Itimbiri, 79, 111, 117, 214, 313.
Ituri, 79, 247.

Ivory, tax on, 161, 275 ; 280-281.

Jacmart, General, 103.
Jacobs, Monsignor, 103.
Janssen, M. Camille, 132, 133, 226,
2.59.

Janssens, a promising officer, drowned,
29.

Janssens, Captain, 212.
Jolmston, Sir Harry, 323.
Judges on Congo, 262.
Junker (traveller), 34, 79, 119.
Jurgens, M. 244.

Kabambari, 177, 180.

SUBJECTS 413

Kabinda, 243.

Kabindas, 27.

Kaduruma, 215.

Karema, 22, 23, 24, 30, 63.

Karobe, 129.

Kashim el Mousse, 211.

Kassai, the, 29, 31, 32, 33, 62, 81, 82,

84, 133, 283.
Kassali, Lake, 78, 141, 144.
Kas.songo, 77, 164, 166, 167, 173, 174,

178, 231, 248, 314, 359.
Katanga, 78, 133, 134, 167, 281, 311,

314, 315.
Katanga Company, 134.
Katantja (steamer), 87.
Katuu, 251.
Khalifa, the, 211, 224.
Khartoum, 5, 6, 195, 224.
Khedive, the, 94, 195.
Kibala, 141.
Kibali, 124, 126.
Kilongo Longa, 249.
Kihva, 191.
Kimpoko, 29.

King of the Belgians (steamer), 87.

Kingunchi Falls, 82.

Kinshassa, 231, 310, 336.

Kintamo, 28.

Kipango, 169.

Kirk, Sir John, 147.

Kitanibo Mwenge, 144.

Kitchener, Sir Herbert, 355.

Kivu, Lake, 84, 85, 344, 345, 346,

352.
Koango, 60, 62.
Konings, M., 244.
Kordofan, 224.
Kua, 82.

Kuamouth, 29, 31.
Kubasidu, 213.
Kuiliu, 29.
Kwango, 82.
Kwilu, 305, 364, 365.

La Bewique (steamer), 27.
Lado, 194, 196, 211, 221, 246, 267.
Lambermont, Baron, 11 : services

of, 47 ; 50, 51, 52 ; drafts First Act

of Berlin, 53 ; a fine phrase of, 95,

147, 148, 153.
Land Regulations on Congo, 265,

268, 269.
Lange, Lieutenant, 345.
La Bomee, 231.
Laveleye, M. E. de, 11.
Lavigerie, Cardinal, 95, 100 ; address

of, 101-102 ; 103, 146.
Legat, Lieutenant, 142.

414

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Le Marine], M. P., 134, 135, 137, 162,
163.

Le Maiinel, Captain G., 114.

Lenger, Lieutenant, 133.

Leopold I. (King of the Belgians),
speech of, 2 ; his wisdom, and
services to Belgimn, ibid.

Leopold II. (King of the Belgians and
Sovereign of the Congo State), his
idea, 1-2 ; his interest in remote
regions, 3 ; tour in Far East, ibid. ;
speech as Duke of Brabant, 3-4 ;
points out necessity for new markets,
4 ; detects the psychological moment
in opening of Africa, 7 ; issues in-
vitations for Geographical Congress
at Brussels, 8 ; his letter, ibid. ;
speech of, 11-14 ; becomes President
of International Association, 15 ;
speech on the Slave Trade, 16-18 ;
his conception of the African work,
18 ; the Godefroid de Bouillon of
the nineteenth century crusade,
18 ; imports Indian elephants, 23 ;
invites Mr. Stanley to Brussels,
26 ; defrays expenses, 27 ; engages
General Gordon, 30 ; accedes to
Gordon's request to postpone his j
departure on account of Khartoum j
mission, ibid. ; his jirivate fortune ^
sole support of early expeditions,
38 ; begins to feel confident of
results, 39 ; appreciates position of !
his work, 40-41 ; aj)peals to British
Government's loyalty, 42 ; secures
free outlet for the Congo, 51 ;
tributes to, by Prince Bismarck, 54,
by Baron de Courcel, ibid., by Sir
Edward MaIet,t6iW.; again by Prince
Bismarck, 56 ; accefjts the line of
Ubangi with France, 61 ; obtains
from France waiving of pre-emption
in favour of Belgium, 61-62 ;
tribute to, in the Chamber, 64 ;
receives address from Chamber, 64-
65 ; reply to address of Chamber,
65-66 ; his letter on Congo Govern-
ment, 67-68 ; becomes Sovereign of
the Congo State, 68 ; second letter
from, 69 ; congratulations received
by, ibid. ; and the Slave Trade, 93 ;
attention drawn by slave horrors to
Africa, 100 ; Gordon's tribute to,
107 ; orders construction of en-
trenched camps, 108 ; summons
second conference at Brussels, 147 ;
heavy responsibility placed on, 152 ;
refuses all indemnity for personal

sacrifices, 154 ; letter to M. Beer-
naert, 156-158 ; will of, 158-159 ;
arranges plan of the Arab campaign,
183 ; his earnestness in the cause of
civilisation, 184 ; instance of wise
political insight, 189; his part in
the Anglo - Congolese Convention,
190-196 ; policy on the Nile, 223-
224 ; letter on the task of the State
d projxjs of Batetela mutiny, 253-
257; his expenditure onCongo,273 ;
his annual allowance to, 275; signs
decree for Uelle Railwav, 312 ; signs
Projet de Loi, 383-384; his wise
and cautious administration, 389 ;
strong reasons for continuing his
personal rule, 389-390; closing
tribute to, 391.
Leopold the Second, Lake, 29, 31,
82, 84.

Leopoldville, 28, 87, 88, 300, 306,
336.

Leroi, Captain, 246.

Lesseps, F. de, 11.

Licona, 61.

Licona Nkundja, 60.

Lienart, Lieutenant, 34.

Likuala, 61.

Linders, Mr., 28.

Lindi, 249.

Liotard, M., 223.

Lippens, M., 166, 167.

Livingstone, David, 5, 93, 144; on

negro intelligence, 280.
Loanda, 14.
Loango, 60.
Loge, 50, 51.

Lomami, 81, 82, 84, 108, 109 ; camp
on, 132 ; 133, 144, 161, 162, 166,
315.

Lopuri, 81.

Lothaire, Commandant, arrives at an
opportune moment, 180 ; on black
soldiers, 182 ; defeats Batetela.?,
243 ; report of, 244 ; further success
of, 245.

Lua, 80.

Luahilimta, 85, 345.

Lualaba, 76, 77, 78, 82, 134, 140, 143,

145, 161, 170, 173, 315.
Luapula, 76, 77, 81, 134, 145, 191.
Lubari, 129, 130.
Lubefu, 81, 82, 314.
Lubenga, 345.
Lubi, 133.
Lubudi, 78.
Lubuga, 85.
Lubukine, 178.

INDEX OF

Luculla, 60.

Luebo, 32.

Lufila, 78, 144.

Lufoi, 135, 142.

Lufiibu, 169.

Lufupa, 78.

Lukuga, 78, 145.

Liilongo, 81.

Lulu, 109.

Lulua, 31, 32.

Luluabourg, 31, 32, 242.

Lupton Bey, 118.

Lusambo, 133, 135, 231, 242, 243.

Lusuna, 167.

Luxembourg, 68.

Mabanga, 124.

Mabrouki, 167.

Macar, Captain A. de, 32, 33.

M'Kenna, Sir T., 196.

Mackinnon, Sir William, 69.

M'Lintock, Sir Leopold, 11.

Madagascar, 53.

Maes, Dr., 20, 21.

Mahagi, 191, 192.

Mahomed Adi Badi, 220.

Maiemba, 138.

Mai Munza, 122, 123, 124.

Makalumbi, 145.

Makua, 120. See Uelle.

Malet, Sir Edward, 47 ; declaration

of, 47-48 ; 52.
Malumba, 250, 251.
Mandaka Vagigo, 370.
Mandolin, the, 324.
Mangbettus, 119, 122, 123, 130,

322.

Manyanga, 28, 59, 60, 226.
Manyema, 103, 104, 108, 164, 182, 281,
311, 314.

Marchand Expedition, the, 212, 223.

Marno, M., 20, 21.

Martens, Professor, 148.

Matadi, 42, 75, 76, 297, 299, 300, 301,

334, 335, 336.
Matumba, 84.
Mbili, Sultan, 212.
M'Bima, 213.
Mbittima, 124, 125, 127.
Mbomu, 79, 80, 115, 187, 188, 189,

193, 211.

Merode de Westerloo, Count de, 381,

382, 386.
Mfini, 29, 31, 32, 82, 84.
Mgonda-Mkali (plateau), 21.
Michaux, Captain, 165, 166, 167,

244.
Mills, M., 211.

SUBJECTS 415

Milz, Lieutenant, 111, 117, 118, 122,
123, 124, 125, 128, 129; first
Belgian to reach Nile, ihid.

Mineral rights, 269.

Mines of the Congo, 292.

Mirambo, 21, 22, 23.

Mitumba range, 76.

Moemena, 137.

Moero, Lake, 5, 63, 76, 85, 88, 143, 191.

Mohamedi, 178.

Mohun, Mr., 317.

Moio, 320.

Mokoangai, 80.

Moloney, Dr., 134, 138, 140.

Mombettus, 323.

Momvus, heroic defence of, 125, 126,
130.

Mona-Kachich, 32.

Mongalla, 79.

Mongo, 122.

Mongos, 232, 322, 324.

Moukande, the, 200, 201, 204.

Mount Goddo, 125.

Mount Leopold, 300, 301.

Mouvemerd G^oyraphique, 301.

Mpala (chief), 25.

Mpala (station), 25, 85, 103.

Mpozo, 301, 302, 305, 365.

Msiri, 134 ; description of, 135 ; his

history, 136 ; shot by Bodson, 138-

139.
Msuata, 29.

Mukanda Vantu, 139, 140.
Mukenga, 31.
Mulundi, I06.

Munie Moliarra, 164, 167, 169.

Murjjhy, Rev. Mr., 368, 369.

Musarongos, 321.

Mwadi, 168.

Mwana Mkwanga, 177.

Nachtigal, Dr., 11, 15.

Ndolo, 87, 300, 306, 310, 336.

N'Doruma, Sultan, 212, 213.

Negri, Chevalier, 11.

Negro, the, one view of, 51-52 ;
characteristic incidents, 320, 321 ;
fond of music, 323 ; his character-
istics, 326-327 ; hope for, 327-328 ;
need of work, 329 ; what has to be
done with him, 339-340.

Neighbours of the State, the, see
chap. XIX.

Nenzima, 123.

Neuchatel, 68.

New Antwerp, 207, 329, 337, 338.

N'gaie, 122, 124.

Niadi Kuiliu, 60, 61, 189.

416 INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Niadi Quillon, 59.

Niam Niam, 80, 112, 113, 114, 121,

122, 1:^8, 323.
Niangara, 313.
Niari, 50.

" Nigger-killer," the, 362.

Nile, sources of, 4 ; connection with
Lakes, 5; 50,124, 126, 128; Belgians
reach, 129 ; 188, 189 ; Belgian gun-
lioats on, 222-223 ; see chap, xii.,
313.

Nokki, 60, 62.

Ntenke, 144.

Nureniburg, 75.

Nvamparas, 138.

Nvangwe, 14, 76, 78, 164, 167, 170,

174, 248, 337, 359.
Nvassa, 77.
N'Zadi, 75.
Nzaro, 126, 127.
Nzilo, 77, 78, 94, 143, 144.

Oath of Blood, the, 21-22 passim.
Obi, 126, 246.
Ogowe, 50.
Oise, 88.

Omdurman, 195.

Ostend, the Company of, 4 ; port of,
ibid.

Ourroussof, Prince, 148.

Pallab.\lla, 300, 302, 305.
Palm oil, 284.
Panga Falls, 313.
Petillon, Captain, 232.
Pickersgill, Mr. Consul, 295.
Pluukett, Sir Francis, 190.
Pogge, Dr., 31.

" Ponshio," human flesh, 119.

Ponta Vermelha, 60.

Ponthier, Captain, 117,118, 119, 120,
176, 178.

Pope Leo XIII., 101, 146.

Popelin, Captain, 23, 24.

Population of Congo, .S19.

Portugal, 40; her claims over the
Congo, 41-42 ; claims recognised by
England, 42 ; opposition elsewhere,
45 ; 341, .342.

Portuguese, the, 27 ; claims aban-
doned, 60.

Postal Union, the, 88, 265, 266.

Pre-emption, the right of, 45-46, 379-
380.

Princess Clementine, 87.
Prisons, 263 ; treatment in, ibid.
Pru.^sia, 68.

Public Force, the, 225 et seq.

QUATREFAGE.S, M. DE, 15.

Queen Regent of Holland, 152.
Rafai, 118.

Railway, the Cataracts, advantages

conferred by, 309-310 ; difficulties

of, 385, 387."
Railway Auxiliary Company, 233,298.
Railways, necessity of, 297, 311, 312.
Ramaeckers, Captain, 24 ; anecdote

of, 24-25.
Rashid, 117, 119, 162, 175; attacks

Belgians, 176; 179 ; taken prisoner,

180 ; 337.
Ravines, the, 301, 302.
Rawlinson. Sir Henrv, 11.
Redjaf, 216, 220, 221, 222,223,231,

3i2, 313.
Renzi, 215, 219.

Reserve, a, on the Congo, 236-238.
Residents, 268.

Rhodes, Mr. Cecil, 372, 373, 374.
Rho7ie, 88.
Riba Riha, 162.
Richthofen, Baron von, 11.
Roger, M., 23.

Roget, Captain, 109, 110, 111, 114.
Rohlfs, 11.

Ronciere le Noury, Admiral de la, 11.

Rouga Ronga, the, 96.

Roifal (steamer), 27.

Rubi, the, 130.

Rudolph, the Archduke, 15.

Ruki, 81.

Rumaliza, 176, 178, 179, 180.
Rusisi, 85, 345.

Sadaxi, 31.

Sainctelette, M., 11.

St. Gudule, 101, 103.

St. Paul de Loanda, 31.

Saliboko, 252.

Sanford, General, 15.

Sangebouno, 119, 120.

Sankuru, 31, 32, 33, 81, 82, 133, 164.

Sannaes, Lieutenant, 251.

San Salvador, 75.

Sarolea, Lieutenant, 214, 219.

Schari, 50.

Scherlink, Lieutenant, 167.
School colonies, 205.
Schweinfurth, Dr., 11, 33.
Sefu, 162 ; kills Belgians, 167 ; 169,

170 ; flees, 176 ; killed, 179.
Selim-ben-Mohamed, 111.
Semenow, M. de, 11.
Semio, 129, 187, 219.
Semio region, the, 80.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS 417

Semliki, 84, 247, 249.
SetterCamma, 51.

Seyyid Burghash, Sultan of Zanzibar,
20.

Shanu, 321.
Sharpe, Mi., 135.
Simba, chief of, 22, 23.
Sjoebloem, Mr., 367, 368, 369, 370,
371.

Slave Trade, 16 ; its horrors, see
chap. V.

Slavery, State policy on, 198-199.
Smet de Naeyer, M. dc, 382.
Smolders, M., 11.

Soudan, the, 6, 94 ; rcconquest of,
195.

Spain, King of, 15.

Speke, Captain, 4.

Spelier, Adjutant, 135.

Stairs, Captain, 134, 135 ; reaches

Msiri's capital, 136 ; scene with

Msiri, 137 ; hoists flag, ibid. ;

tribute to Bodson, 139 ; death of,

140.

Stanley (steamer), 32, 87.

Stanley, Mr. H. M., 5, 20 ; letters
in Daily Telegraph, 26 ; sent to
Congo bv King Leopold, 27 ; returns
to Europe, 29-30 : oji Ubangi, 33 ;
his Erain Pasha Relief Expedition,
36; 84, 85, 86, 134, 258, 297,
337.

Stanley Falls, 29, 30, 34 ; siege of, 35 ;

abandoned, ibid. ; 88, 108, 110, 111,

130, 132, 162, 175 ; attacked, 176 ; !

247, 248, 337.
Stanley Pool, 28, 75, 85, 86, 87, 223, ;

276, 297, 299, 336.
Statistics of Congo, 277, 278.
Stern-wheel steaniei's, 88.
Stokes affair, the, referred to, 347-

350, 355, 356.
Storms, Captain, 25, 96, 103.
Strauch, General, 15, 45, 53, 258,

259, 261, 379.
Sultan Djabbir, 111, 112, 113, 115,

117.

Sultan Semio, 118, 120 ; his troops,
121.

Sultans of the north, 211.
Surrur, 215.
Surunga, 122.
Svensson, M., 244.
Switzerland of the Congo, the,
302.

Tabora, 22, 23, 24.

Tagomolongi, 127. I
27

Tanganvika, Lake, discovered, 4; 22,
23, 24, 25, 38, 50, 51, 63, 77, 85,
88, 94, 103, 104, 179, 180, 191,
193, 316, 344, 352, 374.

Taxes on Congo, 275.

Tchad, Lake, 33, 79.

Telegraphs on the Congo, 315-317 ;
system adopted, 316-317.

Telephones, 318.

Terrel, M., 148.

Thys, Colonel, 306.

" Times," the, 384.

Tippo Tip, 36, 108, 109, 162.

Tique Ti([ue, 325.

Tobacco, 289.

Tobback, M., 175, 176.

Tom Seina, 123.

Torrens Act, applied on Congo, 265.
Trade of the Congo, 289-292.
Tripoli, 24.

Tumba, 305, 316, 325, 337.
Tumba, Lake, 84.

Uaxdo, 124 ; his speech, 125; 129.
Uango Uango, 62.

Ubangi, 33, 61, 79, 80, 114, 186;

questions relating thereto, ibid.,

313, 329.
Ubangi (steamer), 87.
Uelle, 33, 34, 79, 80, 109, 110, 111, 124,

130, 101, 187, 188, 189, 223, 311,

312 ; its rich basin, ibid.; 313, 326.
Ujiji, 14, 177.
Umangi, 231.
Upi)er Ituri, 325.
Ursel, Count d', 103.
Urua, 311, 314.
Usana Rosani, 29, 337.

Van Bercheji, M., 270.

Van Bieroliet, M., 11.

Van den Bosclie, M., 11.

Van den Heuvel, Dr., 23.

Van der Straeteu Ponthoz, Count, 47,
51, 52.

Van Dorpe, Captain, 220.

VanEetvelde, Baron, 147, 154,190 ; Re-
ports on Extinction of Slave Trade,
197, 203-206, 207-210; 226; on a
national army, 234-236 ; successive
ottices of, 259 ; his Indian experi-
ence, 260 ; his administration, ibid.;
called " the soul of the political
organisation of tlie Congo State,"
261 ; appointed Secretary of State,
ibid.; describes State policy, 272 ;
letters from, 347-350 ; plenipoten-
tiary for treaty of cession, 381-382.

4i'8

INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Van Cicle, Captain, .33, 34, 79, 80,

114, 115, 337.
Van Holslieck, Seigeant, 212.
Van Kercklioveii, Captain, 109 ; ex-

jiedition of, llfi-128; death of,

128; ti'ibute to, 128-129; 320,

338.

VankerckhovcnviJle, 215, 231.

Van Lindt, Lieutenant, 175.

Van Maldeghani, M., 270.

Van Neusp, M. Hubert, 259, 261.

Van Volxeni, M., 11.

Verliellen, Captain, 317.

Victoria, Lake, 4, 5.

Ville de Paris, 88.

Vivi founded, 27 ; 28, 30, 42, 301.

Vivian, Lord, 147.

Wachexzis, 103.

Wadelai, 129.

Wageuia, the, 170, 173.

Wahis, Colonel, 259, 2GG, 301 ; letter

from, 367 et seq.
Walhousen, M., 222.
Wamhuttis, 325, 326.
Wangennee, Commandant, 259.

Waiigwana, 251.

Wauters, M., 33.

Wautier. Lieutenant, 21, 22.

Westlake, Mr., 270.

Weyns, Captain, 233, 234.

Winton, Sir Francis de, 30, 32.

Wissmann, Lieutenant, 31, 32, 38.

Wi.=Pniann FaUs, 32, 82.

Wolf, Dr., 32.

Wolf Falls, 314.

Wclseley, Lord, 196.

Yakomas, 34.
Yambuya, 36, 78, 79, 109.
Yangara, 122, 123, 124, 125.
Yellalla Falls, 302.
YoHiifj Africa (barge), 27.

Zaire, 75.

Zambesi, 5, 6, 62, 77, 191.
Zambi, 231.
Zanzibar, 5, 27, 344.
Zanzibaris, 225.
Zappo Zapp, 243.
Zichv, Count, 11.
Zongo, 33, 34, 80, 114.

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canine subjects the information is founded on practical experience and imparted n
easy excellent Enghsh." — The Stock Keeper.

Demy 4to., handsomely bound, 42/-

Large Game Shooting

Thibet, The Himalayas, and Northern India.

Brigadier-General ALEXANDER A. KINLOCH.

Containing Descriptions of the Country and of the various Animals to be found,
together with Extracts from a Journal of several years'' standing.

Third Edition, with 34 beautiful Illustrations and a Map
of the District.

" The splendidly illustrated record of sport. The photogravures, especially the
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Points of the Horse.

A familiar Treatise on Equine Conformation.

Capt, M. HORACE HAYES, F.R.C.V.S.

SECOND EDITION. Revised and enlarged.

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Illustrated by 200 reproductions of Photographs of Typical "Points" and Horses,
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"A year or two ago we had to speak in terms of praise of the first edition of this
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result is in even,- way satisfactor}-, and in this liandsome book the searcher after sound
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Thick Crown 8vo., Buckram, 15/-

Veterinary Notes

for Horse=Owners.

An Illustrated Manual of Horse Medicine and Surgery, written in
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Capt. M. HORACE HAYES, F.R.C.V.S.

FIFTH EDITION.

Revised throughout, considerably enlarged, and incorporates the substance of the
Author's, "Soundness and Age of Horses.'''

"Of the many popular veterinaiy books which have come under our notice, this
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Training and Horse

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Capt. M. HORACE HAYES, F.R C.V.S.

FIFTH EDITION.

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Modern Polo.

A Practical Guide to the Science of the Game, Training of Ponies,

Rules, &c.

JIY

Mr. E. D. MILLER, late 17th Lancers,

Edited by Capt. M. H. HAYES, F R.C.V S

With Sixty-four Illustrations from Photo;;raphs.

"How to become a Polo Player. — A good horseman, whose eye has been
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a really good perfomier after three months of regular play. Here, as in all other
games which demand quickness of eye and skill of hand, assiduous and long-continued
practice is imperative. At first glance it may appear strange to say that many men
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Infective Diseases of Animals.

Being Part I. of the Translation of Friedberger and Froehner's
Pathology of the Domestic Animals.

Translated and Edited by Capt. M, H. HAYES, F.R.C.V.S.

Aiifhor of ^^Poiiifs of the Horst\'' etc.

With a Chapter on Bacteriology by Dr. G. NEWMAN, D.P.H.

In Two Vols, medium 8vo., 12s. 6d. Net each Vol, When completed
the work may be had bound two ^ ols, in one, price 2Ss. Net.

"Owing to the fact that the infective diseases of animals can in many cases be
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to doctors as well as to veterinary surgeons. The second part, which I hope to have
ready before long, will, of course, more particularly concern the veterinary profession."
Vide Preface.

. . Syllabus of Contents. . .

INFECTIVE DISEASES.

Septicaemia and Pyaemia. Malignant Oedema. Petechial Fever. Strangles.
Canine Distemper. Bo^^ne Malignant Catarrhal Fever. Epizootic Abortion.
Dysentciy. Swine Eiysi]5clas. Swine Fever. Chicken Cholera. Wildseuche.
Quarter-ill. Equine Influenza. Equine Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia. Tuberculosis.
Actinomycosis. Equine Stomatitis Pustulosa Contagiosa. Diphtheritic Diseases.
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Dourine. Aphtha. Anthrax. Rabies. Foot and Mouth Disease. Rinderpest.
Texas Fever. Relajising Fever. .Surra. Cape Horse .Sickness, etc.

CHRONIC CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.

Anaemia and Chlorosis. Pernicious Anaemia. Hydraemia. Leucaemia. Haemophilia.
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" This is the first occasion on which a practical horseman and a practical horse-
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from self-laudatory passages." — Field.

Foolscap 8vo., Cloth, 6/-

The Sportsman's Manual.

In Quest 0/ Game in Kullu, Lahoul, and Ladalc, to tlie Tso
Morari Lalce.

Lieut.-Col. R. H. TYACKE.

(Late Her A/a/esty's gSf/i and 34//; Reghneiifs.)

With Notes on Shooting in Spiti, Bara Bagahal, Chamba, and Kashmir, and a
detailed description of Sport in more than 100 Nalas. With 9 Maps.

Crown 8vo, Cloth, 8/6.

Seonee.

Or, Camp Lite on the Satpura Range. A Tale of Indian Adventure.

R. A. STERNDALE.

Author of " A/anttnalia nf India," "Denizens of ihe Jungles."

Illustrated by the Author.
With a Map and Appendix containing a brief Topographical and Historical Account
of the District of Seonee in the Central Provinces of India.

NAVAL AND MILITARY.

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The Captain of the ''Mary Rose.

W. LAIRD CLOWES.

Author of " The Naval Pocket Book."

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SEVENTH EDITION.

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NAVAL AND MILITARY

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Founded by W. LAIRD CLOWES.

(Fellow of King's College, London; Hon. Member of the Royal United Se'vice Institution ;
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Edited by L. Q. CARR LAUQHTON.

The most valuable work of reference now available, containing a
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THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD. Corrected to February, 1898.

THIRD YEAR OF ISSUE.

Lord Charles Beresford, in a letter to the publishers, says: —

" It is one of the most useful and handy works of reference on naval matters that
I know of, and invaluable to all who take an interest in naval matters."

Press Opinions.

"This valuable, concise, and well-packed book gives its matter in a form
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matter for purposes of reference is admirable, and the 'Pocket Book' cannot but
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Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt, 3/6.

Blake of the "Rattlesnake";

Or, the Man who saved England.

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AViTH 16 Illustrations by the Author.

A most thrilling Tale of Life on board a Torpedo Destroyer in time of war.

" ' Repeat the signal,' said Blake. It was never repeated, however. Scarcely
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upon us and the colliers around her, and as she did so, I saw the flash of a torpedo
darting from our tubes amidships. The enemy must have seen it too, for she
immediately tried to turn, but it was too late — the torpedo hit her ia bow as she
circled, and her game was up."

THACKER, SPINK &' CO., CALCUTTA.

NAVAL AND MILITARY.

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Lockharfs Advance .

. . through Tirah.

Capt. L. J. SHADWELL, P.S.C. (Suffolk Regiment).

Spi^cidl Correspondfnt of " The Pioneer" and London ''Daily Nen'S."

With two Maps and sevea full-page Illustrations from Photographs
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Memoranda and Formula on
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Colonel H. M. S. BRUNKER.

Author of Notes on Organizatioti," etc.

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SECOND EDITION, Revised and Enlarged, with 7 Maps.

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difference in Procedure and E\idence between English Militarj' Law and Indian
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HISTORY AND TRAVEL.

Demy 8vo., Cloth,

The Cave Dwellers of

Southern Tunisia.

DANIEL BRUNN.

Translated from the Danish 'uith ntimcroiis Illustrations.
" The white bundles on the forepart of the deck now began to stir into life, and
each as it rose threw back its burnous, and showed a dark face. One Arab had with
him his whole famil)-. He had spread a nish mat, on which, among their numerous
belongings, lay closely packed, husband, wfe (perhaps wives), several children, and a
large poodle. A roguish little girl came to discover what I was contemplating. She
was sweet, brown, and clean, and peeped up at me, hiding her face the while with
one hand, evidently conscious of wrong-doing. The tips of her fingers and toes were
stained red with henna, which was not unpleasing. Soon after, a closely veiled figure,
apparently the mother, came to fetch the little one. I had just time to perceive that
she was pretty, as she threw back a fold of her haik to «Tap round her child and
herself. \Vhat a charming picture they made as they leant against the bulwarks and
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riN THE PbES.S,

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HISTORY AND TRAVEL,

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Illustrated with Portraits and M.ips.

" The Chinese, like the Jews and the ancient Egyptians, alone claim to trace
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or Homer collected the ballads relating to the Trojan war and turned them into his
immortal epic. From a date anterior to that accepted for the occurrence of the flood of
Noah, the people of China possess a history which preserves the names of kings and con-
queiors, and describes remarkable events with an appearance of exactitude that would
almost compel credence. In comparison with their institutions those of ancient Egypt
and Assyria have only moderate claims to antiquity, and the states of Greece and Rome
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Third Edition of O'Brien's Round Towers of Ireland.

Edition limited to 750 numbered copies, and the type
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The Round Towers of Ireland,

Or the History of the Tuath-de-Danaans for the first time unveiled.

HENRY O'BRIEN, B.A.

With all the original Illustrations, to which is added a portrait of the Author,
reproduced from MacUse's well-known drawing.

This new edition contains all that is to be found in the previous editions, including
the curious preface, together with valuable supplementary matter comprising an
Introduction, a minute Synopsis of the Work, and a copious Index. It may be added
that the text of the original has not been subjected to any alteration or modification,
even its paging being preserved

The first edition of this work was published so far back as 1834, and a second
edition was issued the same year.

No standard work on the Round Towers of Ireland has given rise to so much
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this new edition wiU doubtless present many advantages owing to its completeness.

The early editions having long been out of print, copies of the work are verj'
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HISTORY AND TRAVEL.

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The Congo State;

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The Mayo College,

''The Eton of India.''

A Record of Twenty Years, 1875 to 1895.

HERBERT SHERRINQ, Headmaster.

"In these volumes on 'The Eton of India' the author has, besides gi\"ing a full
and detailed account of the Ma5 o College, compiled biographies of Lord Mayo and
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together with brief accounts of Rajputana, the Rajputs, the feudatory States, and
some two hundred or more of the leading families of the Province. The credit of
originating the scheme for securing to the sons of the aristocracy of India a liberal
and enlightened education seems to belong to the late Colonel Walter, who, in the
Bhartpur Agency Report of May 28, 1869, warmly advocated the establishment of an
institution which should make clear to the Chiefs of India that om- object was to
perpetuate their dynasties by placing within their reach better facilities for the
education of their sons than they could formerly obtain. 'Then,' he writes, 'and not
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ought to hold as the promoters of peace, prosperit)', and progress among their own
people, and the hearty supporters of British authority and power.' " — Morning Post.

FICTION.

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FICTION.

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FICTION.

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spontaneous outcome of a man's mind — a thing much more rare now than in the days
when the novelist's art was in its infancy. . . . The outcome of this and of his
talent is a book striking, origmal, and throughout distinguished above the ordinarj-.

. We wish the book the success it deserves; and in congratulating the author
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the get-up of the book is as excellent as its matter."— Pall Mall Gazette.

Crown 8vo, Cloth, 6/-

Jason Edwards.

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INDIA.

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A Naturalist on the Prowl.

E. H. AITKEN.

Illustrated by a series of 8o Drawings by R. A. Sterndale, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S.,

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SECOND EDITION.

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TENTH EDITION completing 20ih Thousand.
Dedicated by Special Permission to
FIELD-MARSHAL THE RIGHT HON. LORD ROBERTS, V.C.

Departmental Ditties

and other Verses.

RUDYARD KIPLING.

Printed on antique wove paper, and Illustrated by Dudley Cleaver.

Opinions of ttie Press.

" 'Pagett, M.P.,' is in this volume, and the line hnes called 'The Song of the
Women,' written in praise of Lady Duft'erin for her noble efforts to send medical aid
to the women of India, and many another piece familiar to Mr. Kipling's admirers.
Some of his parodies are exceedingly happy, notably those of Mr. Swinburne and of
Omar Khayyam; and there is quite enough 'stuff' in the book to make it pretty
certain that the Ninth Edition will not be the last." — Times.

" One curious circumstance is brought to light by this re-penisal of 'Depart-
mental Ditties,' and that is the similarity between the tone of Mr. Kipling's maxims
in imitation of Hafiz and Col. John Hay's distiches. The American's distiches are
now well known ; here arc some of the Anglo-Indian's cynicisms :

' The temper of chums, the love of your wife, and a new piano's tune —
Which of the three will you trust at the end of an Indian June.' '
Again,

' If She grow suddenly gracious — reflect. Is it all for thee ?
The black buck is stalked through the bullock, and Man through jealousy.'
Again,

' Seek not the favour of women. So shall you find it indeed.
Does not the boar break cover just when you're lighting a weed '
Now and again Mr. Kipling, in this, his earliest effort, reached high-water
mark. He has, for instance, tried other variants of 'The Story of Uriah,' but in the
departmental ditty which bears that title — a mere matter of thirty-two lines — he fixes
the standard. Nor can we see how 'The Ballad of Fisher's Boarding House,'
' Pagett, M.P.' or ' La Nuit Blanche' could be bettered, while ' Pink Dominoes' is in
a manner which the author has not attempted since." — Academy.

" This is the most pleasant edition of the famous ' Ditties' we have seen. Some
of Mr. Cleaver's pictures are very successful, such as the one illustrating the lines
in 'Pagett, M.P.':

' Paget was dear to mosquitoes,
Sandllies found him a treat ; '
and the one showing the 'galley-slave.' Anyone who has not yet made the acquaint-
ance of Mr. Kipling's early poems may be advised to do so at once. Some of them
contain more than a promise of genius." — Literary World.

W. THACKER ^ CO., LONDON.

INDIA.

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Echoes of Old Calcutta.

A most interesting series of SItetclies of Calcutta Life, chiefly
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H. E. BUSTEED, M.D., C.I.E.

THIRD EDITION, carefully revised and enlarged, with
additional Illustrations.

"It is a pleasure to reiterate the warm cominendation of this instructive and
livel)' \ olume which its appearance called forth some few years since. It would be
lamentable if a book so fraught with interest to aU Englishmen should be restricted to
Anglo-Indian circles. A fresh instalment of letters from "Warren Hastings to his wife
must be noted as extremely interesting, while the papers on Sir Phillip Francis,
Nuncomar, and the romantic career of lilrs. Grand, who became Princess Benevento
and the wife of Talleyrand, ought by now to be widely known." — Saturday Review.

Crown 8vo, Cloth, Gilt, 6/-

Lays of Ind.

Comical, Satirical, and Descriptive Poems illustrative of
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Major W. YELDHAM ("ALIPH CHEEM").

Illustrated by the Author, Lionel Inglis, and others.
TENTH EDITION.

"The 'Lays' are not only Anglo-Indian in origin, but out-and-out Anglo-Indian
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attract the attention of the ill-defined indi\idual known as 'the general reader.'" —
Scotsman.

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The Tribes on my Frontier.

An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy.

E. H. AITKEN.

WriH Fifty Illustrations by F. C. IMacrae.

SIXTH EDITION.

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INDIA.

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Behind the Bungalow.

E. H. AITKEN.

Author of " Tribes on My Frontier."

Fifth Edition. Illustrated by F. C. Macrae.

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12mo., sewed, 2/-

Onoocool Chunder Mookerjee.

A Memior of the late Justice Onoocool Chunder Mookerjee.

M. MOOKERJEE.

FIFTH EDITION.

" The reader is earnestly advised to procure the life of this gentleman, written by
his nephew, and read it." — The Tribes on My Frontier.

Demy 8vo., Cloth, 12/-

A Servant of 'John Company.'

(the HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY.)

Being the Recollections of an Indian Official.

H. Q. KEENE, C.I.E,, Hon. M.A. Oxon.

Author of '*S/cetches in Indian ink" etc.

With a Portrait in Photogravltre.

Illustrated by W. Simpson from the Author'' s Sketches.

"Mr. Keene has written an instructive book. He is not dull. This book
presents a view of Indian life. It is tlie genial record of a man who from boyhood
seems to have bent on extracting the largest possible amount of pleasure from his
surroundings."

tV. THACKER 6- CO., LONDON.

INDIA.

Demy 8vo., Cloth, 15 -

The Rod in India.

Being Hints how to obtain Sport, with remarks on the Natural
History of Fish and their Culture.

H. S. THOMAS, F.L.S.

Author of" Tank Aiigliiis in India." MADRAS CIVIL SERVICE, RETIRED.

THIRD EDITION, revised, with numerous full-page and other

Illustrations.

"A book to read for pleasure at home, as well as to use as a handbook of
exceeding value to the angler who may be already there, or intending to \isit India."
Land and Water.

Demy 8vo.

High Asia.

A Summer Ramble through Baltlstan and Ladakb.

F. E. S. ADAIR.

With a Chapter on Central Asian Trade by Capt. S. H. Godfrey, late British
Joint Commissioner at Leh.

Illustrated by a series of beautiful Photographs and Drawings taken on the spot.

[In the Press.]

Foolscap 8vo., Cloth, 3 6.

Medical Hints for Hot Climates

And for those out of reach of Medical Aid.

CHAS. HEATON, M.D.

"The title of this work is sufficiently explanatorj- of its nature. It is what it
pretends to be — a portable book of medical reference, with plain practical hints and
advice for people residing at out-stations or traveUing in hot climates where skilled
medical aid is not readily available for the treatment of emergent sickness or injury."
Lancet.

THACKER, SPINK A' CO., CALCUTTA.

INDIA.

Royal 8vo., Strongly half-bound. 36/-

Thacker's Indian

Directory, 1898,

Embracing the whole of British India, Burmah, and
Native States.

With complete and detailed Information of the Cities of Calcutta, Madras,
Bombay, Allahabad, Lahore, Simla, Rangoon, etc.

Tea, Indigo, Coffee, Silk, Sugar, Lac, Cinchona, Jute,
Cotton, Paper, Collieries, Mines, etc.

Almanack, Army List, Civil List (with Salaries), Railway
List, Newspaper Directory and General Information,
with Map of India and Two Maps of Calcutta.

PUBLISHED ANNUALLY. THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION

One of the best Mediums for Advertising for the whole of the
Indian Empire.

tV. TH ACKER fir" CO., LONDON.

INDIA,

Royal 8vo., Boards, 7/6-

TH ACKER'S

Directory of the Chief

Industries of India, 1898,

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED

A LIST OF TEA COMPANIES AND GARDENS,
INDIGO flKD COFFEE ESTATES, WITH THEIH FACTOHY IHflKKS ;

AND A

DIRECTORY OF TEA, COFFEE, CINCHONA,

AND

CARDAMOM ESTATES IN CEYLON, WITH TWO MAPS.

CONTENTS.

Breweries, Carpet Manufactories, Cinctiona, Coal Mines,
Coffee {India and Ceylon), Cotton Mills and Presses, Dairy
Farms, Distilleries, Flour Mills, Gold Mines, Ice Companies,
Indigo, Iron Works, Jute Presses and Mills, Lac, Orchards,
Paper Mills, Petroleum, Potteries, Quarries, Rice Mills,
Roperies, Salt, Saw Mills, Silk, Sugar, Tea Companies and
Gardens in India and Ceylon, Tobacco, Wool, etc.

PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.

TH ACKER, SPINK CO., CALCUTTA.

INDIA.

CLOTH CASE, 7/6. . '

T HACKER'S

MAP OF INDIA.

WITH
OF THE

VafllOOS PHODUGTS OF INDIA flJlD OF THE TEA mSTtJICTS.

SKETCH PLANS OF CALCUTTA, BOMBAY AND MADRAS.

Edited by J. Q. BARTHOLOMEW.

Corrected to date, with Railways, Political Changes, and an
Index of 10,000 Names.

Being every place mentioned in " Hunter's Imperial
Gazetteer. "

"An excellent Map." — Glasgow Herald,

" This is a really splendid map of India, produced with the greatest skUl and
care." — Army and Navy Gazette.

"For compactness and completeness of information few works surpassing or
approaching it have been seen in cartography." — Scotsman,

PHIL MAY'S

ILLUSTRATED I CTNUHL.

PUBLISHED TWICE A YEAR.

. , . price ®ne SbilUna . . .

Summer Number, Winter Number,

MAY, ^ NOV.

Contains Stories by the best known Writers of the day,

INCLUDING

J. C. CUTCLIFFE HYNE.
FRANKFORT MOORE.
CLIVE HOLLAND.

LINCOLN SPRINGFIELD.
MORLEY ROBERTS.
TOM GALLON.

JULIAN CROSKEY, etc.

3Uu0tratet) tbrouabout pbil flDa^.

Editorial Offices: 2. CREED LANE. LONDON. E.G.

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