X. AN APPEAL TO BELGIUM TO SUPPRESS THE SLAVE TRADE…

X. AN APPEAL TO BELGIUM TO SUPPRESS THE SLAVE TRADE

Slavery is as ancient as war, and war as old as human nature. Upon this premise Voltaire philosophised when his thought reverted to the early inequity of human life. Christian nations were deep in the slave trade in the sixteenth century. A black cloud of human flesh, aggregating sixteen million souls, was imported into America upon Western slave dhows in three centuries, exclusive of the twenty-odd million Negroes who perished in transit. More atrocious than the pestilential slave dhow was the slaughter of blacks by the slave-raider, that fiend incarnate who until a few years ago carried on his inhuman traffic under the very gaze of Christian Europe. Indeed, Europe herself was a slave-dealer for centuries. Some of her Governments sanctioned it in terms unspeakably callous. There was little pity and less mercy in officially lading “tons of niggers” for American ports.

Late in the eighteenth century, Great Britain had championed the cause of humanity and sought a remedy for the horrible conditions which slavery entailed. The movement which, assuming definite shape about the time of the Declaration of Independence, had found able and eloquent advocacy in such men as Granville Sharpe, Clarkson, Wilberforce, and William Pitt. These staunch humanitarians, after what seemed the hopeless labour of many years, finally triumphed so far as to impel the Vienna Congress of 1815 and the Verona Congress of 1822 to forbid any civilised nation to carry on the slave trade.

The next steps, also furthered by the British Government, sought to abolish the legal status of slavery and to suppress slave markets and slave dhows. The Western world began to awaken to a sense of duty. In all directions the noble initiative taken by Great Britain found earnest agency. The Christian nations, now thoroughly aroused to the iniquity of the slave trade, exchanged treaties in 1841, the operation of which was designed to clear the ocean of slave transports. When shut out of the American market, it was believed that the infamous slave traffic would subside. But the scourge continued almost unabated. Driven out of the West, it flourished the more in the East, where large markets still remained open. The northern and eastern coasts of Africa continued to supply the Oriental markets, the Soudan, Upper Nile, and Congo Basin being the slave-hunter’s Elysium. The Sultans of the Soudan, whose avarice knew no limit, strove in the cruellest manner to increase their spoil in this man-hunting chase. Khartoum slavers pressed into the Bhar-el-Ghazal, while the Arabs from Zanzibar devastated the Manyema and Tanganyika regions. West-coast raiders had even penetrated as far inland as the Upper Kassai, and created that wretched condition of native life in the interior of the Congo Basin which impressed Livingstone, Stanley, Kirk, Bartle Frere, Nachtigal, Wissmann, Serpa Pinto, Massaia, and that great exemplar of Christianising work, Cardinal Lavigerie.

In 1876, nearly ten years before the Berlin Conference, the King of the Belgians called upon Europe to join in a concerted movement to suppress the slave traffic in Central Africa. In the same year the British Government published its Report of the Royal Commission on Fugitive Slaves. The words of Prince Bismarck at the Berlin Conference of 1885 were an intimation of the legislation which was thereafter effected by clauses 6 and 9 of the General Act. By clause 6, the Powers agreed “to watch over the preservation of the native tribes and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery and especially the slave trade.” Baron Lambermont stated the distinction between slavery and the slave trade: “The slave trade,” said the Baron, “has another character; it is the very denial of every law, of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high treason against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be reached, on land as well as by sea.”

It was with characteristic activity that the Sovereign of the Congo Free State had taken the initiative in making the suppression of the slave traffic an essential aim in the civilisation of an African State which had not only been the source of slave supply for many markets, but whose territory touched closely upon a number of slave-dealing countries. In the eighteenth century, the nations of Europe had partitioned the coast of Africa to the French between Senegal and Gambia, to the British on the Gold and Ivory coasts, and to the Portuguese in the Angola and Benguela regions. The object of this territorial apportionment was to facilitate the slave trade and render it more profitable! Now, in the nineteenth century, these same Governments were dividing African territory with the much loftier purpose of extirpating the slave trade. The march of a hundred years had raised European morality and justified the Christian influence of the age.

Undaunted by the material difficulty of realising the excellent theories which European nations were now offering to carry out in the very nest of the slave trade, the Congo Free State formally tackled the problem by promulgating three decrees in November, 1888. The first provided practical means for suppressing the slave trade, amongst which were measures prohibiting trade in firearms, gunpowder, and explosives; the second, seeking to protect and improve the natives, dealt with contracts of service between natives and foreigners, and enacted laws which guaranteed the former from imposition. The third decree established a body of volunteer police to suppress crimes and offences against public order and individual liberty. Then followed the organisation of the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society which, creating a special volunteer corps, operated against the slave-raiders in the Tanganyika district. Reference has elsewhere been made to the vigorous manner in which these and similar decrees were enforced, and how the slave-raider was driven from one lair to another, until, almost unaided and alone, the indomitable energy of Belgian officers succeeded in uprooting the institution of slave traffic and opening an immense river basin to the pursuits of civilisation.

A great wave of sympathy for all enslaved races had spread throughout the civilised world. Nations heretofore indifferent to the weal of the black man in the brutal toils of the slave-raider, were actuated by a desire to co-operate with the practical forces already at work for emancipating the Dark Continent. All religions combined in the motherhood of the human race and, now thoroughly alive to the principle of human liberty, lent their support to the great cause of African civilisation. The movement, now become general throughout Europe, gained impetus in 1888 by the abolition of slavery in Brazil. In that year, Pope Leo XIII. reiterated the appeal made by Leopold II. in 1876, and besought all nations to unite in purging the page of history of a further record of the abominable crime of slave-hunting. In addressing that wonderful engine of missionary work, Cardinal Lavigerie, His Holiness pointed out the misery of “that disinherited land,” and urged all who are moved by human impulse to devote their lives to “this sublime work of redemption.”

The self-sacrificing work which Cardinal Lavigerie has done for the salvation of Africa will for ever be a white monument in a black wilderness. It was his appeal to the peoples of the Christian world which witnessed the first organised work of Leopold II., and it is this prelate’s indefatigable industry, and his love for these savage souls of Africa, which has largely carried that work to its present fruition.

The world-wide adhesion to the cause of Christianising the Dark Continent took diplomatic shape soon after a meeting held in London on July 31, 1888, at which Lord Granville presided. On motion of Cardinal Manning, the following resolution was adopted:

The time has now fully arrived when the several nations of Europe who, at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, and again at the Conference of Verona, in 1822, issued a series of resolutions strongly denouncing the slave trade, should take the needful steps for giving them a full and practical effect. And, inasmuch as the Arab marauders (whose murderous devastations are now depopulating Africa) are subject to no law, and under no responsible rule, it devolves on the Powers of Europe to secure their suppression throughout all territories over which they have any control. This meeting would, therefore, urge upon Her Majesty’s Government, in concert with those Powers who now claim either territorial possession or territorial influence in Africa, to adopt such measures as shall secure the extinction of the devastating slave trade which is now carried on by those enemies of the human race.[12]

On October 27th, an anti-slavery convention was held at Cologne, at which the following resolutions were passed and sent to the Reichstag:

1—The suppression of slave-hunting with its attendant horrors, devolves upon Christian States and constitutes the primary condition of the abolition of the slave trade. 2—While the Congo Conference obliges all the Signatory Powers to help in the suppression of slavery and the improvement of the lot of the natives, at the same time the Congo State, Portugal, Great Britain, and Germany, as being directly threatened by Arab slave-traders, are expected to take the initiative in, and to bring to a successful issue, the struggle against the slave trade.

3—The meeting expresses the conviction that the honour of the German flag and German interests, which have been violated by Arab slave-traders in East Africa, will be avenged by the Imperial Government.

4—It also expresses the hope that the Reichstag will support these resolutions, as a proof of the perfect agreement of the German nation without distinction of party or creed.

On November 13, the Cabinets of Berlin, London and Lisbon had agreed upon coercive measures against slave-traders on the East Coast of Africa. Meantime, on September 17, 1888, the British Government had appealed, through the Belgian Foreign Office, to King Leopold to take the initiative in assembling a Conference at Brussels to consider the subject. In conveying this invitation to the King of the Belgians, the British Minister to the Belgian Court stated that:

The change which has occurred in the political condition of the African Coast to-day calls for common action on the part of the Powers responsible for the control of that Coast. That action should tend to close all foreign slave-markets, and should also result in putting down slave-hunting in the interior.

The great work undertaken by the King of the Belgians, in the constitution of the Congo State, and the lively interest taken by His Majesty in all questions affecting the welfare of the African races, lead Her Majesty’s Government to hope that Belgium will be disposed to take the initiative in inviting the Powers to meet in Conference at Brussels, in order to consider the best means of attaining the gradual suppression of the slave trade on the Continent of Africa and the immediate closing of all the outside markets which the slave trade daily continues to supply.

On August 24, 1889, King Leopold deferred to this wish and called a Conference of the Powers for November 18, 1889, to determine upon a course of action for the gradual suppression of slave-hunting on the African Continent and the immediate closing of all markets supplied from that source, and “to put an end to the crimes and devastation wrought by the slave trade, and effectively to protect the native populations in Africa.”

Thus, after thirteen years of arduous labour, and the vicissitudes which attend the progressive pioneer in savage lands, where the mission and the plough follow the white man’s trail, the Belgians were again called upon to lead in a war against the most degrading of human conditions.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Times, London, August 1, 1888.

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XI. THE SECOND BRUSSELS CONFERENCE

[Sidenote: King and Cardinal.]

The zealous labours of Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, who had founded the Mission of the White Fathers in 1878 to convert the Soudan and the Congo regions to Christianity, had always been generously supported by the personal munificence of King Leopold. The rescript issued to this devoted and untiring apostle by Pope Leo XIII. had inaugurated endeavours on behalf of civilisation unexcelled in any colony in the world. King Leopold’s earnest and generous encouragement of this evangelistic work equalled the broad-minded and hopeful manner in which he supported Stanley and others in their early expeditions through the unknown forests of the Congo. There was, therefore, a sympathetic tie between His Holiness, the King, and the Cardinal in the world’s task in Congoland.

[Sidenote: The Anti-Slavery Crusade.]

Early in 1888 Cardinal Lavigerie visited Belgium, and, being convinced by his long African experience of the necessity for an organised anti-slavery crusade, opened a campaign in the Brussels Cathedral which, by its popular interest, carried him to many parts of Europe. The eloquence of this truly great prelate was born of that deep sympathy for the African black derived from his intimate knowledge of the debasing conditions still prevalent in those parts of the Congo Basin where, for many practical reasons, the Belgians had not penetrated with their work and influence. The Cardinal exhorted the Belgians, first of all, to support and emulate their King, who, he said, “would open before you a country seventy times as large as your own—an immense field for the spread of your religion and for charity.... You have not given to the struggle with barbarism all the assistance that was incumbent upon you.”

To the avowed support given by his Majesty to the movement which the Cardinal’s numerous sermons inspired, may largely be attributed the Belgian campaigns against the Arab slave-raiders which the Brussels Conference of the following year urged upon the interested Powers.

The hundred admirable articles of the General Act of the Conference do not all concern the reader. Their general purpose, already indicated in a previous chapter, was the suppression of the slave trade, the protection of the natives, and the provision of revenue from import duties wherewith to maintain a practical executive to accomplish both aims.

The Conference convened on November 18, 1889, and held the last of its thirty-three sessions on the July 2, 1890. The King of the Belgians had again welcomed the representatives of all the Powers party to the Berlin Act. Persia, having meantime adhered to that Act, was also represented. The Prince de Chimay, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, presided at the formal opening of the Conference. At its first session Baron Lambermont was unanimously elected to preside over its deliberations. His able associate at Berlin, M. Emile Banning, also represented Belgium at this Conference, while Baron Van Eetvelde, for many years devoted to its moral and material development, represented the Congo Free State. Chief among other distinguished representatives were Count von Alvensleben for Germany, M. Bourée for France, Lord Vivian and Sir John Kirk for Great Britain, Mr. Terrell, Minister at Brussels, for the United States, and Prince Ourroussof and Professor Martens for Russia.

Foremost in the work of framing a proposed Act, under which the Congo Free State inherited great responsibility and a tremendous task, were the Belgian representatives. The other interested Powers pledged themselves to join, each in its own territory, in the anti-slavery campaign which the Act prescribed. Briefly stated, the signatories to the General Act of this Conference declared that they were “animated by the firm intention of putting an end to the crimes and devastation engendered by the traffic in African slaves, of protecting effectually the aboriginal populations of Africa, and of insuring for that vast continent the benefits of peace and civilisation.”

[Sidenote: The General Act.]

The first article, relating to effective methods of suppressing slave-raiding in the Congo Basin, was divided into seven sections:

The first provided for the progressive organisation of administrative, judicial, religious, and military services—in fact, the whole machinery of government. The second remedy was to be the gradual establishment in the interior of strong protective and repressive stations. The third clause provided for the construction of roads and railroads, so that human porterage might be ended. The fourth, for the placing of steamers on the lakes and inland waters. The fifth, for the laying down of telegraph lines. And the sixth, for the organisation of expeditions by movable columns. While these clauses were of an active character, the seventh came under the head of prohibition. It provided for restriction in the import of firearms, and especially of modern rifles and ammunition, within the whole extent of the territory affected by the slave trade. The General Act only provided for the restriction in the import of firearms; but the King, in the administrative decree, applying its provisions to the Congo State, interdicted the importation, traffic, and transport of all rifles, as well as of powder, bullets, and cartridges. The same decree imposed severe penalties on those who in any way violated these regulations.

The second article of the Act laid down that “the stations and the interior cruisers shall have for their object the prevention of the capture of slaves, and the interception of the routes of transit. They shall extend their efficacious protection over all the dependent populations within the range of their authority, by prohibiting intestine war, and by initiating them into agricultural labour. They will assist commerce, verifying labour contracts; they will aid the missions, and they will organise a sanitary service.”[13]

The second article, recognising the duty of the Powers to prevent slave-raiding in the territory under their control, adopted, amongst others, the following prescription:

To support and, if necessary, to serve as a refuge for the native populations; to place those under their sovereignty in a position to co-operate for their own defence; to diminish intertribal wars by means of arbitration; to initiate the natives in agricultural pursuits and industrial arts, so as to increase their welfare; to raise them by civilisation and bring about the extinction of barbarous customs, such as cannibalism and human sacrifices; and, in giving aid to commercial enterprises, to watch over their legality, controlling especially the contracts for service entered into with natives.

The third and fourth articles contained the pledge of all the interested Powers to assist in enforcing these commendable provisions for the betterment of the black races in Africa. The succeeding apathy of the Powers in no wise abated the energy of the Congo Free State in its heroic effort to realise for civilisation the views which Belgian statesmen had largely inspired at the Conference. The Belgian campaigns against the Arabs, briefly narrated in succeeding chapters, were only one phase of those multiform difficulties which beset the pioneer in savage lands where the heralds of civilisation find it necessary to suppress the old and impose a new order of life upon untutored human beings.

[Sidenote: Alcohol and Civilisation.]

The second chapter referred, amongst other things, to caravan routes, the transport of slaves by land, and to providing means of livelihood and education for liberated slaves. The sixth chapter enumerated the measures to be taken to restrict the trade in spirituous liquors. The six articles composing this chapter forbid the importation of distilled drinks “in the regions where they have not yet penetrated,” and “each Power will determine for itself the limit of this zone within its own possessions.” It is in reference to these infirm clauses, as elastic as Congo rubber, that the Free State has fulfilled promise with performance that puts her neighbours to shame. Each year of Belgian rule in the Congo has been marked by a contraction of the area in which alcoholic liquors are legitimate traffic even in a restricted form. To-day spirituous liquors are practically excluded from more than four-fifths of the entire State. The Sovereign of the Congo Free State does not respect that colonising enthusiasm which is founded on deleterious Scotch whiskey, Holland gin, and Jamaica rum. He has, therefore, carried out the spirit as well as the letter of the liquor clauses in the Brussels Act, and lost revenue for the State from a source which, to a large degree, supports the budgets of neighbouring colonies.

In the eighth article it is declared that

the experience of all nations who have intercourse with Africa has shown the pernicious and preponderating part played by firearms in slave trade operations as well as in intertribal wars, and has clearly proved that the preservation of the African populations is a radical impossibility unless restrictive measures against the trade in firearms and ammunition are established.

It was, therefore, stipulated that in those parts of Africa between the twentieth parallel of north latitude and the twenty-second parallel of south latitude the importation of firearms, and especially of rifles and weapons of precision, powder, balls, and cartridges, should be greatly restricted, and as far as possible prohibited. The only exceptions in later articles to this prescription were made in favour of “measures directly by governments for arming of a force publique and the organisation of their defence.”

[Sidenote: Attitude of the Powers.]

To carry out the onerous duties imposed by the Brussels Act upon all the interested Powers required more than a Conference and its lofty ideals and appropriate resolutions. By the Berlin Act import duties had been prohibited in the Congo Basin only as an experiment. The attitude of the Powers towards this question was now more enlightened and more reasonable. Experience, and admiration for King Leopold’s rapid achievements in the development of the new State, combined, in the face of the slave-raiding enemy, to predispose the representatives of the Powers to a rational view of the practical necessities of governments which were called upon to establish order and a civil community upon the trail of the murderous slave-chaser.

[Sidenote: Import Duties.]

At the thirteenth session of the Conference, held on May 10, 1890, it was proposed that the stipulation of the Berlin Conference prohibiting all import duties for twenty years should be withdrawn, and that the “assenting Powers having possessions or protectorates in the Conventional Basin of the Congo shall be at liberty, so far as authority to this end is required, to establish duties on imported goods, the scale of which shall not exceed a rate equivalent to ten per cent. ad valorem at the port of entry, always excepting spirituous liquors.” Applying especially to spirituous liquors are the provisions of articles 90 to 95 of the General Act.

In supporting this measure, Baron Lambermont said:

Not only has geographical acquaintance with the Congo Basin revealed the wealth of the vast regions it comprises, but European commerce, which was blocked at a short distance from the coast, has penetrated the heart of Africa, in countries hitherto utterly unknown. Civilisation, in divers forms, has made no less progress, and has been permanently established in the very centre of Africa. The rapidity with which this transformation has been accomplished would seem to make it a duty to hasten the revision of the free-trade rule temporarily laid down by the Berlin General Act. The protection due to commerce and missions, the establishment of systematic justice, the opening up of easier means of communication with the interior of the continent, the organisation of public services as auxiliaries to private enterprises, require financial resources which it is reasonable to obtain, by means of imposts, from those who profit by the new order of things. While in most of the African colonies tariffs are among the principal sources of revenue, the countries situated in the Conventional Basin of the Congo alone are deprived of the right of levying customs duties; and yet these are the countries that find themselves at the front in the crusade against the slave trade! The resolutions of the Brussels Conference, in imposing on them new tasks, will also increase the expenses necessary for the carrying out of their civilising mission. The legitimacy of import duties destined to meet these expenses cannot be denied.

In the debate which naturally ensued upon such an important measure, Baron Gericke d’Herwijnen, representing Holland, which has a large spirit trade along the West Coast of Africa, opposed views for a time unfavourable to the adoption of this supplementary Declaration[14] to the General Act. Notwithstanding his views, the Dutch representative gracefully alluded to “the well-merited homage it [Holland] had rendered to the work of the King of the Belgians from its very commencement.”

On the part of Great Britain, Lord Vivian supported the proposition in words which should sear the few unkindly, astigmatic eyes of those who regard King Leopold’s rule in Africa with splenetic gaze and caterwauling. His lordship spoke aptly when he said:

As to the question whether this modification is opportune, the fact must not be lost sight of that the Berlin Conference never intended to fix unalterably the economic system of the Free State, which, as was already then foreseen, would undergo radical modifications under the influence of progress, nor to establish for an indefinite period regulations which may hinder, check, and even arrest its development. Provision was wisely made for the probability of future changes, which would require a certain latitude in economic matters in order to secure their easy realisation....

The moment has now come when the marvellous progress made by the infant State is creating fresh needs, when it would be only in accordance with wisdom and foresight to revise an economic system primarily adapted to a creative and transitional period.

Can we blame the infant State for a progress which, in its rapidity, has surpassed the most optimistic forecasts? Can we hinder and arrest this progress in refusing her the means necessary for her development? Can we condemn the Sovereign who has already made such great sacrifices to support for an indefinite period a burden which daily becomes heavier, and at the same time impose upon him new and heavy expenses necessitated by the suppression of the slave trade?

We are convinced that there will be but one answer to these questions.

Following the British representative in support of the proposal, Count von Alvensleben, the German Minister, expressed himself as follows:

The Imperial Government will be glad to have such an opportunity of showing its sentiments of sympathy for the Congo Free State, which, under the wise direction of its august Sovereign, has given such striking proofs of vitality.

The German Government will willingly lend its help in placing the Congo Free State in a position to acquire the means which may seem necessary to assist its development and to enable it to continue its valuable services to the cause of civilisation and humanity.

[Sidenote: France and the Slave Trade.]

Indeed, the expressions of appreciation of the Belgian work in the Congo were unanimous and enthusiastic. The Declaration was adopted, and became part of the General Act of the Brussels Conference by the ratification of all the Powers—the Dutch Chambers sanctioning the ratification on the intervention of the Queen Regent, mother of the present Queen, Wilhelmina. In giving her adhesion France did so with the reservation that she “would not recognise the articles relating to the zone of maritime search, jurisprudence, arrest, seizure, and condemnation of suspected ships.” This has always been regarded as a flaw in the effort of the Powers to suppress the slave traffic with unity of force and aim. France’s remarkable reservation has had the effect of affording to slave-dealers the only existing protection of a civilised Government on the East African Coast. The motive for this is revealed in the fact that slave-dealers are still employed in the French possessions of the Indian Ocean.[15] It is to be regretted that republican France should stand out from that solid phalanx of the Powers by which alone the abominable institution of slavery can be stricken from the calendar of modern crime.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] Boulger, The Congo State, 1898.

[14] See Appendix for full text.

[15] Boulger.

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XII. THE CONGO BEQUEATHED TO BELGIUM

The Declaration supplemental to the General Act of the Brussels Conference, referred to in the previous chapter, assured an income to the Congo Free State, which, however inadequate for its needs at that time, served, in a degree, to clear its future of the doubt which had caused Belgium, as a nation, to shrink from incurring financial responsibility in support of it. The cost of the early undertakings, from the day in 1876 when Stanley took leave of King Leopold in Brussels and set out upon his expedition up the Congo River, and the expenses of the entire enterprise, including those of the International African Association, had been borne by the King and his immediate adherents. The amounts so expended each year now aggregated a sum approximating 100,000,000 francs. On 29th April, 1887, the Belgian nation had authorised the Congo State to raise a loan of 150,000,000 francs, which, however, it did not guarantee. These funds were largely employed to found the chartered companies provided for in the Decree of 27th February, 1887. The time had now again come when the Belgian Chamber should consider the reasonableness of asking the assistance of the Belgian nation, especially as the King’s African enterprise had been undertaken for the benefit of civilisation and the expansion of Belgian markets.

On the 3rd July, 1890, the day after the General Act of the Conference had been signed, a Convention was concluded between M. Beernaert, the Finance Minister, on the part of Belgium, and Baron Van Eetvelde, on the part of the Congo Free State, by which Belgium engaged to lend the Congo State 5,000,000 francs at once, and 2,000,000 francs a year for the next ten years—25,000,000 francs in all, on condition that Belgium should have the option, six months after the expiration of the ten years, of annexing the Congo Free State “with all the rights and advantages attached to the sovereignty of the State ...” provided it also assumed the obligations of the State to third parties, “the King-Sovereign expressly refusing all indemnity on account of the personal sacrifices he had himself made.” It was further agreed:

3. From the present time the Belgian State will receive from the Independent State of the Congo such information as it judges desirable, on the economical, commercial, and financial situation of the latter. It may specially ask for communication of the budgets of receipts and expenses, and of the customs dues both on imports and exports. This information is to be given, with the sole object of enlightening the Belgian Government, and the latter will not in any way interfere in the administration of the Independent State of the Congo, which will continue to be attached to Belgium only by the personal union of the two crowns. Nevertheless, the Congo State engages not to contract any new loan hereafter, without the assent of the Belgian Government. 4. If at the fixed time Belgium decides not to accept the annexation of the Congo State, the sum of twenty-five million francs lent, inscribed in the ledger of its debt, would not become demandable until after a fresh period of ten years, but it should bear in the interval interest at the rate of 3½ per cent., payable every six months, and even before this term the Independent State of the Congo should devote to partial repayments all the sums obtained from cessions of land or the mines of the domain.

Long before the date of the Brussels Conference and the Convention just concluded, King Leopold had written to his minister, M. Beernaert, a letter clearly indicating his unselfish purpose in developing the Congo State. The persons who charge the King of the Belgians with governing the Congo for his personal benefit might temper their mendacity by the fact that this letter is dated 5th August, 1889, nearly a year before the conclusion of the Brussels Conference. Having regard to the false charges busily purveyed in respect of his Majesty’s true intentions towards his people and the Congo State, it seems but just to quote it:

5th August, 1889.

DEAR MINISTER [M. Beernaert].—I have never ceased to call the attention of my countrymen to the necessity of extending their view to countries beyond the sea.

History teaches that States of limited size have a moral and material interest in stretching beyond their narrow frontiers. Greece founded on the shores of the Mediterranean opulent cities, centres of art and civilisation. Venice, later on, established its greatness on the development of its maritime and commercial relations, not less than on its political successes. Holland possesses in the Indies thirty millions of subjects, who exchange the commodities of the tropics for the productions of the mother country.

It is by serving the cause of humanity and progress that people of the second rank appear as useful members of the great family of nations. More than any other, a manufacturing and commercial nation like ours should strive to secure outlets for all its workers, for those of thought, capital, and labour.

These patriotic preoccupations have dominated my life. They determined the creation of the African work.

My labours have not been sterile. A young and vast State, directed from Brussels, has peacefully taken its place under the sun, thanks to the benevolent aid of the Powers which have applauded its beginning. Belgians administer it, whilst others of our countrymen, every day more numerous, profitably employ their capital in its development.

The immense river basin of the Upper Congo opens to our efforts ways of rapid and cheap communication, which permit us to penetrate direct into the centre of the African Continent. The construction of the railway of the region of the Cataracts henceforth assured, thanks to the recent vote of the Legislature, will notably increase these facilities of access. Under these conditions, a great future is reserved for the Congo, the immense value of which will soon be apparent to every eye.

On the morrow of this considerable act, I have thought it my duty to place Belgium herself, when death shall have struck me, in a position to profit by my work, as well as by the labour of those who have aided me in founding and directing it, and whom I thank here once more. I have therefore made, as Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, the Will that I send you. I ask you to communicate it to the Legislative Chamber at the moment which shall appear to you the most opportune.

The beginnings of enterprises such as those which have so much occupied me are difficult and onerous. I have held myself bound to support the cost. A king, in order to serve his country, ought not to fear to conceive and to pursue the realisation of a work, even if it be apparently rash. The wealth of a sovereign consists in public prosperity; it alone can constitute in his eyes an enviable treasure, which he should endeavour constantly to increase.

To the day of my death I shall continue, in the same desire of national interest which has hitherto guided me, to direct and sustain our African work; but if, without awaiting this term, it should be agreeable to the country to establish closer links with my possessions on the Congo, I should not hesitate to place them at its disposal. I should be happy to see it, during my lifetime, in the full enjoyment of their possession. Allow me, in the meanwhile, to say to you how grateful I am towards the Chambers, as well as towards the Government, for the aid that they have afforded me on several occasions in that creation. I do not think I deceive myself by affirming that Belgium will derive important advantages from it, and that she will see opening before her, on a new continent, happy and larger prospects.

Believe me, dear Minister, etc.

LEOPOLD.

Accompanying this noble expression of a monarch toward his people on his sacrificial work in their behalf, was the King’s Will, as Sovereign of the Congo Free State:

We, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo:

Wishing to assure to Our well-beloved country the fruits of the work which for many years We have pursued on the African Continent, with the generous and devoted co-operation of many Belgians:

Convinced of thus contributing to assure for Belgium, if she wishes it, the outlets indispensable for her commerce and her industry, and to open new paths for the activity of her children:

Declare by these presents, that We bequeath and transmit, after Our death, to Belgium all our sovereign rights over the Independent State of the Congo, as they are recognised by the Declarations, Conventions, and Treaties concluded since 1884 between the foreign Powers on the one side, the International Association of the Congo and the Independent State of the Congo on the other, as well as all the benefits, rights, and advantages attached to that sovereignty.

Whilst waiting for the Belgian Legislature to pronounce its acceptance of Our aforesaid disposition, the sovereignty will be exercised collectively by the Council of the three administrations of the Independent State of the Congo, and by the Governor-General.

LEOPOLD.

Done at Brussels the 2nd of August, 1889.

The announcement of the King’s Will, bequeathing the Congo State to the Belgian people, was received with a demonstration of popular approval. In 1901 the Convention of 3rd July, 1890, giving Belgium the right to annex the Congo State, was extended for another term of ten years. Meantime the great prosperity of the State and the voice of saner liberalism in the Belgian Chamber are combining to identify the more intimate support of the Belgian Government with King Leopold’s progressive African colony. That the Belgian State will take over that colony in 1910, or on the death of King Leopold, is hardly within the pale of rational doubt.

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XIII. TRIBES OF THE CONGO STATE

[Sidenote: Population of Congo State.]

The difficulty in arriving at an estimate of the native population of the Congo Free State that tolerably approximates the truth is very great. Some authorities place it at as high as 30,000,000, some as low as 15,000,000, while other observers, equally entitled to respect, assert that 20,000,000 is about accurate.

This wide divergence of opinion ceases to be matter for surprise when we reflect that the population of an empire so important as China, known to white men for centuries, is variously estimated by them at anything between 300,000,000 and 400,000,000.

Compared with our knowledge of China, our acquaintance with the countries and peoples comprised within the boundaries of the Congo Free State is a thing of yesterday. The nomadic habits of the various semi-savage tribes of which the population of the Congo Free State consists renders their exact enumeration impossible. Besides, there can be no doubt but that vast numbers of the dwarf (Pigmy) race inhabit parts of the great Central African forest not yet penetrated by the white man.

[Sidenote: Advancing Civilisation.]

It is certain, however, that all the vast region with which this book is concerned contains no race or tribe that has not come in contact with the civilising Belgians, or whose barbarous habits and customs have not, in greater or lesser degree, been modified into some semblance of conformity with the standard of civilisation exemplified by their new masters. At present that conformity is far from being general, and where it is found it is invariably more superficial than real. To frankly admit so much is in nowise a reflection upon the extent or value of the civilising influence exerted by the Belgians upon their King’s dusky subjects. The complete transformation of the barbarian into the civilised man is not possible in one generation. A consideration of the principal tribes, their habits and customs, as they were when the white strangers first appeared among them, and as to some extent they continue to this day, cannot, therefore, fail in interest.

[Sidenote: Origin of Congo Races.]

The nomadic habits of the native races inhabiting the Congo region, discussed at length in another chapter, render an inquiry into their origin a work of great difficulty and uncertain result. Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., whose expert opinion upon this subject is entitled to the utmost respect, believes that the Negro type which originated in Southern Asia wandered across the peninsula of Arabia into Eastern Africa, mingling, perhaps, on the way, with the Caucasians from the north, evolving that negroid race known as the Hamite, whence sprang the early Egyptians, and to which the Somali, Gala, Abyssinian, and Nubian owe their origin.

From Eastern Africa this primitive race is thought to have spread, in the course of ages, throughout all Central Africa, and probably to have penetrated almost to the southern and western coasts of that continent, changing their physical characteristics according to their environment, and again modifying those characteristics by subsequent intermixture. The numerous Central African tribes, as they exist to-day, exhibit marked differences in height, shape, language, habits, customs, and even in colour, some being an intense black, some of a chocolate hue, some reddish brown, and some of a bronze aspect. The five main divisions, according to Johnston, appear to be: (1) the forest Pigmy; (2) the Bantu; (3) the Nile Negro; (4) the Masai, and (5) the Hamite.

The native tribes in the neighbourhood of Leopoldville consist chiefly of the Musserongés, the Kakongos, the Baoilis, and the Mayombés.

[Sidenote: Some Tribal Traits.]

The Musserongés are difficult of approach. Not only do they hold themselves severely aloof from the white man, they are also very shy and guarded in their intercourse with other native tribes, and are never known to combine with any of them, even when threatened by a common enemy. They are tall, strong, and better-looking than most members of the Negro race, though this commendation must not be taken for a certificate of beauty. They file their teeth to a point, or cut them square, or into semicircles, their object being to provide themselves thereby with a weapon for use as a last resort in a fight, when they literally throw themselves upon their enemies and seize them by the throat with their fangs, as a bulldog might do. They wear their hair short, and indulge in the practice of tattooing, for purposes of ornament, but not to any great extent. Strange to say, the women are taller and stronger than the men, which may perhaps be explained by the fact that all the work of the tribe, except hunting and fishing, falls to their share.

The Kakongos and Mayombés are less intensely distrustful, but the Baoilis are markedly hostile to the white man. They have been known to refuse to barter oysters—their principal diet, of which they frequently have supplies largely exceeding their requirements—for European commodities which it has been certain that they ardently desired to possess.

[Sidenote: Modes et Robes à la Congo.]

All these four tribes are of cleanly habits; and their practice of bathing daily, when the proximity of a river or lake puts it in their power to do so, may put to shame some of the inhabitants of great cities. The forest tribes, to whom cleanliness by water is impossible, smear their bodies with palm oil and a kind of red ochre, which they afterwards scrape off. The original costume of a few leaves, or an exceedingly small apron made from fibrous bark, for women, and a loincloth of the same material for men, has yielded to the superior attraction of common cotton goods, which now reach them from far-away Manchester or Saxony. These stuffs, ornamented by large patterns in flaming reds or yellows, delight the eye and rejoice the heart of the Congolese maid and matron, while such of the men as desire to stand well with the gentler (?) sex will also condescend to use them. No time and skill are devoted to making a garment. A piece of the gaudy stuff wound in loose folds around the loins suffices both for men and women. In every tribe, children of both sexes are entirely nude until they reach the age of puberty. In at least one tribe, neither men nor women wear any covering. In a few tribes it is customary for the women to remain nude until they are married. Some women denote their married state by covering their breasts with strange ornaments, while others secure this object by elaborately dressing their hair, which they build up to a great height by aid of palm fibre and gum. Both men and women, of whatever tribe, ornament themselves with just as many collars, bangles, and anklets as they can obtain. Without exception, the possession of a few strings of coloured beads is to them a source of great happiness. They gaze upon such treasures with delight and guard them with jealous care. Some of their customs are very peculiar. Men and women will not eat together. A man guilty of eating in company of his wives would be hopelessly disgraced. In time past they have eaten one another, and would doubtless do so again should existing restraint be removed, but they may not eat together. After their separate repast, the sexes mingle again freely, and both engage in smoking their long-stemmed pipes.

[Sidenote: Congo Pigmies.]

All the males of the Congo Pigmies seen by Sir Harry Johnston were circumcised, and all in both sexes had their upper incisor teeth and canines sharpened to a point. In their forest homes they go naked, both men and women; but in presence of strangers the men usually don a small covering of genet, monkey, or antelope skin, or a wisp of bark-cloth, and the women leaves or bark-cloth.

The Pigmies [says Johnston] have practically no religion, and no trace of spirit- or ancestor-worship. They have some idea that thunder, lightning, and rain are the manifestations of a Power or Entity in the heavens, but a bad Power, and when (reluctantly) induced to talk on the subject, they shake their heads and clack their tongues in disapproval, for the mysterious Something in the heavens occasionally slays their comrades with his fire [lightning]. They have little or no belief in a life after death, but sometimes think vaguely that their dead relations live again in the form of the red bushpig, whose strange bristles are among the few brightly coloured objects that attract their attention. They have no settled government or hereditary chief, merely clustering round an able hunter or cunning fighter, and accepting him as law-giver for the time. Marriage is only the purchase of a girl from her father. Women generally give birth to their offspring in the forest, severing the navel string with their teeth, and burying the placenta in the ground. The dead are usually buried in dug graves, and if men of importance, food, tobacco, and weapons are buried with the corpse.

[Sidenote: Cicatrisation.]

The same authority has observed that all the Bantu-speaking forest folk on the Upper Congo practise cicatrisation. Scores and weals of skin are raised either by burning or cutting with a knife, and introducing the irritating juice of a plant into the wound. The effect of this is to raise on the surface of the body large or small lumps of skin. Sometimes these raised weals are so small that they produce almost the effect of tattooing; at other times they are large, ugly excrescences. The Babira people cicatrise their chests and stomachs; but in the forest, toward the waters of the Congo, their faces are hideously scarred. Both men and women of the Bantu Kavirondo extract the two middle incisor teeth from the lower jaw, in the belief that if a man retains all his lower incisor teeth he will be killed in warfare, and that if the wife fails to pull out her teeth it may cause her husband to perish. For the same reason of averting ill-fortune, a woman inflicts cuts on the skin of her forehead, which leave small scars. The women also, as a means of securing good fortune for themselves and their husbands, make a number of small incisions, usually in patterns, in the skin of the abdomen, into which they rub an irritant, so that huge weals rise up into great lumps of skin. The Kavirondo husband, before setting out to fight or starting on a journey attended with great risks, usually makes a few extra incisions on his wife’s body.

[Sidenote: A Gross Fraud.]

The traveller in the Congo will frequently observe repulsive disfigurements in the natives, and is very liable to attribute to the cruelty of oppression what are but manifestations of old-time tribal customs. The danger is accentuated by the organised campaign of slander now proceeding against the Congo Free State, which does not scruple to make capital out of such an opportune circumstance.

Almost all the tribes entertain a hazy notion of an invisible Supreme Being; but they regard themselves as of no account in His estimation, and direct their petitions for supernatural aid to their fetiches, which they endeavour to propitiate by gifts through the medium of their witch doctor or medicine man, a kind of priest who pretends to possess supernatural powers and abuses the credulity of his followers to an extraordinary extent.

[Sidenote: Strangling Widows.]

Among the Mangbettus, a dead chief is buried in a sitting posture, in the centre of a new hut specially built on the banks of a stream. Five of his widows are strangled and their bodies laid out with their feet towards their dead husband. The bodies are then covered with bark-cloth saturated with palm oil, after which the spot is held to be sacred and must not be approached, under penalty of death, by anybody but the ruling chief and one attendant.

[Sidenote: The Azandé.]

At the mouth of the Uelle is found the great mass of the Azandé, a very numerous and important tribe, who range the country from 23 degrees east to 30 degrees west, and from 6 degrees north to 3 degrees south. There are three subdivisions of the Azandé—the Abandjia, the Avongura, and the Makraka, born fighters all, and devoted to cannibalism. Some of the Azandé men, however, will eat only the flesh of their enemies whom they have slain in battle, declining a diet of human flesh otherwise obtained, though they all (except such of them as dwell south of the Uelle) forbid their women and children to touch it.

And here arises a curious subject for speculation. The cannibalistic Azandé are much farther advanced in the arts of peace and war than many other tribes that are not cannibal—the forest Pigmies, for instance. Notwithstanding some peculiar customs concerning them, they hold their women in high regard, and never barter them for goats and cows, the almost universal practice among other Central African tribes. Their skill, too, in agriculture, pottery, and in the making and playing of their musical instruments, seems quite incompatible with their abhorred anthropophagy.

Each Azandé chief is really a despotic king. His power over his subjects is absolute, and any one of them who is so unfortunate as to offend him is simply handed over to the executioner, a procedure which to the Azandé mind seems the most natural thing in the world. The courage of the Azandés is beyond praise. They know no fear; and when assailed by a murderous fire, against which they have no chance of success, they will rush right up to their enemy and grapple with him hand to hand, though nine-tenths of their fellows fall by the way. Their favourite weapons are the lance and light throwing-spear, and each warrior carries, in addition, a shield.

[Sidenote: Ordeal by Poison.]

Among the Azandé, criminals condemned to death are despatched with the lance. Occasionally, however, they employ a peculiar method of trial, known as the ordeal by poison, which precludes this method of execution. On such occasions the chief acts as judge, and the person accused is made to drink a cup of poison, the theory being that if the accusation is baseless the accused survives unharmed. Of course, the invariable result is that the drinker falls dead within a minute or so. It is safe to assume that an Azandé chief is sufficiently intelligent never to subject one of his tribe to this ordeal whose death he has not previously determined upon.

[Sidenote: Blood-Brotherhood.]

Another singular custom, not peculiar to the Azandé, but common to all Central African tribes, is the ceremony of blood-brotherhood. Two men who are in no way related having agreed to become “blood-brothers,” i. e., to live in peace and amity for ever after, meet in the open air, in the presence of the chiefs and people, when a small incision is made in the forearm of each “brother,” sufficiently deep to cause a little blood to flow. Each mutilated one then licks the blood from the other’s arm, and thenceforth they are related as brothers.

A slight modification of this ceremony was early conceded by the various chiefs to accommodate the pardonable squeamishness of Europeans; and now, instead of licking each other’s blood, the “brothers” merely rub their incisions together, so that their blood may mingle. Stanley was made blood-brother to so many African chiefs that at last his arm was well scored with incisions. Several Belgian commandants, and a few Englishmen, have submitted to this operation; always, it is almost needless to remark, from motives of policy, for it has been proved that Africans regard the rite with real veneration, and esteem the “brother” they acquire by it at least as highly as they would a natural brother.

It is not necessary in this place to give the names of all the tribes of which the native population of the vast Congo region is composed. They are numerous, and for the most part not easily pronounceable. Of the tribes not already referred to, the Basundis, Bakuendas, Batekas, Bayanzis, Bangalas, Batetelas, Mongos, Bantu, and Mombettus are most prominent. While differing in personal appearance, prowess, habits, and customs, clearly denoting that they are not descended from a common stock, there are not wanting certain traits which distinguish them all. All are polygamous, nearly all are cannibal, and the morals of the most advanced among them such as shock the average civilised man upon his first contact with them. Strangely inconsistent with the low moral sense which prevails among most of the tribes, some of them punish the crime of adultery with death, others by horribly mutilating the male offender.

[Sidenote: Cannibalism.]

Cannibalism has long been suppressed by the Congo Government just as murder is suppressed among civilised communities; but the horrid practice is still indulged here and there, as opportunity occurs for evading the vigilance of the authorities. So recently as 1898, and possibly to the present day, it was necessary to maintain a constant guard at the cemetery in Leopoldville, the chief station on the Upper Congo, to prevent the Bangalas unearthing the dead and carrying them off to feast upon. Several such cases were proved against them, and capital punishment had to be resorted to in order to stamp it out. This horrid subject is sickening to contemplate; but no description, however brief or superficial, of the Congo people, can ignore a fact which has occasioned, and still presents, such a tremendous difficulty for civilisation to surmount. This is but one of many difficulties with which the Congo Free State has had to contend, and those who sit in judgment upon that State should bear in mind that the Central African black is not by nature predisposed to civilisation. Not all the cannibal tribes are so repulsive and cruel as the Bangalas. Most of them eat no other human flesh but that of their enemies slain in battle. That source of supply will not suffice for the Bangalas, who make up its deficiency with prisoners or slaves. Having broken their victim’s limbs, they place him in a pool of water, with his head supported just above its surface so that he may not drown. After having left him in that position for three days (if he survives so long), he is killed and eaten. Another method is to behead the victim, singe all the hair from the body over an ember fire, and then cut it into pieces for cooking. The portions not immediately eaten are smoke-dried and put aside for another occasion. The teeth are extracted and made into necklaces by the women. Sometimes the skin is used for drumheads.

[Sidenote: Polygamy.]

It is the general opinion of competent observers that polygamy will for many years survive the extinction of cannibalism. Nothing but the spirit of Christianity will overcome that evil. The native mind cannot be induced by ordinary argument to see any wrong in it. Why a man should not have just as many wives as he can afford to buy and keep is too much for his comprehension. He regards woman as created solely for his pleasure and profit, and trades in her accordingly. He buys her from her father for one or two goats or a cow; she becomes the mother of his children, and prepares and cooks his food for him. That is her career, and she shares it with as many other wives as her husband’s inclination and resources permit him to buy. When she dies she is buried—sometimes. Certain Central African tribes regard burial after death as a superfluous ceremony for women, and place their bodies where they will be devoured by hyænas and vultures. From two to three wives is the average quantum of the ordinary Central African barbarian, and between thirty and forty for a chief.

After their prodigious effort and expense in suppressing the slave trade, the Belgians set to work to weld into a homogeneous civilised State a vast region full of warring tribes with attributes such as these, utterly oblivious to all sense of right and truth as readers of these pages understand these words.

[Sidenote: A Reflection.]

Looking at the Congolese as they were in 1876, and again as they are in 1905, who can honestly deny that King Leopold has, so far, well performed his arduous mission?

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIV. THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

[Sidenote: To Maintain Order.]

The State’s military organisation is constituted by what is called the Congo Public Force (Force Publique). It had its origin in the necessities of the International Association before the State had gone far along its difficult way. It was recruited from the blacks of Zanzibar and along the West Coast at Lagos, Sierra Leone, Elmira, and Accra. The first troops were, therefore, foreigners—Zanzibaris and Haussas. Their foreign origin was, in a sense, an element of security to the Association when it had to direct repressive measures against some of the Congolese tribes. The Zanzibaris and the Haussas had great military aptitude and, lacking sympathy for the Congolese, were generally loyal to their commanders. They loved an enemy from the instinct inherent in savage natures.

The maintenance of this early body of troops was exceedingly expensive for the young State. Besides food, uniform, and medical attendance, these mercenaries received one franc twenty-five centimes a day. Moreover, on the expiration of their term of service they were sent back to their homes at the expense of the Government. As the term of their engagement was only three years, this obligation formed an important addition to their cost.

It was beyond the financial power of the State to provide an adequate military organisation on such a basis. While the administrators of the Congo were devising means for the support of an efficient force at a reduced cost, the British government on the Gold Coast prohibited further recruiting of Haussas by foreign states. Barred from getting its soldiers from surrounding British territory, the Congo Government proceeded to develop its earlier plans for raising a native local force, the first purpose of which was that it should supplement the main body of regular troops.

The nucleus of what is the present Public Force were the men of the Bangala tribe, whom Captain Coquilhat employed as armed police when he founded Equateurville in 1885. A short time thereafter, Captain Van Dorpe made the same experiment among the Manyanga. Finding the men from both tribes fit for a military career, the principle of employing aboriginal races in the Public Force was followed with the rapid establishment of the numerous posts and stations erected at that time. The wisdom of employing natives for the organisation of such a national force was soon apparent. In 1888 an order was issued to form eight companies of one hundred and fifty men, with power to increase the number to two hundred and fifty. It was not, however, till 1891 that Baron Van Eetvelde and the Governor-General, M. Camille Janssen, drafted a practical scheme for the foundation of a permanent Public Force. Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger, whose volume entitled The Congo State treats at length of the subject up to 1898, describes the scheme which the Sovereign had approved:

The principal features of the scheme were, that the force should be divided into twelve companies corresponding with the administrative districts, and that one hundred and twenty European officers, chiefly Belgians, should be appointed to the command and disciplining of this force. The different grades of this army were: one commandant, eleven captains, ten lieutenants, thirty-nine sub-lieutenants, and sixty sergeants. The new system of recruiting was of two kinds. The first provided for the engagement of volunteers for a period not exceeding seven years, and the second for an enforced levy of militia by order of the Governor-General, and arranged between the commissary of the district affected and the local chiefs. The levy was to be made, wherever possible, by lot, among the men between the ages of fourteen and thirty. The term of service for the latter was to be five years, with a further period of two years in the reserve. Each man received, besides food for himself and his wife (if he had one), a daily pay of twenty-one centimes, or a sixth of that which had to be paid for the alien soldier. Moreover, the expense of sending the men back to their homes was reduced to a minimum. The reduction in the cost meant, besides a saving to the Government, the possibility of raising the strength of the force to a figure more in proportion to the requirements of the State. Of the old alien contingent, it has never been found possible to maintain more than three thousand men, and the native contribution to this was about two hundred; but in 1891 the latter was increased to sixteen hundred men, and in 1897, by which time the alien element had been eliminated, the Public Force was raised to a grand total of eight thousand militiamen and four thousand volunteers. The number of companies had been raised to twenty-two, with a nominal strength of nine thousand five hundred and forty men at the end of last year (1897), whereas in 1891 the total was only two thousand nine hundred and fifty.

For the purpose of training these forces, seven camps of about five hundred men each were formed, and the period of training the men undergo is fixed at eighteen months. The uniform is blue linen, or, for full uniform, blue cloth, with a scarlet fez. The arm in general use is the Albini, with a short bayonet. The white officers carry the Mauser rifle, with a magazine. The greatest pains is taken in the fire-training and discipline of the men. Competitions are held every three months among sections of fifty men, and prizes awarded. A great improvement has been effected in the housing of the troops, who are now almost entirely accommodated in brick barracks. The artillery of the force is of considerable strength, and includes, Krupps, Maxims and Nordenfelts.

The seven camps of instruction are Zambi, for the Lower Congo; Kinshassa, Bolobo, Irebu, Kassongo, Umangi, La Romee, for the Upper Congo. The principal armed camps, as they are called (because they are bases of military power), are those at Lusambo, Bomokandi, and the Aruwimi; but Vankerckhovenville, Dungu, and Redjaf are now of equal, if not of greater, importance. At Kinshassa, on Stanley Pool, a fort with a battery has been constructed for the protection of Leopoldville and the railway terminus; and here an experiment has been successfully tried of utilising the services of prisoners of war. Men selected from the captives of the numerous expeditions have been passed through a probationary course on the works of this place, and in this manner a considerable number of recruits have been obtained for the Public Force on more favourable terms than the militiamen recruited through the chiefs. Kinshassa is not the only fortified place within the State territory; for at Chinkakassa, near Boma, a strong fort has been constructed, commanding the navigation of the Congo and the approaches from the ocean. Here Captain Petillon, of the Belgian Engineers, has placed eight Krupps and a number of smaller guns in an admirably selected position, while the Mongos tribe, from the Equateurville district, has supplied an adequate number of skilful and handy gunners. The authorities of the Congo State will experience no difficulty in procuring suitable men for this arm of their Public Force.

The first and oldest company of the Public Force deserves a special notice to itself. This is the auxiliary company of the Congo Railway, and was founded by royal decree of 9th August, 1890, or twelve months earlier than the decree constituting the general force. Its organisation was entrusted to Captain Weyns, an officer of the Carabiniers. Its strength was first fixed at the modest total of fifty men; in 1892 it was increased to a hundred men, and afterwards it received a further addition of fifty men. The task entrusted to this corps was the protection of the railway works and of the villages through which the railway passed. As eight thousand navvies were employed on the line, and as these were composed of many nationalities, the task was no sinecure, but it was performed with perfect success and without friction. The auxiliary force was recruited in a different manner from the rest of the military. It contained several elements: for instance, twenty-five Senegalese, and fifty Batetelas from the country between the Sankuru and the Lualaba. Although of precisely the same race as the mutineers of the Dhanis column, the latter gave no trouble in 1897. Like the other militiamen of the State, they serve for five years with the colours and for two years in the reserve, but the cost of maintaining this corps is borne by the railway company. It, however, forms an integral part of the general Public Force, and can be utilised if any occasion arises. Captain Weyns reported so favourably of the quickness of the Batetela recruits and their military aptitude, that all vacancies in this company are now, like those in the rest of the Public Force, filled up with natives of the Congo territory.

In the archives of the Congo State’s Administration in Brussels, there are interesting official reports dealing with the question of creating a reliable native force from the most civilised of the Congolese tribes. The problem was not without many peculiar difficulties. Baron Van Eetvelde, whose lofty aims for Congolese civilisation were fortified with many wise measures of great utility to the Government, had formulated plans for the establishment of a system of military conscription, as to which in January, 1897, he reported as follows:

The State has set itself to the task of creating a purely national army, with the view of lightening the budget of the considerable charges which weighed upon it through having to recruit abroad, and also with the view of putting an end, in accordance with the highest dictates of policy, to its dependence in this matter upon foreigners. It considers, moreover, the period of military service as a salutary school for the native, where he will learn respect for authority and the obligations of duty. It is happy, from this view, to see the number of national militiamen increase, and, in order that the institution may preserve all its value, special provisions have been made to prevent abuses, to regulate the recruiting, to assure the welfare of soldiers on service, and to provide occupation for those who have served their term. The decree on the recruiting of the Public Force is not more rigorous than any other similar act of legislation, and the incorporation is made under as sure guarantees of human liberty as in the armies of Europe. As is the case in almost all countries, the recruiting, independent of voluntary engagements, is made by annual levies, but “within the limits of the contingent fixed by the King-Sovereign,” and within these limits “the Governor-General determines the districts and localities in which the levy is to be made, and also the proportion to be furnished by each locality.... The mode according to which the levy operates is determined by the district commissary in agreement with the native chief; and although the drawing by lot is recommended, we must recognise that it would be difficult, in the present circumstances, to have recourse always and everywhere to this method in each village, and to refuse to recognise the customary authority of the village chief, when he designates the militiamen among his own dependants.... The length of active service is for five years. At the expiration of this term, the men pass two years in the reserve. The time passed under the colours, then, cannot exceed seven years—a term which experience shows not to be excessive; and it is strictly forbidden to keep under the flags men who are no longer borne on the lists, or whose term of service has expired, under pain of misdemeanour. These organic dispositions have been completed by instructions, which prescribe on the officers ‘to watch carefully that the men receive a sufficient nourishment, are comfortably housed, that the sick are well taken care of, that the men are always properly treated, that their misconduct is dealt with in conformity with the regulations, and carefully avoiding all excessive severity.

In fact, this system renders light for the native his obligations as a soldier. We do not desire any other proof than those four thousand volunteers who are actually enrolled, and those numerous re-engagements, which show the taste of the native for the profession of arms. It was not with an army of malcontents that the State could have carried out its anti-slavery campaign. The State continues to interest itself in its soldiers after their term has expired. The time-expired men, sent back to their homes at its expense, together with their wives and children (if there are any), are the object of special protection, and receive concessions of land in a station at their own choice.

The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates the great improvement to which the Public Force has attained since the date of Baron Van Eetvelde’s statement of the system which prevailed in 1897. Local experience in savage lands should be the foundation of the reforms imposed. In the case of the State’s Public Force, many local conditions, traits, and prejudices, and much inaptitude, were encountered to modify or extend those principles of police control which the State’s earlier administration had adopted with characteristic hopefulness. M. Fuchs sets forth the present position of the Force with considerable detail and suggestion:

The Government is aware that the military service of the black race must be the object of constant watchfulness, in order that it may be impossible for them to practise the cruelties to which their primitive instincts might impel them.

The officers and commanders of the troops have been often warned that they must show themselves inflexible guardians of the observance of those instructions, which have been issued for the protection of the natives against any possible abuse on the part of soldiers left in isolated positions or subject to insufficient control. Instructions have been given to this effect—and I am happy to be able to say that they have been almost everywhere faithfully carried out. Any contravention of the order forbidding the despatch of armed soldiers under the command of black officers is also severely punished, and may entail even the dismissal of the agent in fault. These measures have been completed by the formal prohibition of the employment of auxiliaries under no matter what circumstances.

It has also been laid down that direct relations are to be established between the natives and European agents. In order still further to strengthen the maintenance of discipline among the soldiers of the black race, the regulations on the subject have been completed by the penalty of dismissal from the Public Force. This is the most severe punishment in the eyes of the soldiers, for they highly esteem the profession of arms. Dismissal from the Public Force is inflicted on those soldiers who show themselves absolutely incorrigible or who are unworthy to remain in the ranks. In order to surround this rigorous measure with all the necessary guarantees, the soldiers whom it is wished to dismiss are brought before a Council of Discipline. The dismissal is pronounced, at Boma by the Commander of the Public Force; in the districts by the District Commissioner or by the head of the expedition, after examining the charge, the evidence, and the decision of the Council. Chiefs of zones cannot pronounce dismissal.

The Government have just finally decided that, for the future, the soldiers of the Public Force shall not take part in work at the stations, and that their time shall be exclusively given up to their instruction, education, and military service. The former arrangements which put soldiers, during some hours of the day, at the disposal of the territorial chiefs, chiefs of zones, and chiefs of posts, over and above the hours assigned for military duty, have been modified so as to maintain in a more continuous fashion the men under the control of their officers. In order to make this decision of the Government as fruitful as possible, the territorial chiefs have been ordered to reduce to the effective force strictly necessary for the assurance of security, the garrisons stationed at the posts in zones and districts, and to concentrate at the chief places in the territory garrisons as complete as possible. These measures are intended to produce the best results from the point of view of educating and instructing the troops, as well as from that of assuring military discipline, provided the territorial chiefs scrupulously carry out the new instructions mentioned above.

It has also been pointed out to them that it will be expressly recommended to the officials charged with the inspection—and the Government has decided to increase the inspections throughout the State territories—to ascertain if all these instructions, concerning the execution of the new table of daily work for the public force, have been carried out.

The other measures of organisation which have been passed, the formal prohibition to establish posts commanded by black officers, or to confide military operations to them, and finally forbidding the practice of taking sub-officers from their military duties to employ them as chiefs of stations, are of a nature to make us hope that very soon our public force will constitute a body in which we may have complete confidence.

In February, 1904, I thought it my duty to point out to the Government the manner in which instruction was given in the camps, and to draw its attention to the necessity that there would be to engage quickly a superior officer entrusted more especially with the mission of seeing to the higher direction and the general control of all the orders issued concerning the Public Force. The Government, which had also occupied itself with the question, has confided this high employment to a superior officer who will be entrusted with the command of the Public Force.

The Government has resolved to send, at the same time three or four officers of the grade of commandant to be attached to the staff of the Public Force, and whom the commander will be able to appoint to exercise constant control over the companies and camps.

It is right to recall the fact that military service is so far from constituting a laborious servitude for those subjected to it, by virtue of the organic law of conscription, that voluntary engagements increase from year to year. Besides, the instructions of the Government encourage this state of mind by improving the well-being of the soldier from the triple point of view of habitation, food, and clothing. And they are not only natives of Congolese territory, properly speaking, who seek there military employment; numerous Africans coming from the English colonies of the West Coast solicit engagement at Boma.

The table (on page 174) of the engagements of men, natives of the coast and British subjects, is characteristic in this respect.

The multiplicity of voluntary enrolments will gradually remove, from the absolutely indispensable law of conscription, what might seem rigorous, particularly in the eyes of people not yet thoroughly acquainted with civilisation, and with the idea of the necessity of public order.

It is nevertheless important to note that the efforts attempted with the view of nationalising the police forces are being crowned more and more with success. The State can now renounce the assistance, elsewhere advantageous, of foreign mercenaries, thanks to the methodical, extensive, and wise application of the militia law, and especially to the considerable increase in the number of national volunteers. But there

Abbreviations: Eng. = Engaged; R-Eng. = Re-Engaged; Offcs. = Officers —————++——————————————————++—————————————————————++——————————————————— || ACCRA || HAUSSAS || SIERRA- || || (LAGOS) || LEONESE || (British) || (British) || (British) Years||————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+—————— ||Eng.|R-eng.|Offcs.|| Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs.||Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs. —————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+—————— 1883 || — | — | — || 50 | — | — || — | — | — 1884 || — | — | — || 30 | — | — || — | — | — 1885 || — | — | — || 20 | — | 2 || — | — | — 1886 || — | — | — || 5 | — | 2 || — | — | — 1887 || — | — | — || 642 | 20 | 16 || — | — | — 1888 || — | — | — || 300 | 5 | 17 || — | — | — 1889 || — | — | — || 10 | 5 | 4 || 204 | — | — 1890 || — | — | — || 1,200 | 53 | 12 || — | — | — 1891 || — | — | — || 542 | 6 | 11 || 9 | — | — 1892 || — | — | — || 300 | 16 | 9 || 125 | 13 | 3 1893 ||192 | — | 3 || 450 | 13 | 9 || 790 | 3 | 9 1894 ||295 | — | 1 || 760 | 14 | 14 || 710 | 5 | 2 1895 || 36 | — | 2 || 330 | 10 | 11 || 72 | 20 | 2 1896 || 3 | 2 | — || 300 | 28 | 11 || 136 | 40 | 10 1897 || 6 | 6 | — || 70 | 6 | 8 || 55 | 43 | 2 1898 || 8 | 13 | 3 || 200 | 11 | 14 || 200 | 37 | 12 1899 || 19 | 1 | 1 || 71 | 40 | 15 || 76 | 52 | 9 1900 || 1 | 5 | — || 20 | 17 | 5 || 50 | 38 | 8 1901 || 1 | 3 | — || 15 | 26 | 6 || 92 | 43 | 9 1902 || 2 | 6 | 1 || 10 | 50 | 4 || 42 | 70 | 10 1903 || — | 7 | — || 10 | 21 | 7 || 37 | 59 | 6 —————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+—————— ||563 | 43 | 11 || 5,335 | 341 | 177 ||2,598| 423 | 82 —————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————

could be no question of abandoning the system of recruiting by means of regional conscription. It signifies, indeed, that all the population throughout the whole extent of the territory participates in this public charge as much in the interests of the regular and permanent operation of the recruiting of the national militia as in that also of the natives who benefit by the lessons of their military profession (a sense of order, discipline, cleanliness, clothes, hygiene, habitation, &c.). The stay in the ranks of the armed force has as its principal advantage their initiation in civilised life, and their preparation for a regular life of work.

The proportion of deaths has become very low among the blacks of the Public Force and among the labourers. This is due in a great degree to the improved conditions under which our men live. The lodgment is well aired and neatly kept. The food is varied as much as possible, and its careful preparation is provided for. The camps of the soldiers of the Public Force are well kept up. Barracks constructed in stone with cemented floors serve in the Lower Congo as lodgment for our troops. The black officers have their habitation separate from that of their men.

In the stations on the upper river these prescripts are also well followed. At Boma the creation of a working city, constructed of well-chosen materials, is in progress.

It is interesting to quote with regard to the constant and progressive improvement in the existence of the natives the following paragraphs from the report of Mr. Casement, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul:

“Then (in 1887) I had visited most of the places I now revisited, and I was thus able to institute a comparison between a state of affairs I had myself seen when the natives lived their own savage lives in anarchic and disorderly communities, uncontrolled by Europeans, and that created by more than a decade of very energetic European intervention. That very much of this intervention has been called for, no one who formerly knew the Upper Congo could doubt, and there are to-day widespread proofs of the great energy displayed by Belgian officials in introducing their methods of rule over one of the most savage regions of Africa.

“Admirably built and admirably kept stations greet the traveller at many points.

“The Government station of Leopoldville numbers, I was informed by its chief, some 130 Europeans, and probably 300 native Government workmen, who all dwell in well-ordered lines of either very well-built European houses, or, for the native staff, mud-built huts.

“On the whole, Government workmen at Leopoldville struck me as being well cared for, and they were certainly none of them idle.”

In thus taking care of their employés the agents have performed a duty which has not only resulted in the well-being of the blacks, but has also allowed of a reduction in the number of the workers, and accomplishing better and more rapidly executed work.

[Sidenote: Imperfect, but Good.]

It will be observed elsewhere in this volume that some of those who condemn the State’s system of government point to the Force Publique as the chief instrument by which the Administration encompasses the enslavement of the native population. There are glaring discrepancies in what such persons, either maliciously or in ignorance, represent as the police system which prevails in the State at the present time. There does not exist a police system anywhere in Europe or Africa which has not some inherent defect. To expect the highest discipline and the utmost control in a police body composed of the imperfectly civilised Negroes of Equatorial Africa is only one manifestation of that narrow, unintelligent outlook upon the subject over which certain persons are agitating themselves into suspicious frenzy. The report of M. Fuchs denotes that the State’s police system is founded upon high principles of justice, that discipline and order are being maintained without the abuse of power, and that, whatever individuals may have done to transgress in the sphere of their opportunity, no such extravagant charges of misgovernment as a few persons have made can be fixed upon a State with the police laws above indicated. A million square miles of savage territory are governed with 14,270 natives enrolled in the State’s military service. This is seven soldiers to about every 625 square miles. Does this not signify native respect for, and tranquillity in, the State? What civilised community maintains its authority with such a meagre force?

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XV. BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS

[Sidenote: A Fight to the Death.]

IT had long been foreseen, as an inevitable result of the advent of the Belgians in Central Africa, that a direct conflict between them and the Arabs, continued to the extinction of one or other of the belligerents, must sooner or later take place. The chief cause of the presence of the Belgians in the country being the suppression of slavery was in itself sufficient to assure this. As shown in the chapter dealing with that subject, the Belgian pioneers in establishing posts throughout the country were guided chiefly in their selection of sites by a desire to obstruct the natural routes of the slave-traders; and this, as we have seen, had the effect of frequently bringing Belgians and Arabs into collision.

After the Belgian operations on the Uelle and Lualaba, the Arabs became seriously alarmed. They perceived not only their nefarious method of livelihood at stake, but their very existence as a coherent fighting force was also threatened. In dread at this prospect, the Arabs resolved to precipitate matters, and took the offensive. It is not easy to see what other conclusion they could have reached, for the Belgians had now concerted practical measures which rendered their raids upon Negro villages no longer possible, while such Negro chiefs as had hitherto been amenable to Arab influence had been either alienated or killed off in fair fight. A tax on ivory, too, imposed by the Congo Government in 1891, though moderate in amount and perfectly just in its incidence, was bitterly resented by them. It was clear, therefore, that the only hope for the Arabs lay in recovering the country which the Belgians had wrested from them; and as with every day that passed their chances of doing this became more remote, they resolved to stake all that was left to them upon one desperate effort.

The first practical proof of this intention came upon the Belgians somewhat as a surprise. M. Hodister, acting on behalf of the Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, a company of merchant adventurers, had founded two stations on the river Lomami. In this act, M. Hodister was held by the Congo Administration to have exceeded the range permitted him, Lieutenant Le Marinel, the Belgian officer commanding that region, having foreseen danger in pressing so closely upon the Arabs, a contingency with which he was not as yet prepared to deal. But the opportunity of striking a blow afforded by Hodister’s precipitate act was too inviting to be neglected, and the Arabs promptly seized it. The blow fell March 15, 1892, near Riba Riba, on the Congo, the Arabs murdering Hodister and his ten white companions. It was not a fight; it was a massacre. Elated by their success, the Arabs next proceeded to burn the factories belonging to the Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, and to kill their inmates; so that, for the moment, the collapse of Belgian power in that section of the country was complete.

Another event that occurred about this time served to emphasise the determination of the Arabs. Rashid,[16] the Arab governor of Stanley Falls, on being invited by the Belgians to assist in obtaining the punishment of the murderers of Hodister and his companions, absolutely refused to have anything to do with the matter, and with difficulty concealed the satisfaction he felt at that tragic event. Sefu, a son of Tippo Tip, began now to realise his father’s property, an ominously significant act. On all sides it was felt that a crisis was at hand, and Lieut. Le Marinel prepared to meet it by appointing to the command of the camp at Lusambo Lieut. Francis Dhanis, an officer who had distinguished himself by founding the camp at Bosoko, on the Aruwimi, and in many other ways exhibited uncommon energy and resource.

Immediately upon the arrival of Lieut. Dhanis at Lusambo, intelligence reached him that Gongo Lutete was on the war-path, seeking to pass the Sankuru. This Gongo Lutete was a Negro chief who had allied himself with the Arabs and assisted them in enslaving his own race. The following is a description of him from the pen of Dr. Sidney Hinde:

Gongo Lutete was by blood a Bakussu. He had himself been a slave, having as a child fallen into the hands of the Arabs. While still a youth, as a reward for his distinguished conduct and pluck on raiding expeditions, he was given his freedom. Starting with one gun at eighteen years of age, he gradually collected a band of brigands round him, whom he ruled with a rod of iron, and before long became Tippo Tip’s chief slave and ivory hunter. At the time of his adhesion to the State, Gongo was perhaps thirty years of age. He was a well-built, intelligent-looking man of about five feet nine inches in height, with a brown skin, large brown eyes with very long lashes, a small mouth with thin lips, and a straight comparatively narrow nose. His hands were his most remarkable characteristic; they were curiously supple, with long narrow fingers, which when outstretched had always the top joint slightly turned back. One or both hands were in constant movement, opening and shutting restlessly, especially when he was under any strong influence. His features meanwhile remained absolutely immovable. One had to see this man on the war-path to realise the different aspects of his character. The calm, haughty chief, or the genial and friendly companion, became on the battle-field an enthusiastic individual with a highly nervous organisation, who hissed out his orders one after another without a moment’s hesitation. He was capable of sustaining intense fatigue, and would lead his warriors through the country at a run for hours together.

With such a redoubtable fighter as Gongo Lutete to contend with, it was clear to Lieut. Dhanis that no time must be lost. Believing, with von Moltke, that the best defence against your enemy is to attack him, Dhanis moved against Lutete without delay, and brought him to battle on the 23d of April, and again on the 5th and 9th of May. The first two engagements were undecisive. The third proved a hard fight. At first the fortunes of the day were all in favour of the Arabs; and when his native auxiliaries turned and fled it seemed impossible for Lieut. Dhanis to gain the victory. But that very circumstance, so disconcerting in itself, saved the Belgians. As the Arabs advanced, they shouted: “Do not fire! These are natives; make them prisoners.” It was a fatal command. The Belgians rallied, and received their foes with such a tremendous fusillade that they were thrown into confusion and took refuge in flight. Gongo Lutete surrendered unconditionally to Lieut. Dhanis, and professed himself henceforth a faithful vassal of the Congo State. He was an able man, probably the most intelligent of the Negro race in the country, and certainly the best acquainted with the wily Arab and his ways; so, after some hesitation, his overtures of friendship were accepted. The force which Gongo Lutete had commanded being now at the disposal of the Belgians, its first employment under its new masters was the establishment of a new post on the Lomami, at Gandu, on the route to Nyangwe and Kassongo.

[Sidenote: Arab Treachery.]

Meanwhile Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had not been inactive. With cunning worthy of his father, he had no sooner returned from Stanley Falls to Kassongo than he made war upon the station there and seized it. Two Belgian officers, Lieutenants Lippens and De Bruyn, were also captured by him, to whom he confided the comforting assurance that he only refrained from putting them to death because he hoped to find them useful as hostages in his negotiations with the Congo Government. Sefu had for his ally Munie Moharra, chief of Manyema, a powerful Arab leader. Between them they raised a formidable force, which they hastened to employ against the Belgians. Before doing so, however, they stated the terms upon which they would make peace. As these terms included, among other provisions, handing over to them Gongo Lutete and the establishment of a new frontier to be indicated by them, there was really nothing for the Belgians to consider. Their terms being, of course, refused, the Arabs marched from Nyangwe and Kassongo in the direction of the Lomami. Their exact numbers are not known; but notwithstanding the defection of Gongo Lutete and his following, it is certain that they were very numerous.

The force at the disposal of Lieut. Dhanis, though not so great as that of the Arabs, was yet a considerable one. His staff consisted of seven Europeans, and he had three hundred and fifty regular troops and one 7-5 Krupp gun. The command of the troops acquired by Gongo Lutete’s defection from the Arabs, numbering several thousands, was entrusted to Captain Michaux, with Lieut. Duchesne second in command. The Arabs having crossed the Lomami at a lower point than where they had been expected, were met by Captain Michaux and Gongo Lutete at Chige, and a battle ensued. The Arabs numbered sixteen thousand men, not more than half of whom were armed with muskets, the rest carrying bows and spears. Lutete having complained that his men could not fight because their guns had become wet with the rain, Michaux, knowing that the Arabs must be labouring under a like difficulty, ordered a general attack. His men responded nobly and a fierce fight ensued, but it was of brief duration. Perceiving that they were out-generalled, the Arabs became confused and rushed madly into the river which they had recently been at so much pains to cross, only to find that retreat was impossible. In that situation they were shot down in great numbers. Twelve hundred Arabs were drowned, more than half that number lay dead upon the battle-field, and nearly a thousand prisoners were captured, together with a large quantity of war material. Thus opened the Arab campaign on November 23, 1892, with the battle of Chige.

Having re-formed his forces, Lieut. Dhanis now crossed the Lomami, determined to carry the war into the enemy’s stronghold. His army, which had been reinforced, was now quite a large one, numbering six Belgian officers, four hundred regulars, and twenty-five thousand natives, the latter being commanded in detail by their own chiefs. Lieut. Scherlink and Dr. Hinde commanded the advance guard. Michaux and Gongo Lutete marched together, and joined forces with Scherlink and Hinde at Lusana. On the route, several Negro chiefs made their submission and strengthened the force with men and provisions.

[Sidenote: A Triple Tragedy.]

On reaching Lusana, the Belgian leaders learned with deep regret that Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had put to death their brave comrades, De Bruyn and Lippens, and that he had also executed a native who had endeavoured to save them, in circumstances at once pathetic and heroic. Sefu, it now appeared, accompanied by Munie Moharra, was hurrying to attack Dhanis, and the latter instructed Lieutenants Delcommune and Francqui, then just returned from Katanga, to intercept him if possible.

But the second battle of the campaign was to be fought by Dhanis’ force. It took place on December 30th, and opened inauspiciously for the Belgians, Gongo Lutete’s men being defeated and dispersed. Fortunately they formed only the advanced guard, and on Dhanis and Michaux coming up the fortune of the day changed. Dhanis confined his energies to a frontal attack, while Michaux assailed the Arabs’ flank. What Lutete’s irregulars had been unable to do, the Belgians accomplished—but not easily. Part of the battle was fought in a swamp.

The Belgians displayed great courage under extraordinary difficulties, and continued the fight until the Arabs broke and fled. The honours of the day rested with the Krupp gun, which killed many and frightened more. The Arabs left two hundred men dead on the field, the Congo State only eighty, in which number is included the wounded. When the Belgians captured their enemies’ camp, it was found that they had slain their own women, that being the barbarous custom of the Arabs to which they resort whenever there is danger of their women being made prisoners of war.

Immediately after this battle, the Congo State force crossed the Mwadi to a plateau known as the Gois Kapopa, and, having set up a camp there, rested for a week. At the end of that period intelligence reached Lieutenant Dhanis that Sefu had gathered about him a vast following and was again threatening trouble. Slightly counteracting the danger this implied, the same messenger also announced that, by order of Lieutenant Delcommune, Lieutenant Cassart, with a numerous body of men, was then on his way to join Dhanis.

Cassart came, as announced, but met with a desperate adventure by the way. He had been entrusted to bring to Dhanis fifty thousand cartridges, and was provided with an escort of thirty European soldiers and about two hundred and fifty of Gongo Lutete’s men. All went well with him until dawn of January 9, 1893, when he was suddenly attacked by Moharra. A short, sharp fight ensued, as a result of which Cassart contrived to reach Dhanis’ camp with a loss of only seven men; he also saved his cartridges, all but the five thousand or so that he had used during the fight.

The conflict between Moharra and Cassart occurred not far from the Belgian camp and was heard there, whereupon Dhanis sent a detachment of his men under Lieutenant De Wouters to join Cassart. De Wouters failed to effect his object; but he came upon a portion of Moharra’s men, who mistook his force for a contingent from Sefu coming to their aid. When within twenty yards of the Arabs, De Wouters undeceived them by opening a terrific fire upon them. At the first volley Moharra fell dead. He had been wounded in his fight with Cassart, and was being carried by his wives when he met his fate.

[Sidenote: A Cannibal Feast.]

The manner in which the news of Moharra’s death was conveyed to Sefu is a sufficiently striking proof of the debased savagery with which the Belgian civilisers have had to contend. They “broke the news gently” to him, thus: “We ate Moharra a few days ago.”

The death of Moharra and defeat of his troops so upset Sefu’s calculations that he immediately abandoned his strong camp on the Kipango, and betook himself and his followers behind the Lualaba, on Nyangwe. But for the unfortunate breaking of a bridge, Dhanis would have attacked him in his retreat. In consequence of that accident, Sefu was enabled to cross the river without molestation. Dhanis, having no canoes, could not come up with him; so the two forces settled down on either side of the river for five weeks and occasionally exchanged harmless shots.

The canoes in which the Arabs had crossed the river belonged to the Wagenia, a tribe who made their home hereabouts and who lived chiefly by fishing. Nearly all their canoes were now in the possession of the Arabs, who evinced no disposition to part from them. Dhanis exerted all his wit to induce the Wagenia to provide him with canoes, but they either could not or would not. Professing friendship for both belligerents, and ready at all times to take bribes from each, they proved useful go-betweens. One day the Wagenia reported that the store of provisions in Nyangwe was almost exhausted. “Here,” said Dhanis to his informant, “take these six fowls to Sefu and present them to him from me. Tell him that at present I have plenty, but when my supply runs out I will cross the river.” This message deceived Sefu, as it was intended to do. As a matter of fact, the six fowls were the only ones Dhanis had in his camp. The effect of this strategem was perceived before many days, the Arabs coming over to the western side of the river, where they began to build forts, or “bomas,” as they call them, a short distance below the Belgian camp. Dhanis resolved to attack them at once, and with this object divided his force into two columns. The engagement that ensued proved a complete triumph for the State troops. The Arabs lost nearly a thousand men, many being drowned in an attempt to swim across the river. The Wagenia, anxious to ally themselves with the winning side, hastened to produce canoes in abundance. Dhanis was now able to transport his troops across the Upper Congo, and, that object achieved, he captured Nyangwe almost without an effort, Sefu retreating to Kassongo without firing a shot. This event occurred on 4th March, 1893.

Though Dhanis was now master of Nyangwe, his difficulties were not all surmounted. He had not been installed there many days before it became necessary to burn down a large part of the town in order to frustrate an attempt by the Arabs to surprise it. Then other and worse dangers threatened. Influenza and smallpox broke out among his men and decimated them. No active prosecution of the campaign was possible until April, when these plagues abated and reinforcements, five hundred strong, under Commandant Gillain and Lieutenant Doorme, arrived.

[Sidenote: Civilisation Triumphant.]

Leaving De Wouters in command at Nyangwe, Dhanis now marched on Kassongo. It was a bold venture, for while the Arabs had sixty thousand men, and held four “bomas,” Dhanis disposed of only three hundred regular troops and two thousand auxiliaries. On April 22, Doorme had the good fortune, at the beginning of the fight, to rush an important fort which commanded the Arab rear. The Arabs were greatly perturbed by this circumstance, and fought with less than their usual valour. Before two hours had passed, Kassongo was in the hands of the Congo State troops, with vast quantities of valuable spoil. The triumph of civilisation over savagery was complete, the only jarring note in Belgian ears being confirmation of the murder of Emin Pasha a month before.[17]

FOOTNOTES:

[16] A nephew of Hamed-ben-Mohamed, better known as Tippo Tip,—i. e., “winking the eye,”—an Arab slave merchant, invested with the government of Stanley Falls by King Leopold, at the instance of Stanley, he having, in consideration of a monthly salary, bound himself to repress all slave-hunting and slave-dealing below the Falls.

[17] For amplified accounts of the Arab wars, see The Congo State, by D. C. Boulger; Le mouvement géographique, by A. J. Wauters, 1884-1898; Rapport de Baron Dhanis sur la campagne arabe dans le Manyéma, 1895; The Fall of the Congo Arabs, by Dr. Sidney L. Hinde.

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XVI. BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS (Concluded)

[Sidenote: An Arab Traitor.]

While the events described in the preceding chapter were being enacted, M. Tobback, Resident for the Congo Free State at Stanley Falls, with his second in command, Lieutenant Van Lindt, and a small force, occupied a position of imminent danger. Rashid, a nephew of Tippo Tip and cousin to Sefu, was installed there. This arch-traitor, while professing the utmost friendship for the State authorities, and accepting favours at the hands of Belgian officers, was really a confederate of the Arabs. His character, which had long been suspected, appeared unmistakably from evidence discovered by Lieutenant Dhanis at Kassongo, when that place was captured by the State troops. On May 13th, immediately after he had been informed of the fall of Kassongo, Rashid openly attacked the State garrison. A fierce fight ensued, in which three of Tobback’s men were killed and seven wounded. Nearly a hundred of Rashid’s men were placed hors de combat; but he was better able to stand the loss than Tobback was his. Four days the struggle continued with varying fortune, but on the fifth day it became evident to Tobback that it was impossible for him, with the handful of men at his disposal, to successfully resist the large force operating against him. He was perfecting his plans for the evacuation of the station, and had prepared six large canoes, when the whole situation changed by the opportune arrival of Commandant Chaltin. The presence of this officer, and the State troops that accompanied him, justified the experiment of an attack upon the Arabs, which proved entirely successful. The State troops captured all the Arab positions, and took fifteen hundred prisoners, Rashid himself escaping capture in ignominious flight.

At this juncture the Congo State officers came to the conclusion that the Arab power was effectually broken, and they did not anticipate further trouble with the slave-traders beyond, possibly, an occasional skirmish. The State’s progress in its campaign against the Arabs had, on the whole, been extremely successful, and its Sovereign had good reason to be satisfied with the work accomplished. When, in June, 1893, Captain Ponthier came up the Congo with reinforcements for Dhanis, that event seemed to give emphasis to this optimistic view. Certainly it so alarmed Sefu that he abandoned the struggle and fled to German territory.

[Sidenote: A Fatal Blunder.]

Immediately after the flight of Sefu a painful incident occurred which greatly embarrassed the Congo State authorities. A Belgian officer, having come to the groundless opinion that Gongo Lutete was a traitor, ordered him to be court-martialled and shot. It was a disastrous event, not only wrong in itself, but alienating from the State the affection of Gongo’s men, and affording its enemies in Europe an opportunity of reviling the Congo Administration; a libel which, though it has been many times refuted, they still industriously disseminate.

[Sidenote: A New Enemy Appears.]

It soon became evident that May, 1893, was not to be recorded in history as the month in which slave-trading Arabs had been finally repressed. A chief belonging to Ujiji, named Rumeliza, with a considerable force of Arabs, now appeared east of Tanganyika. Having penetrated as far as Kabambari, midway between Kassongo and the lake, he encamped there, and explained his presence by avowing his intention to reconquer Manyema.

Rumeliza’s following was so numerous and so well equipped that October had arrived before Captain (for such he had recently become) Dhanis thought it expedient to move against him. When he did take the field, his force consisted of five officers (of whom Ponthier was one), about four hundred regulars, and three hundred auxiliaries; and they had with them the Krupp gun which had served them so well in many a battle. Unfortunately, ammunition for it was all but exhausted.

On reaching the Arabs’ camp at Mwana Mkwanga, they were found to be very advantageously placed in two large, well-built bomas.[18] The first efforts to dislodge them met with no success. The Krupp gun proved of very little service. Of the scanty supply of ammunition, a large portion was wasted by the native troops through lack of skill in manipulating the gun, and finally they abandoned it, after which it was worked by European officers who could be ill spared for the duty. When one of his officers, De Lange, fell wounded, Captain Dhanis decided to retire, and a position was taken up scarcely inferior to that held by the Arabs.

Emboldened by what they erroneously regarded as a great victory, the Arabs lost no time in attacking the State camp. But this time the tables were turned, and they were repulsed with heavy loss. The arrival of reinforcements from Kassongo contributed to this result; but in consequence of some error, Kassongo was left without sufficient guard. This fact coming to the knowledge of the Arabs, they hastened to take advantage of it. To avert this calamity, De Wouters, by order of Captain Dhanis, marched night and day, through a violent storm, and effectually intercepted them. Not a day passed without a fight, victory inclining first to one and then to the other belligerent. On the whole, the Congo State troops continued to hold their own fairly well against great odds. Wearying of the protracted struggle, the Arabs decided to make a desperate attack in full force upon the State camp. They selected a foggy day on which to make their assault, and were greatly aided thereby. At first they succeeded so well that they actually entered the State camp and engaged the Congo troops in a hand-to-hand combat. The struggle lasted five hours. The State troops lost fifty men, including the brave Captain Ponthier, notwithstanding which they succeeded in completely repulsing the Arabs, whom they chased right up to Rumaliza’s boma. The Arab losses were far heavier than the State’s. Captain Dhanis had every reason to be satisfied. Leaving De Wouters in active command, he now returned to Kassongo to reorganise.

After the departure of Dhanis, De Wouters continued the aggressive policy of his chief. In attacking the boma of Lubukine, Lieutenant De Heusch was killed, and so hot was the fight that his men fled. De Wouters lost five men killed (including De Heusch) and ten wounded; but the Arab loss was far heavier, and included Sefu, the son of Tippo Tip, who had returned from German territory and was pursuing his old courses.

It was not until nearly the end of December that Dhanis was again strong enough to take the offensive. By that time his troops had been rested and reinforced. They were none too early in taking the field, for information now came to hand that Rashid had rallied his forces after their defeat at Stanley Falls and was hastening to join Rumeliza.

To deal with this combination, Dhanis despatched Commandant Gillain with one hundred and eighty soldiers and two hundred auxiliaries to cut off Rumeliza’s retreat, while De Wouters attacked Rumeliza’s great boma at Bena Kalunga, Dhanis, with two Krupp guns, personally commanding the reserve. Rumeliza’s boma proved impregnable, the Krupp guns failing to injure it, and news arrived that fresh forces were on their way from Tanganyika to aid Rumeliza.

Matters stood badly for the State when the opportune arrival of Commandant Lothaire, with three hundred men, changed the outlook entirely. This occurred on January 9, 1894, a day marked by another singular piece of good fortune. The boma which had so long defied the best efforts of the besiegers was set on fire and destroyed, a shot from one of the Krupp guns having blown up the Arab magazine. In their haste to abandon it, many Arabs were shot, while others were drowned in a desperate attempt to cross the river. By cutting off their water supply, the other garrisons were compelled to surrender, so that within three days over two thousand Arabs were taken prisoners by the State troops.

The Arab power was now effectually broken. To break it was an arduous task, expensive both in blood and money, but on the whole it was conducted as humanely as it is possible to conduct military operations. The sufferings of the Europeans were fully as great as, if not greater than, the sufferings of their enemies. Proportionate to their numbers, their mortality was higher. More succumbed to disease and the hardships of the campaign than were killed by the enemy’s bullets, among them the gallant De Wouters, who passed away in the very hour of his triumph.

[Sidenote: Honours for Dhanis.]

The chief honours of the Belgian campaigns against the Arabs undoubtedly rest upon Dhanis, who had exhibited foresight, patience, and skill in his every act. His ability and success were recognised by King Leopold, who conferred upon him the title of Baron. In his final report to King Leopold of the Arab campaign, dated December 20, 1894, Baron Dhanis thus tersely sums up the results of that memorable struggle:

The annihilation of the Arab power has brought about the complete suppression of the devastating bands which, in order to procure slaves, had been ravaging the country with fire and sword, from the Uelle in the north down to the Sankura in the south. With them the slave trade disappears from the regions they exploited, and very soon, we may hope, it will no longer exist in the Congo State. The native chiefs who have submitted have been reinstated in authority; others who have disappeared have been replaced by intelligent soldiers of the State; and some of the Arabs, who made their submission, have been left in enjoyment of their possessions. All have been disarmed and warned that their authority must be exercised under the direction of the State’s agents, who are charged with the pacific settlement of any differences that may arise.... Large camps will be formed at Kassongo and Kabambari, and the numerous soldiers instructed there will form the nucleus of the national army. From this point of view the Arab campaign has forcibly shown that the natives of the various districts of the Congo are in no way inferior as soldiers to the blacks of the coast, who are most famous for their bravery. The Baluba and others trained and led by Lieut. Doorme, the Bangala under Captain Lothaire, etc., have been admirable. In the near future we may expect that it will no longer be necessary to recruit soldiers abroad at great expense. The country will mainly supply its own requirements, and the Manyema will be of great importance, alike from the number of men they can furnish and from the special aptitude of these men to the profession of arms.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] The following description of a boma is from the pen of Dr. Hinde:

“An Arab force on the march employs a large number of its slaves in cutting down and carrying with them trees and saplings, from about twelve to fifteen feet in length and up to six feet in diameter. As soon as a halting place has been fixed on, the slaves plant this timber in a circle of about fifty yards in diameter, inside which the chiefs and officers establish themselves. A trench is then dug, and the earth thrown up against the palisades, in which banana stalks, pointing in different directions, are laid. Round the centre, and following the inequalities of the ground, a second line of stakes is planted, this second circle being perhaps three or four hundred yards in diameter. Another trench is then dug in the same way, with bananas planted as before in the earthwork. The interval between the two lines of fortifications is occupied by the troops. If the boma is only to be occupied for two or three days, this is all that is usually done to it; but if it is intended for a longer stay, a trench is dug outside the palisades. The object of using banana stalks in this way is ingenious. Within four or five hours they shrink, and on being withdrawn from the earth leave loopholes, through which the defenders can fire without exposing themselves. Little huts are built all over the interior of the fort, and these huts are also very ingeniously devised, and are, furthermore, bombproof. They consist of a hole dug a yard and a half deep and covered with wood. This wood forms a ceiling, over which the earth from the interior is placed to the depth of a couple of feet, and a thatched roof placed over all to keep off the rain. In many of the bomas we found that the defenders had dug holes from the main trenches outwards, in which they lived, having lined them with straw. The whole fort is often divided into four or more sections by a palisade and trenches, so that, if one part of it is stormed, the storming party finds itself in a cross fire—a worse position than when actually trying to effect an entrance. We found that the shells from the 7·5 Krupps did little or no damage to these forts.”

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XVII. THE SUPPRESSION OF SLAVERY

[Sidenote: The World Conservative.]

It is an old world-truth, supported by countless historical instances, that the way of the reformer is hard. When his progress is not opposed by vested interests, his enthusiasm is regarded with chilling indifference. However just his cause, he may safely count upon numerous opponents, every one a giant. Even when he has succeeded in establishing a clear case for reform, he is merely set free from one set of difficulties in order to confront other, and generally more formidable, obstacles.

When it first became known to the world that his Majesty Leopold II., King of the Belgians, had seriously determined to suppress the slave trade in Central Africa, the news provoked but little comment. “Is there any slave trade carried on in Central Africa?” people asked one another—for notwithstanding the wide dissemination of records of travel by Livingstone and Stanley, and the numerous reports from missionaries belonging to every religious sect, all affirming it, the great bulk of civilised mankind, too busy to regard them, rested content in the delusion that the iniquitous traffic was a thing of the past.

This apathy, if apathy it may be called to be indifferent where the facts are not properly known, had to be fought and overcome by King Leopold, first among his own countrymen, and afterwards in the other countries of Europe and in America. By many the King’s enterprise was regarded as quixotic, impossible of achievement; some continued indifferent, and yet others commended the King warmly, and lent their moral support in furtherance of his scheme. The material support, however, which was proffered to amplify his Majesty’s own huge outlay came almost entirely from Belgians. On the whole, it was an uphill fight; but King Leopold won all along the line. As we have seen, his Majesty, by his wise initiative, patient labour, and lavish expenditure, first created the Congo State, and afterwards obtained from the great powers their recognition of the State so created, and of his own sovereignty of that State, accompanied by their hearty approval of what had from the first been King Leopold’s main object in the founding of the Congo State, viz., the suppression of slavery.

[Sidenote: King Leopold’s Mandate.]

It will be noted that an important epoch had now been reached. King Leopold’s mandate was clear and irrevocable. If it had been an arduous struggle to win that mandate, the effort counted for little when compared with what was needed for the accomplishment of the task now opening out before him. The King of a small State, and with a depleted fortune, Leopold II. had, as materials for his task, his own natural ability, the righteousness of his cause, and the unswerving loyalty of his people—three grand factors, it is true, but hardly commensurate with its magnitude. The suppression of slavery in a region a third as large as the United States, populated by diverse and hostile tribes, among whom slavery and cannibalism had prevailed from time immemorial, would have been no light undertaking for a missionary Crœsus with a huge army at his back. King Leopold was no such Crœsus, and his pioneers were few in number. But what they lacked in numbers they made up in geographical knowledge, in bravery, and in tact in their dealings both with the Negro and his oppressor, the Arab. Being human, some few mistakes were made; but they were very few—fewer than has frequently marked the establishment of a European colony in countries where there has been no question of slavery awaiting solution, no cannibalism to stamp out, no climatic dangers to encounter. When the time comes for King Leopold to be assigned his place in history as an empire builder, the future historian will probably designate as his Majesty’s most brilliant work his solution of the problem of the suppression of the slave trade in Central Africa.

A wrong may be persevered in until its perpetrator comes to believe it is right. The Arab had for so many centuries harried the Negro race—and, taking advantage of their tribal disputes, plundered, enslaved, and sold them, under circumstances of revolting cruelty—that he had long ago grown to regard the Negro as his natural prey, and was seriously alarmed at the appearance in Congoland of the white-faced strangers with their unwelcome creed of liberty for all men, which they dreaded even more than their weapons of precision. To the Arabs this was a strange doctrine, inimical, they conceived, to their vital interests, and it behoved them to resist it to the death. That their alarm was well founded the sequel will show.

[Sidenote: Congo Free State Laws.]

One of the first acts of the newly recognised Congo Free State was to forbid trade in firearms, gunpowder, and other explosives. Another act defined contracts of service between natives and foreigners, affording the former special protection. A third act created a volunteer corps whose chief business it was to protect individual liberty. Before any aggressive action, however, could be taken by this corps, the consent of the sovereign’s delegate was necessary.

Concurrent with these three acts, the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society raised another, and quite distinct, volunteer corps for similar work, but restricted to the neighbourhood of Lake Tanganyika. In addition, about this period the same Society despatched to Congoland, in rapid succession, three expeditions of a missionary and civilising character. In such circumstances, collisions between the Belgians and Arabs were inevitable. During the first few years of the existence of the Congo Free State these collisions occurred chiefly on the Upper Congo and its tributaries, the currents of the interior slave trade, particularly those from the eastern and southern provinces, being checked by fixed military posts and flying columns. For two years—from 1892 to 1894—a continuous campaign was in progress, having for its object the interception of the slave caravans accustomed to come from the south and east, which was entirely successful. In the vast territory known by the name of Lualuba-Kassai, at a time when the resources of the State were unequal to the expense of maintaining a line of posts, it was usual, up to so recently as 1902, on the appearance of a gang of slave-dealers to despatch a detachment of troops from Lusambo or Luluabourg to intercept them. Many engagements were thus brought about between the State volunteers and the slave-dealers. Now military posts are established on all the principal roads formerly used by the slave-traders, and the barrier is complete.

In the north, Commandant Chaltin struck a damaging blow to the Dervishes in February, 1897. After traversing with his force the whole of the Uelle territory, he encountered the Dervishes at Redjaf on the Nile. The place was strongly held by four thousand soldiers, more than half of whom were armed with modern rifles. A severe battle ensued, lasting nearly all day. Victory lay with the Belgians, the Dervishes being forced to evacuate Redjaf. They accepted their beating badly, making several attempts to retake the place, but without success.

Thus we have seen that it was in the districts of the Lower Congo that the slave trade was first stamped out; that it was next eradicated from the Middle Congo; and finally extinguished on the Upper Congo, where Belgian bravery and military skill succeeded in effectually crushing the last vestige of Arab power.

[Sidenote: Negro Advancement.]

The Negro was quick to respond to the revivifying influence of security for life and property, and his rapid progress in civilisation may be said to date from the day when this essential primary condition was established. From a report to King Leopold made by Baron Van Eetvelde, Secretary of State for the Independent State of the Congo, the following passage is extracted:

Slowly but surely the black is being transformed, his intellectual horizon is being enlarged, his sentiments are being refined. A thousand facts, in appearance insignificant, mark the halting-place left behind. The black to-day has his place marked out where ten years ago no one thought of using him. He is to be seen, according to his aptitude, as a clerk in the Administration, as a postman, as a warehouseman, as a pilot or sailor on the river boats; also as a smith, mechanic, sawyer, or brickmaker. Porter in the region of the Cataracts, navvy on the railway, he offers his arms and his labour when the remuneration satisfies the new needs that have taken birth in him. Trader above all, he becomes of a more delicate taste in the acceptance of merchandise in exchange; the stuffs, the tissues of striking colours but mediocre quality, formerly sought for, have to-day no demand, and must give place to articles of a superior kind. He accepts money; he is even acquainted with paper money, for many purchases are effected by means of bonds, which are then cashed at the European revenue offices. He is conscious of his own personality—claims loudly the redress of any wrong which he conceives himself to have suffered. Grown more sociable, he receives, without distrust in his house, the stranger and the traveller. He begins to repudiate his old primitive customs, such as the casque, or the proof of poison. He sends his children to the missionary schools; and, to encourage him in this, the State has started a system of colonies of schools, the pupils of which are rapidly increasing. Fetishism is beginning to lose adherents, and religious proselytism proceeds not without success. The legend of the Negro opposed to all improvement can no longer be maintained in face of this experience. We may consider it as certain that the native, well conducted and well directed, is fit to be assimilated with civilisation. Guarding ourselves against optimism, we do not disguise that there remains much to be done in order to introduce by successive stages that civilisation to the farthest frontiers of the State. But the facts warrant our believing in the possibility of such a result, which is the final object of the enterprise of your Majesty. The Congo State in the few years which have elapsed since its creation, has not failed in its task. Time and perseverance will crown the work, and it will be to Belgium, if she wishes it, that its accomplishment will belong.

In a later report—the last from which it will be necessary to quote—Baron Van Eetvelde reviews the complete work of the Congo Free State from its creation to the date of his writing (1897), and very ably sums up the situation then existing:

The Congo State [says Baron Van Eetvelde] inherited from its birth the heaviest and most perilous task in the anti-slavery work. The territories which fell to it had the sad privilege of being in their greater part handed over to the razzias, and of including the principal slave centres and the most important markets of human flesh. However willing were the Powers, who in the Berlin Act solemnly condemned the slave trade, the most optimistic only dared to hope for the disappearance of the abominable practices, like those Stanley had witnessed on the banks of the Upper Congo, in a distant future.

In truth, the crusade against the slave trade, in some measure ordered by the Berlin Conference, remained in the following years in the condition of a mere vow; and the Congo Government, which on its own account had then already organised a chain of posts of defence against the invasions of the slave-hunters, was condemned to deplore that, despite some partial successes, a great part of its provinces still remained in their power. Such were at that epoch the horrors and cruelties denounced to the civilised world, such was the deplorable situation in which the people of Central Africa, decimated and massacred by their oppressors, passed an agonising existence, that, struck by a sentiment of legitimate indignation, the Powers again decided by the Act of Brussels (1890) to deal a decisive blow at the slave trade.

The Brussels Conference characterised the part reserved to the Congo State in the anti-slavery campaign, the importance of the undertakings which devolved upon it, the difficulties of the task which assigned it the perilous honour of being the advance guard on the battle-field. The number of enemies to be fought, the organisation of their bands, their installation from a remote date in the regions which they terrorised, their supply in firearms and munitions, the subjection even of the natives, were so many grounds of apprehension and disquietude as to the final issue of the struggle undertaken, and as to the fate ultimately reserved for the African populations. It really seemed, in that encounter between civilisation and slavery, of which the stake was the life and liberty of millions of human beings, as if failure would dispel for ever the hope of a better future. Thus it was that circumstances had placed in the hands of the Congo State the destiny of Central Africa and its tribes, and the situation was tersely defined by an English missionary when, with the experience acquired during a long residence in Africa, he wrote in 1893, during the progress of the military campaign: “I am convinced that, unless the Arabs be annihilated, a general massacre will ensue. This is the moment for the Europeans to play their last card against the Arabs. Whether they will carry the day or not, I cannot say.”

Civilisation did carry the day. And has not history to register that this victory for the Congo State, due to the bravery of Belgian officers, entitled it to merit well of those interested in the fate of the native populations? If to-day there opens for them a new era of liberty and regeneration, if the amelioration of their material and moral condition can now be pursued, they owe it to the annihilation of the promoters of slavery.

Elsewhere has been told at the price of what sacrifices of men and money, at the price of what valour in every case, these results have been attained. The facts are there to attest that these sacrifices have not been in vain. The men-hunters reduced to impotence, their bands dispersed, their chiefs disappeared, the fortresses of slavery laid level with the ground, the natives rebuilding their villages under the shadow of the posts of the State, giving themselves up to the peaceful pursuits of cultivation of the soil—an era of tranquillity succeeding the sombre and sanguinary episodes of the old régime. Every mail from Africa brings proof of the progress of this period of pacification, and shows the natives, delivered from an odious yoke, recovering confidence, and living peaceably in their own abodes.

[Sidenote: A Gratifying Retrospect.]

That the problem of the suppression of slavery in Central Africa had now been solved, we have had abundant incontrovertible evidence. That its solution was effected with a minimum of bloodshed, and in a marvellously short period of time for the accomplishment of so gigantic a task, we have also seen. The first and greatest of the objects for which King Leopold had so long laboured was at length realised. The applause of all civilised peoples had been justly earned, and was ungrudgingly given, and substantial reward was soon to follow.

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XVIII. FRONTIERS AND DIPLOMATIC SETTLEMENTS

The Conventional Basin of the Congo contains about 1,500,000 square miles, of which the Free State occupies 1,000,000, and its neighbours, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Portugal, about 500,000. On the east of the Free State, and divided from it by Lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, and Albert Edward, is German East Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean; on the south-east lie British possessions; on the south the Portuguese, and on the east and north-east the French Congo and Soudan; on the north-east, in the Nile Valley, lie the Egyptian Soudan and the Uganda Protectorate, the one on the west, the other on the east bank of the Nile.

The Berlin Conference of 1885 had not dealt with questions of territory except to delimit the area comprised in the Congo Basin. By the Anglo-German Agreements of 1886 and 1890, the borders of German East Africa had been generally defined. France, however, still fostered the hope of acquiring dominion of the Egyptian Soudan and, perhaps, of nearly all of the northern part of Africa. The arrangement with the Sovereign of the Congo Free State, giving her a right of pre-emption of the State over other Powers, would indicate an ambition in this direction. That France endeavoured to achieve her aim in this respect was forcibly demonstrated by the expedition of Captain Marchand and the Fashoda incident. So far as Germany and Portugal were concerned, the Congo Free State’s boundary had been well-nigh firmly established, but with France and Great Britain there was a lack of settlement on this important question which threatened the State with future insecurity.

The first convention on this subject was concluded with Great Britain, and concerned the Bahr-el-Ghazal, referred to in the succeeding chapter.

The Franco-Congolese Convention of 14th August, 1894, was of great importance to the young State, albeit the price it paid for the friendly attitude of France may appear greater than the security afforded. The relations which existed between France and the State, when the upper course of the Ubanghi became the object of frontier settlement, were defined by the Convention of 5th February, 1885, and that of 29th April, 1887. In the first, France agreed, in return for the right of pre-emption conferred on her in 1884, to determine her own Congolese limits and those of the Free State, and to guarantee the latter’s neutrality. In the second, the Belgian Congo surrendered a considerable territory to France by substituting the Ubanghi to the 17th degree of east longitude for the boundary defined in the third article of the treaty of 5th February, 1885, and the modification of her right of pre-emption in favour of Belgium in certain contingencies. These negotiations, beginning in 1891, were not settled until 1894, owing to conflicting views as to the course of the Ubanghi. Moreover, the French Government had expostulated vigorously against the British proposal to lease the Bahr-el-Ghazal to the Congo Free State, while Germany protested against British possession of the strip of land between Lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward, which the Free State intended granting in payment for its lease of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The article conveying this strip, manifestly intended for the Cape-to-Cairo railway conceived by Mr. Cecil Rhodes, was, in fact, withdrawn by arrangement between the British and Congo Governments on June 22, 1894. Meantime, the French Government had contended that the river Uelle was the true upper course of the Ubanghi, and that the State had no rights north of it, “even though it resulted in moving the State’s frontier line south of the fourth parallel secured to it by the Convention of February, 1885.” There were, however, on the part of the Congo State, the advantages of possession and effective occupation of the territory north of the Uelle and the right bank of the Mbomu, which had now been geographically established as the uppermost course of the Ubanghi. An offer was made by the Congo State to arbitrate the matter in accordance with the provisions of the Berlin Act. France, however, declined to submit the case to such tribunal. Finally, after three years’ delay, a convention between France and the Congo Free State was signed in Paris on 14th August, 1894, which contained six articles. The first conceded part of the Belgian claim by constituting the river Mbomu the upper course of the Ubanghi.

Article 1. The frontier between the Independent State of the Congo and the colony of the French Congo, after following the thalweg of the Ubanghi to the confluence of the Mbomu and the Uelle, shall be formed in the following manner:—First, the thalweg of Mbomu to its source; second, a straight line joining the crest of the water-parting between the basins of the Congo and the Nile. From this point the frontier of the Independent State is constituted by the said crest of the water-parting to as far as its intersection with the 30th degree of east longitude (Greenwich).

Article 2. It is understood that France will exercise, under conditions which shall be determined by a special arrangement, the right of police on the course of the Mbomu, with the right of pursuit on the left bank. This right of police will not be exercisable on the left bank, but exclusively along the course of the river, and so long as pursuit by the French agents is indispensable to effect the arrest of the authors of offences committed on French territory or on the waters of the river. France shall have, when necessary, a right of passage on the left bank, to assure her communications along the course of the river.

The third article stipulated for the gradual surrender to the French of the posts established by the State north of the Uelle; and the fourth and the final articles “bound the State to renounce all political action of any kind to the west or north of the following line—the 30th degree of east longitude, from its point of intersection with the crest of the water-parting of the basins of the Congo and the Nile to as far as the point where this meridian meets the parallel 5° 30´, and thence that parallel to the Nile.”

By these articles, and the good feeling that has since prevailed between the French and the Belgians, all matters likely to have caused dispute have been settled. A well-defined boundary has been laid down between the French possessions and the Congo State from the Atlantic to the Nile. If the King of the Belgians surrendered to France what others would have retained, it was so dealt with because of that wise political foresight which has characterised his Majesty’s diplomacy in other respects. The friendly relations between France and the Congo State, the settlement of northern boundaries along the Mbomu, and the lease of the Bahr-el-Ghazal from Great Britain, have dispelled much Belgian anxiety. The question which now appears to forebode difficulty is what the Belgians believe to be Great Britain’s scheme for a pretext to break the lease of the Enclave of Lado, a rich and prosperous territory in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, where the Belgians have established posts along the Nile as far north as Lado. As to Great Britain’s purpose in this connection there have been many recent signs.

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XIX. THE BAHR-EL-GHAZAL AND THE NILE

In addition to the territories of the Congo Free State proper, the sovereignty of which is vested in Leopold II., King of the Belgians, and his successors, King Leopold holds on lease from Great Britain the Bahr-el-Ghazal up to 10° N. A treaty entered into between the Congo Free State and Great Britain on 12th May, 1894, determines the duration of this lease, and the extent of the territory to which it applies. The conditions are somewhat complicated, partaking in a measure of the nature of an exchange, the Congo Free State, by Article III., leasing to Great Britain a strip of territory between the lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward.

To be more precise: In 1890 the Congo Free State despatched several missions to its frontiers, some of which penetrated the Nile region and made various political arrangements with the ruling chiefs there. It happened also at that period (July, 1890) that Germany and Great Britain entered into an agreement whereby Germany acknowledged the paramount influence of Great Britain in the Nile Basin. This agreement was no sooner concluded than Great Britain opened negotiations with the Congo Free State, offering to grant thereto, on lease, certain territories situated west of the Basin of the Nile, if the Congo Free State would accord to Great Britain’s presence in the Nile Basin recognition similar to that which it had just obtained from Germany. Out of this overture grew the treaty of 12th May, 1894, between the Congo Free State and Great Britain, to which allusion has already been made.

By that treaty, Great Britain leases to Leopold II., King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Congo Free State, the territories limited by a line starting from a point situated on the west bank of Lake Albert Edward, south of Mahagi, to the point of intersection of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich, the frontier line of the territories so assigned following the head of the division of the Nile and Congo waters to the 25th meridian east of Greenwich; and along this meridian to its intersection with the 10th north parallel, and along this parallel direct to a point north of Fashoda; thence to the west bank of Lake Albert Edward, south of Mahagi. These territories comprise the entire basin of the Bahr-el-Ghazal River and its affluents (except the upper portion of the Bahr-el-Arab), and are generally referred to as the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The treaty further provides that the lease is to remain operative during the reign of King Leopold II. only, except as regards that portion of the Bahr-el-Ghazal west of the 30th meridian, permanently vested in the Congo Free State.

France, which had never recognised British influence in the Nile Basin, at once protested against this arrangement, asserting that Great Britain had leased territories which did not belong to her. While this delicate question was sub judice there arose the celebrated Fashoda incident which brought Great Britain and France perilously near to war. The circumstances of that incident are too near our own times, and too remote from the purpose of this book, to need recounting here. But it is important to refer to it in this place, because in the settlement of the Fashoda dispute between Great Britain and France the latter recognises the paramount influence of the former in the Basin of the Nile.

The only obstacle in the way of the execution of the treaty of 12th May, 1894, was now removed, Great Britain’s right to dispose of the territories leased to the Sovereign of the Congo Free State being everywhere admitted. But now Great Britain herself sought, without justification, to annul the treaty. Because the Congo State had made therein certain reservations in regard to France—a perfectly natural proceeding at a period when the rights of Great Britain over the Bahr-el-Ghazal were in dispute—Great Britain contended that the treaty of 12th May, 1894, had practically lapsed. After the battle of Omdurman, the British even went so far as to give, in part, practical effect to this extraordinary view of their treaty obligations, occupying, upon several occasions, Meshra-er-Rek, at the confluence of the Bahr-Djur and the Bahr-el-Ghazal.

From information which reached Europe and America early in November, 1904, it would appear that Great Britain has resolved to carry this matter with a high hand. A British expedition was said to be then in process of formation, composed of 2500 native troops, officered by Englishmen, to penetrate Central Africa, ostensibly to restore order among the Niam-Niam tribe.

Now the Niam-Niam tribe inhabit the Bahr-el-Ghazal country. That is one reason why Great Britain concerns herself with that tribe; but there is another, and a much stronger, reason. Recently it has been discovered that vast mineral wealth exists in that region, and Belgians, Frenchmen, Germans, and particularly natives of that country which “seeks no gold mines and seeks no territory,” have busily employed themselves in prospecting it. Trading relations have been established by small companies supposed to be engaged in exchanging fire arms and ammunition for ivory, but really prospecting for ore.

Side by side with this information comes the official announcement that the British Government has given orders, either directly or through a subsidised company, for the erection of a permanent telegraph connecting Khartoum with the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and that transport for traders up the White Nile is guaranteed as far as Fashoda. Already a section of the British newspaper press is advocating the establishment of British military stations and posts upon ground of which King Leopold holds a perfectly valid lease granted by Great Britain!

Is it too high a flight of the imagination to suppose that the patience with which the British Government has listened to the libellous tirades against the Congo Free State, in the form of petitions to the House of Commons, is to be explained by its evident desire to cut loose from its treaty obligations, and forcibly take away what it voluntarily ceded to the Congo Free State for a valuable consideration?

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XX. MUTINIES OF THE BATETELA TRIBE

[Sidenote: The Batetela Grievance.]

The hasty and ill-advised trial and execution of the chief, Gongo Lutete, described in another chapter, proved a source of much danger and tribulation to the Congo Free State. It was the act of a misguided and over-zealous officer, without doubt undertaken in good faith, but none the less disastrous upon that account. The incident has never been defended, but always deplored, by the Congo Government, to which it occasioned grievous loss in men, money, and reputation.

Lutete’s men were loyal to their chief and bitterly resented his execution. So threatening did their attitude become that it was decided to remove them to some considerable distance from the scene of the tragedy. At the moment of their departure, they fired upon the people and vowed complete vengeance whenever opportunity for it should occur. Later, at Luluabourg, when they accepted an invitation to enter the Force Publique, all danger from them was thought to have been averted. But the apparent content of the fierce Batetelas was simulated; they were merely biding their time.

[Sidenote: The First Revolt.]

It was during the summer of 1895, at Luluabourg, that the Batetelas openly revolted. After murdering some of their officers, they attacked the post at Kabinda. Next, they struck out to the north, with intent to surprise Lusambo. At Gandu, and on the Lomami, they murdered more Belgian officers, and for a time it was impossible to foresee a limit to their depredations.

Though the mutineers were less than four hundred in number, in the circumstances they were potent for a vast amount of mischief. They were well armed with modern weapons of precision, were abundantly furnished with ammunition, and had, besides, some military knowledge, acquired from their Belgian officers, which rendered them almost the equal of European troops. To these advantages must be added the natural valour of the Batetela, and the desperation with which men, knowing that their treason will be punished by death in the event of their capture, may be expected to fight.

Commandant Lothaire, on hearing of the misfortune that had befallen the State, hastened with a small force to intercept the Batetelas, then marching on Nyangwe. He met the mutineers on the 18th of October, near Gandu, and, notwithstanding that the force he commanded was much inferior, at once assumed the offensive. A fierce fight ensued, in which the mutineers were badly defeated, losing many killed and prisoners, and having finally to fly. Previous to this engagement another Belgian officer, Lieutenant Gillain, had been active to retrieve the fortunes of the State. Having gathered together such remnants of the State’s forces as remained loyal, and were to be found scattered about the Lomami district, he boldly attacked the mutineers. The battle opened greatly to his disadvantage, but ended in his victory. Lieutenant Gillain then added his forces to those of Commandant Lothaire, and the combination, as we have seen, was far less in number than that of the mutineers, though it proved superior to them.

After their defeat on the 18th of October, in which they lost the greater part of the spoil taken at Luluabourg, Kabinda, and Gandu, the Batetelas broke up into small bands, and sought refuge in a forest, into which it was impracticable for the State’s forces to pursue them. The latter had now become nearly a thousand strong, and numbered among its officers the brave Michaux, Svensson, De Besche, Jürgens, Konings, and Droeven—a force sufficient, it was believed, to deal with any recrudescence of the trouble.

A few days later an incident occurred which rudely dispelled this notion. The scattered bands of mutineers again united, to make safe their retreat, and were probably about to march to the Manyema country, when they accidentally met a Belgian column. Both were surprised. The Batetelas, by far the more numerous, at once attacked the Belgians. At the very opening of the fight, the four Belgian officers who were leading the Congo force were shot dead. The bands which had to the present refrained from joining the main body of the Batetelas now hastened to do so.

Perceiving that their power would continue to grow so long as they were left unmolested, Commandant Lothaire determined to attack the Batetelas again with all the force at his command. The battle took place November 6th, at Gongo Machoffe, and resulted in a complete victory for the State forces. The Batetelas lost heavily in killed and prisoners, while such of them as survived fled for protection to various local chiefs, who soon, however, handed them over to Commandant Lothaire.

Again, notwithstanding their bitter experience, the Congo State and its advisers, military and civil, permitted themselves to be lulled into the confidence of security. Nearly two years of quietude on the part of the Batetelas led the Belgians to believe that that fierce race had forgiven, if they had not forgotten, the injury unwittingly inflicted upon them—that the trouble had been fought out, and the incident from which it originated relegated to its proper place among the unfortunate happenings of a bygone period.

[Sidenote: The Second Revolt.]

The awakening from this dream came in 1897. Commandant Chaltin had driven the Dervishes as far as the Nile, and Baron Dhanis, with a larger force than Chaltin’s, had been sent to take possession of the Lado territory to found posts there, and to fortify it against possible Dervish inroads. With a column of more than three thousand men, a third of whom were Batetelas, Dhanis set out from Avakubi towards the Nile.

In the second week of February, 1897, Captain Leroi, with two thousand men, had just reached Dirfi, when the Batetelas, of which the force was mainly composed, suddenly mutinied. The mutiny began with the murder of Captain Leroi and his fellow officers, after which the mutineers retreated upon the Obi. As soon as news of this event was brought to Dhanis, he threw his force right across the path of the mutineers, and a desperate battle ensued (March 18, 1897). The pages of history afford few parallels to this singular conflict. No sooner had the fight begun, than about five hundred of the Batetelas commanded by Dhanis deserted, and went over to the enemy, their kinsmen. The result, as may be imagined, was chaos. With great difficulty Baron Dhanis effected his retreat. His losses were grievous. Ten Belgian officers fell, among them a brother of Baron Dhanis. Among those who specially distinguished themselves by their gallantry upon this occasion was Lieutenant Delecourt, who, with a miserably small following, covered the retreat, at the cost of his own life and the lives of every member of his faithful company. Having at last succeeded in reaching Avakubi, Dhanis entrenched the handful of men left to him in the little station there, and, leaving Commandant Henry in command, hurried to Stanley Falls, to report the disaster and concert measures for regaining what had been lost.

Meanwhile the Batetelas were not inactive. Making straight for Stanley Falls, they destroyed all the stations on their way; but just before they reached what was thought to be their objective they struck out eastward. Baron Dhanis at once concluded that they were bound for their native country, Manyema. The assurance that they contemplated no invasion of State property was a relief, but the possibility that so considerable a number of well-armed men, flushed with victory, reaching their tribe and reporting to it how they had defeated the redoubtable Baron Dhanis was very disquieting, for such an event would infallibly have led to the uprising of all the Batetelas. Baron Dhanis, having returned from Stanley Falls, placed a body of picked men at Nyangwe and Kassongo, to intercept the mutineers if they chanced to pass that way, while troops, with European officers, were sent from Stanley Pool to pursue them.

At this juncture, the Belgian cause was aided by an outbreak of smallpox among the mutineers, which compelled them to encamp near Lindi, not far from the British frontier. At that place Commandant Henry, fresh from Avakubi (which he had found deserted), with seven hundred men, came upon them and almost succeeded in driving them into British territory. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Sannaes had successfully repelled an attack upon his post at Katué (Semliki), which so enraged the mutineers that the leader of the attacking party, a man named Malumba, was murdered by one of his own men who held him responsible for its failure.

June had arrived before Commandant Henry and Lieutenant Sannaes could join their forces, and then the regular pursuit of the mutineers began; but another month elapsed before they could be brought to battle. The result was a great victory for the Congo State forces. Over four hundred Batetelas were killed, and they lost, besides, five hundred rifles and ten thousand cartridges. And then ensued what had happened in like circumstances before—the surviving mutineers broke up into small bands and dispersed in various directions. Though victorious, Commandant Henry was exhausted, and fell back upon his base. Baron Dhanis, who had been guarding the Lualaba to prevent the mutineers’ crossing it, now found it safe to pursue their scattered bands.

At last the Batetela revolt was broken. Thereafter some minor skirmishes occurred here and there; but they were as the feeble flickerings of an expiring flame—a flame that had seared the growing Congo State only to enable it to show to the world an admirable example of discipline and resisting power in circumstances of extraordinary difficulty.

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XXI. DISPLACEMENT OF THE POPULATION

The instinct of the nomad largely prevails in all savage races, but in none does it prevail to a greater extent than among the black tribes of Central Africa. It is one of their marked characteristics, and a fruitful source of trouble.

[Sidenote: Victims of Superstition.]

Central African tribes are greatly influenced by their superstitions. Like the North American Indians, they have their medicine men who conjure up all sorts of occult prognostications of imminent and mysterious phenomena. With them the fetish doctor is little less than a god. If this wise man asserts that a village has suffered ill-luck because the new moon dips to the left or right, his deluded followers collect their effects, devastate the village, and move into some region which he may indicate is free from that curse. If rain has not fallen in sufficient quantity, and the crops surrounding the village have withered, or if the rain has been too abundant, the fetish doctor may forthwith present an explanation based upon some new superstition. Indeed, there are thousands of tribal beliefs in the Congo Free State which are for ever disturbing the settlement of the population. Implacable enemies of the Congo Free State, not wholly ignorant of these tribal beliefs and customs, pretend to regard the migratory nature of the Central African savage as evidence of his fear of the State’s government, arising from a feeling of insecurity. Such persons point to the native’s incorrigible habit of moving his abode as an unmistakable sign of his desire to escape from the barbarities practised upon him by officers and soldiers of the Congo Government. In this way it is sought to deceive those who are unacquainted with the habits of the black man—the man who, a few years ago, ate his brother with a relish which civilised white men can hardly conceive.

The State, however, fully cognisant of the natural habits of its black subjects, has often considered the question of how to deal effectually with these displacements of the population. There are times when neither superstition nor tribal custom causes a large exodus from a well-established village. Sometimes the fertility and luxuriant grass of another region attracts the more enterprising black, who has learned to cultivate his own land. Allured by glowing accounts of such a nature he gathers about him his friends and family, and makes off to what he considers to be a new Eldorado. In a short time, the diablerie of the fetish doctor has again unsettled him.

Then, again, there have been occasions when the natives have migrated to avoid payment of the taxes imposed upon them by their own chief on behalf of the State, taxes which are infinitesimal in value as compared with the benefits of civilisation which the State confers. To deal generally with the displacement of the population of the Congo Free State has been a matter of much concern to the Government. A case of sleeping-sickness or smallpox has occurred, and away goes the whole village pell-mell into another region. The movements of the native tribes are often inscrutable, and afford the State no clue as to how they may be prevented. Like some species of wild animals which instinctively avoid certain districts of the forest at particular seasons, or on account of some unusual phenomena, the black man will sometimes quit his residence for no apparent reason at all. Nine times out of ten, however, he migrates on account of things entirely unconnected with any administrative act of the State. Entire villages have been removed because a death has occurred there the cause of which was inexplicable to the black man. Occasionally the fetish doctor, inspired by some unexplained caprice, will decree that the tribe shall move—he knows not where. Ignorance and superstition invariably follow a leader whose pretence is some occult power. The tribe moves; and another tribe, moving from a similar or other impulse, may occupy the very village which the first tribe had abandoned a few weeks before.

These removals along the banks of the river have sometimes created the impression on a superficial observer that the population of the Congo Free State has diminished or disappeared. Regardless of the impression these deserted villages have made upon those who seek to find opportunity for vilifying the Congo Government, the inconvenience resulting from the constant removals has been very great. There is often at one point an aggregation of people too numerous for their subsistence, and public order and tranquillity are disturbed, with disastrous results. More strife between village and village and tribe and tribe has been occasioned by this migratory habit than by any bloodthirsty instinct inherent in the Congolese black. This is notoriously true; and it has had a gravely adverse effect, too, upon the population of the Soudan, with regard to which the statements in Lord Cromer’s report of 1893 are conclusive.

[Sidenote: Possible Remedies.]

Vice-Governor-General Fuchs, always seeking to improve the governmental machinery of the Congo Free State, has recently made the following suggestions, which, if adopted, he believes would tend to control the migratory nature of the subjects over whom he so intelligently rules:

I think that it would be opportune to pass the necessary legislative measures, so that an end may be put to this collective kind of vagabondage. The administrative authority finds itself at present unarmed, the Congo courts having declared the absolute right of the native to move about and to dwell where he likes. But it appears to me that public order is directly interested in having these emigrations in a mass, from region to region in the interior of the country, regulated by law. This regulation would also result in assured stability for a fair distribution of native taxes. It would also facilitate the establishment of definite and permanent means of communication throughout the country.

There is, however, still a special case to be taken into consideration. Some natives on removing in this way are ready to establish themselves on the territory of one or other of those Sultans whose native authority extends beyond, as well as within, the political frontiers of the State. The determination of the sovereign power such individuals may wield might, owing to the silence of our laws, not be without future difficulty, when, for instance, Sultans, established on foreign territory and dependent themselves for it on foreign power, are concerned. It would be well if all doubtful elements were removed by a decree which in a general manner might establish the principle that every native of Congolese origin who, by naturalisation or otherwise, shall endeavour to modify his national status, will still be considered as a subject of the Congo State, and remain amenable to Congolese law, so long as he shall reside, in fact, within the limits of the State territory.

From this it will be observed that in addition to the numerous other difficulties with which the new State has to contend, it is now called upon to legislate for the solution of a problem which the State’s detractors have distorted and misrepresented as a result of the State’s cruel system of government.

The importance of this question cannot be overstated, as it forms a great hindrance to the proper organisation of so vast a territory as the Congo Basin. That the potentialities of King Leopold’s beneficent rule in Central Africa will eventually legislate wisely, and permanently abolish this native inconsistency, no one who has observed the intelligent governmental genius of the State can doubt.

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XXII. THE STATE’S ADMINISTRATION

JUSTICE—NATIVE CHIEFTAINCIES

[Sidenote: A Difficult Problem.]

To provide a just and equitable process for giving effect to the civil laws of a savage country requires an administrant force of exceptional powers, of rare patience, and of wide sympathies. Highly civilised communities largely govern themselves by the aggregate contribution and example of all orderly persons. The very momentum of their civilisation and the habits and tendencies of a cultured people conduce to the observance of law and the tranquillity of the social life to which the law applies. Rules of State and municipal procedure for the government of European countries have, by use and the experience of time, long ago attained to an automatic operation. The social phenomena of all civilised communities are well established, and they form part of that large body of academic theory called social science. The development of human society has its constitution and its philosophy, yet those who are charged, by a duty arising from exceptional circumstances, to apply social and political principles to savage tribes distantly situated from all civilising contact with human beings of superior attainment, are charged with a task of unknown and multiform difficulty.

The characteristic thoroughness with which the Belgians have established their administrative machinery in the Congo Free State is apparent in the latest report (July, 1904) of Vice-Governor-General Fuchs, the acting head of that Government. Monsieur Fuchs has had twenty years’ experience in Central Africa. He is, perhaps, the best-qualified living colonial official dealing with the black races of the African Continent. The great progress of the country he governs, and the moral and material betterment of the tribes which thrive under his liberal rule, are astonishingly revealed in the report from which the following quotations are made:

The development of the State administration is attested in a general way by the ever-increasing number of Posts of different kinds that are in operation in its territories.

Thus there are at the present time 233 Posts and Stations, all of them under the command of white men, scattered over the 14 districts.

The European staff attached to the services of the districts mentioned is distributed as follows:

Organic Staff 294 Service of Justice 57 Administrative Service 115 Medical Service 27 Service of Public Works 92 Service of Agriculture 89 Service of Finance 74 The Public Force 490 Service of the Marine 166 Various 20 ———— Total 1424

The number of blacks attached to the different services of the districts is about 20,000 men.

I here render justice to the zeal and devotion of the servants of the State; besides Belgians, who form the great majority, they also comprise Italians, Swiss, Scandinavians, Germans, English, etc., according to the following order:

Belgians, 898; Italians, 197; Swiss, 89; Swedes, 86; Danes, 34; Germans, 31; Norwegians, 22; Finns, 19; English, 16; Dutch, 9; Russians, 5; French, 4; Austrians, 3; Americans, 2; Turks, 2; Luxemburgers, 2; Portuguese, 2; Greeks, 1; Spaniards, 1; Cubans, 1; total, 1424.

To whatever nationality they belong they vie with each other in the ardour with which they perform their numerous duties. All are penetrated with the greatness of their rôle in the heart of savagery, and impelled by the noblest emulation compete in the gradual realisation of our civilising work. Numerous are the testimonies that I have collected during my last official tour of their fruitful activity exercising itself in all directions, of their protecting benevolence with regard to the natives; and these testimonies emanate from missionaries, from learned men, from travellers, and even from persons inclined rather to criticise than to praise our works.

In order that this staff may become more experienced, by acquiring progressively a knowledge of the country, its resources, and its inhabitants, it has been particularly recommended to the agents composing it that they should learn the native dialects. Knowledge of the local idioms is, indeed, indispensable to the European who seeks to enter into direct relations with the blacks—to study their manners and customs, and by that means take account of the measures to employ for the introduction and development of our ideas of civilisation.

The judicial statistics show the vigilance and impartiality with which the Parquet (Public Ministry corresponding to our Public Prosecutor) inquires into breaches of the law, no matter who their authors may be, and aims at allowing no offence to remain unpunished. If some faults have been committed by our agents, the guilty have been prosecuted conformably to the law.

The attention of the members of the service besides has been frequently called to the consequences which would result for them from transgressing the laws and instructions of the Government. In order to ensure their faithful and complete execution, the Government has just again added to the staff of superior officials new State Inspectors.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

The magistrates by profession number at the present time 32; they are assisted by 25 judicial agents properly so called.

The judicial services of Boma, to which are attached seven magistrates by profession, and a dozen judicial agents, allow of:

1. An Appeal Court, composed of a President and two judges, of the State Prosecutor who occupies the seat of the Public Minister on this jurisdiction, and of a Registrar;

2. A Council of War in Appeal, the presidency of which devolves on the President of the Appeal Court, of two judges, officers of the Public Force, of the State Prosecutor, and of a Registrar;

3. A Court of First Instance, composed of a professional judge, of a substitute, a doctor of laws, and of a Registrar;

4. A Council of War of First Instance, composed of a judge, officer of the Public Force, of the substitute attached to the Court of First Instance, and of a Registrar.

These four jurisdictions are competent in penal cases. Those occurring under 1 and 3 are competent also in civil and commercial matters. They sit in such cases without the Public Minister. A report of the Registrar of the Court of First Instance attached to this sets forth the order of civil business.

The other professional magistrates are distributed between the territorial courts and the councils of war.

Territorial courts exist at Matadi, Leopoldville, Popokabaka, Coquilhatville, New Antwerp, Basoko, Stanleyville, Toa (Albertville), Lukafu, Kabinda (Katanga), Lusambo, and at the chief place of the Rusisi-Kivu zone (Uvira), independently of the councils of war, which will be shortly replaced by ordinary courts as the number of magistrates is increased. The Parquet attached to these courts is represented by the substitutes of the State Prosecutor, all of whom are doctors of laws.

Among the following officials of judicial rank the majority are Belgians. There are also Italians, Danes, Swiss, and Norwegians.

President of Court of Appeal: Baron G. Nisco.

Judges, Court of Appeal: M. Horstmans, M. A. Gohr.

Judge, Court of First Instance: M. T. Beeckman.

Prosecuting Attorney: M. F. Waleffe.

Director: M. A. Gohr.

Magistrates (Territorial Judges and Substitutes): Ernest Dupont, Hermann Weber, Iwan Grenade, Louis Rossi, J. Jenniges, P. Vincart, C. M. B. L. Greban de St. Germain, Stanislas Lefranc, Martin Rutten, Albert Sweerts, Robert de Meulemeester, Michel Cuciniello, Angelo Cagginla, Mario Falcetti, Gennaro Bosco, Frederic Erdrich, Manlio Scarpari, F. J. S. M. Lambin, Torquato Polimante, Louis Tessaroli, Paul Bossolo, T. C. Lund, H. G. Moth-Borglüm, C. J. R. Vandekelder, A. A. A. Celletti, C. E. A. M. Smets, C. L. Gianpetri, Jacob Vogt, Ragnvald Koht, T. Fessante, Adrien Beeckman.

The administration of justice shows that its representatives are conscious of the responsibility of their mission. No one has ever been able to impugn its impartiality and independence, and the judgments and sentences awarded establish its anxiety to reach all the guilty, and not to leave unpunished any breach of the laws for the protection of the natives. I will not mention any other examples of this than the judgments recently pronounced against the agents of a trading company, upon whom heavy sentences of penal servitude were passed for crimes committed upon natives. The tribute which the Government on that occasion paid to the Courts’ sense of their duties will be a valuable encouragement for them. I am confident that the Government’s appeal to the vigilance of the Department of Public Prosecution to prevent any offence of the kind passing unpunished will not be in vain.

[Sidenote: The Negro as a Witness.]

The superior administration of Boma is instructed to follow the principle of bringing before the competent courts all cases of abuses of natives that are pointed out to it by the authorities, by the direct complaints of residents in the Congo, or by criticisms in the press. These last accusations, the frequency of which is found to coincide with the campaign conducted against the Congo State, are regularly submitted on the spot to careful examination in detail. The impression that is left by the investigations that have been made, and some of which are still unfinished, is that as a general rule the complaints formulated are wanting in the precision necessary to fix the responsibility, if any, for them; or that they rest exclusively on the gossip and statements of natives which have not been sufficiently verified. In this latter respect a long experience of African affairs has shown me with what circumspection, not to say with what distrust, the statements of the blacks must be accepted. Their peculiar mental characteristic renders them inclined to lie with an ease that is disconcerting, and magistrates are obliged to direct their inquiries and questionings with real skill and untiring patience in order to arrive at the truth amongst the inaccuracies and omissions of coloured witnesses. That will reveal how much and how often the stories of sensational facts circulated by natives are distorted by them, when they are not absolutely invented, and what disappointments those who accept them too easily prepare for themselves. A typical case is that of a Protestant missionary who was accused by natives of having inflicted on the black engineer of his mission’s steamer blows and wounds that caused his death. The judicial investigation disposed of this charge, which had been fabricated in all its details by the natives with the view of avenging themselves on the missionary, with whom they were engaged in a dispute on a question of wages. And yet the natives making the accusation never ceased for a moment, despite the proofs to the contrary, from maintaining their lying charges with a persistency which could not fail to create an impression. It is to be regretted that Mr. Casement[19] was not put on his guard against the statements of the blacks, and especially by this incident, of which he could not have been ignorant, since the missionary concerned accompanied him during the inquiry into the case of Epondo, whom the natives also represented to have been the victim of a criminal act.

I will, by another example revealed during a recent inquiry, show how much the charges brought against the Administration of the State are wanting in prudence. Some correspondence from a missionary published in England has given rise to violent comments in the press of that country upon the Congo Free State. When invited by the State Prosecutor to formulate and present his charges, this missionary did not allege anything against the State agent, whom, in his writings he had charged with responsibility for odious crimes. He had invoked, as corroborating his own statement, the affirmations that other European agents had made to him; he declared by what follows that these affirmations were to be kept strictly confidential. “It is true,” he adds, “that these facts have been published, but as the publication was made in England I thought that the confidence placed in my discretion was not betrayed.” He also declares that “before accepting the responsibility of revealing and specifying in a precise manner the facts, he desires to consult, and take the opinion of, if not a barrister, at least some one knowing Congolese law, and that the extracts published of his letter have not perhaps been made with strict precision of language.” In short, the want of clearness, the subterfuges of the examination, attracted the attention of the State Prosecutor, and left on his mind the most unfavourable impression as to the good faith of this missionary, and as to his highly blameworthy manner of recognising the hospitality that he has hitherto enjoyed in the Congo.

I have entered into these few details in order to show the occasionally inconsiderate character of the attacks directed against our Administration.

[Sidenote: Intrigues against the State.]

And I owe it to truth to make another reproach, not less grave, with regard to certain foreign elements which do not seem to have an exact view of their duty in inculcating the natives by their example and teachings with the respect due to the authority of the State and to its representatives. It is impossible not to be struck by the strange rumours in the vicinity of the Protestant missions, which for some time have been announcing to the population a change in the established order, and predicting the end of the State. There natives have been seen to offer insults to the European agents; officers of the Companies have lodged complaints as to the arrogant attitude of part of the population subject to certain influences; a tendency to shake off the duty due to the State, and to repudiate respect for our laws, has manifested itself among them. It is not doubtful that here we see the result of the underhand intrigues sapping, more or less intentionally, the legal authority. The remark inevitably follows that this position reveals itself solely in the neighbourhood of some evangelical posts, and it assumes a more significant character when it is known that the tendency of these establishments is to exercise over the surrounding population a sort of sovereign power, in opposition to “Boula Matari,”[20] thereby creating a state of antagonism between the influence of the mission houses and the authority of the State agents. I have pointed out for the attention of the Government this grave position, and the measures that it ought to take if it continues. Already local agents have been obliged to act on their own initiative to safeguard the State’s authority, and if it becomes necessary the Governor-General will consider the occasion for making use of the means placed at his disposal, by the decree of 15th September, 1889, for dealing with foreigners who should employ against the State their influence over the natives.

It would be desirable that an appropriation be provided to carry out the plan at present under examination, of establishing on the Upper Congo a number of civil courts and a second Court of Appeal.

In my opinion the Government ought to go farther in the way of developing our judicial machinery. A point which has not ceased to attract attention is, in the first place, the recruiting of the staff. Whatever may be the goodwill of the judicial agents, it is beyond doubt that some newcomers have not always possessed, before their entrance into our judiciary, a sufficiently long experience of judicial practice. I here renew the wish, already expressed, to hear that judges of Belgian courts and parquets be authorised to obtain leave of absence to occupy judicial posts in the Congo.

The spirit in which this recommendation by the Vice-Governor-General was received in Belgium is clearly indicated in the following announcement on behalf of the Minister of Justice at Brussels:

The Minister of Justice has just authorised Belgian magistrates who may be desirous to do so, and be accepted by the Congo Free State, to undertake, by a limited engagement, to serve as judges in the Congo,—and for that purpose, to obtain leave of absence without pay, save that their rights of seniority in the Belgian magistracy are to be reserved....

The Congo has been for us a field of heroism. It has enabled numerous Belgians, who were smothering within their frontiers, to prove their value in a much broader sphere, where territorial, political, and diplomatic conditions permitted some display of their inborn qualities, and to reveal themselves first-class pioneers, soldiers, and administrators.

If considered only from an ideal point of view, this advantage is well worth something. And those of our officers who out there have put down slavery, pacified the native tribes, opened the ways of navigation, commerce, and industry, created agricultural stations, depots, railways, forest exploitations, and roads will surely from this point of view alone have rendered our little country as much service as they could have rendered it in the service of our garrisons.

It has often been said that narrow frontiers mean narrow ideas. To broaden our horizon, is to broaden our ideas. It seems to us that without going beyond these considerations, this decision taken by our Department of Justice deserves to be commended.

Without any burden on our Treasury on that account,—since the Belgian judges serving in the Congo will, during the term of their service, cease to draw upon our budget,—our magistracy will be losing nothing of their value, so justly appreciated, by delegating a few of their members—selected from the youngest—in those new regions where their knowledge of law, coming into more direct contact than at home with nature and practical needs, will acquire renewed strength at the very springs of equity and juridical conscience.

At the same time, their authoritative participation in the colonial undertaking will contribute to do away with the very suspicion of those abuses which, after being systematically exaggerated by interested opponents, have been used as a pretence for this deplorable Congophobe campaign which has led away in England a few minds more generous than enlightened.

Fortified in this manner, the Congolese magistrates, who even now worthily bear comparison with any colonial magistracy, will, by the mode of their recruitment, and their own merit, command respect from our adversaries.

They will be continually renewed, which is advisable in these tropical regions, where the conditions of climate very soon exhaust individuals, and the new and continued relations which will thus progressively spring up between Belgium at home and its African extension will contribute to force into our colonial undertaking the best part of our traditions and of our national spirit.

It would be also useful if the ambulatory character attributed by Congolese law to the Courts of First Instance were made more effective, by rendering it an obligation for these courts to move about periodically throughout the extent of their province, to sit regularly at important centres, and to betake themselves to all points to which the necessities of their presence required them to proceed. This object might be easily attained, if only there were placed at the disposal of the magistrates the material means—with regard to transport, provisions, and lodging—that the frequency of these movements on circuit might call for.

I would also recommend a new measure which would consist in establishing in the different jurisdictions a corps of special agents who should be remunerated by the Government, and whose mission would be to discharge in the interests of the natives the rôle of barristers. At present it is to the magistrates themselves that the native addresses himself in order to obtain the necessary counsel for the protection of his rights. It would be preferable that those who may be called upon to lay down the law on a conflict of civil right, should not fill also the post of being counsel to one of the parties. On the other hand, from the penal point of view the measure that I propose would permit of professional defenders being assured to the accused. This institution, which it would be necessary to render of as general application as possible in the Upper as in the Lower Congo, would thus place on the spot, at the disposition of those natives who thought they had ground of complaint, gratuitous defenders of their interests.

Indeed it would be useful to constitute in Belgium a Court of Cassation to which the sentences and definite judgments in penal matters which might possibly be contrary to the law should be submitted. Such a court might be composed of members of the Belgian Court of Cassation, or of the Appeal Courts admitted to the grade of emeritus, or actually practising.

It will certainly seem natural that these different opportunities of co-operating in the Congolese work should be given to the Belgian magistracy. Belgium would see therein, as it seems to me, the occasion of drawing closer the links of a moral nature which already unite it to its future colony, and the mission not without distinction which Belgian officers have fulfilled and are fulfilling in Africa would find its complement in the collaboration of jurists of merit who can be counted in our country in great numbers.

NATIVE CHIEFTAINCIES

The institution of native chieftaincies, due to the decree of 6th October, 1891, realises an idea too just and too politic for it not to receive all the extension possible. If during the first days that followed the promulgation of that decree the district Commissioners displayed praiseworthy emulation in recognising native chieftaincies, it is not less certain that these have not rendered, up to the present, all the services which we could expect, so far as they were called upon to create between the European authority and the natives a natural intermediary, having its duties and responsibilities, and calculated to facilitate the action of the Government.

The cases in which it has been applied still show the advantages of the system and testify to the greater facility with which the natives rally to the new order of things when it is personified in their eyes by the chief whom they have always recognised. It is proved that respect for the orders of authority, obedience to the laws, the execution of legal obligations, such as military recruiting and the payment of taxes,—in a word the principles of an organised social state, are more easily accepted by the natives forming part of a chieftaincy than by those who are quite independent. The chiefs, besides, have generally a real influence over the population, and thus, as has several times been said, if they feel themselves supported they will succeed in making our ideas prevail and in imposing them on the natives through our support.

Another appeal has just been quite recently made by the local government to all the chiefs of districts and zones in order to inspire them with these views, and so that they may increase the official chieftaincies to a great extent.

The instructions issued are inspired by a double object: to maintain and even to extend the authority of the chiefs over their subjects, to avoid all intervention in the internal affairs of the tribes which would be of a nature to compromise the prestige of that authority.

“It is the right of the chief,” these instructions declare, “to assure the execution of his orders according to native rules and particularly to bring to his decision the sanction demanded by native custom.”

The only restriction on the authority of the recognised native chiefs lies in the necessity for them not to run counter, in the decisions taken, to public order, that is to say, principles which are at the base of the organisation of society, as it is comprehended and wished to be by the legislator.

The chief’s authority ceases as soon as the measures taken are contrary to that public order.

Thus, in matters of private right, the native chief could not legitimately take any course which would assail the organisation of families constituted under the régime of the civil Code, and according to its prescribed form,—in other words, entered on the European statute.

On the other hand, he could not establish slavery, oppose religious liberties or commercial liberty, or order acts contrary to the penal law.

Still it is necessary to remark that he may employ coercive and repressive measures to ensure, as chief, and within the limits of his power according to custom, the execution of his orders.

But this sanction itself would be contrary to public order if its character differed from our ideas of what repression should be, more especially if it were accompanied by torture, mutilation, or other acts of cruelty, or if it were surrounded with superstitious practices, such as the proof by poison; in a word, if it were really to run counter to our ideas of humanity and the civilising object of the State.

Corporal punishments, similar to those employed by the State and in a similar measure to what is employed by it, inflicted by the native chief according to custom, would evidently not be contrary to public order.

Such are the regulations set forth in a general way which govern the 258 recognised native chiefs in their participation with the political life of the State.

These instructions recommend to the territorial authorities “continual relations with the native chiefs, incessant instructions and recommendations, a direction and control without interruption, and a moral and material support in order to maintain and increase the chief’s authority with a similar object,” and to the judicial authorities “an intervention marked by prudence in order not to diminish uselessly the chief’s authority, and not to destroy, or even weaken, the influence that he should have, and of which the Government means to make use for the spread of civilisation.”

The care of maintaining intact and of developing the principle of the chief’s authority might perhaps one day be carried farther. It would indeed be permissible to wish that, in the future, all the decisions of an administrative and judicial character, passed by the European authorities themselves, should be executed by the intermediary of the recognised chief; in other words, the native would receive orders only from his natural chief.

This measure, when it becomes possible, will produce the best results with regard to order and discipline, the natives being less inclined to rebel against the orders of the chief whom they have freely chosen.

In order to avoid the abuse which might result from ignorance of our laws, and to make the native chief acquainted with his rights, there should be attached to the procés verbaux of investitute of the chiefs a protocol setting forth the penalties that it will be permissible for the local authorities to continue to apply, as in the past, with a specific mention of the offences subject to their jurisdiction.

They will be made acquainted with this act on their investiture, at the same time as they are instructed as to the general obligations imposed on them by the State, and which should also figure in the document in question.

All that precedes evidently relates only to native chiefs properly so-called, and not to the present sultans who, as prescribed by the Government’s instructions, must not have the authority which they at present possess increased.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] His Britannic Majesty’s consul, author of the Report referred to in a succeeding chapter.

[20] The name which the natives applied to Stanley. It is now used to designate the State.

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XXIII. THE POSTAL, TELEGRAPH, AND TELEPHONE SERVICE

[Sidenote: Twin Civilisers.]

Moderns regard the post-office and the mission school as substantial signs of civilisation wherever the two are found in mutual endeavour. In compliance with Article VII, of the General Act of Berlin, the Congo Free State joined the Postal Union, and has sent official representatives to its periodic congresses.

In the Belgian Congo the postal service is very efficient. It already penetrates to districts most remote from the central office at Boma. It was effectively established in 1885 when the irregular service was succeeded by the rudiments of the present system. In 1887 it was, in fact, a piece of perfect governmental machinery. On the 28th of February that year it signed a formal Postal Convention with Belgium. It was soon thereafter apparent that a postal money-order service was required to facilitate the transit of small sums between Europe and the Congo. Agreements in this respect were made with Belgium on May 13, 1893, and November 24, 1898. The rapid development of the Congo Basin already calls for even further extension of the system.

The latest report on the subject is that of Vice-Governor-General Fuchs, which follows:

POSTAL SERVICE

There are at present on the Congo: 23 post-offices, sub-post-offices, and depots for stamps.

According to the returns before me, there were transported in 1885 only 33,140 letters and printed objects, whereas for 1902 the postal movement was represented by 372,007 letters and printed objects.

Correspondence is conveyed by either railway or steamer; on the roads it is forwarded to its destination by special native couriers.

The weight of the despatches enclosing letters and printed matter may not exceed, for transport by land, 10 kilogrammes.[21] The porters required for this service are furnished by the chiefs of posts.

The transmission of correspondence into the interior of the country is, besides, regulated by instructions, to which the local authorities frequently draw the serious attention of the territorial chiefs. Thus, in all parts of the State territory, the couriers must leave on a fixed day, and they have a certain time, which has been calculated after much experience as sufficient, for the journey from one point to another.

It is expressly forbidden to the authorities to detain the native couriers after the date fixed for their departure, or to entrust them with correspondence not sealed. All postal packages must be paid for (with the exception that certain officials have the right to post free) and enclosed in a sealed envelope having the address clearly shown.

Each postal despatch contains a ticket of advice which is to be returned to the originating office, dated and signed by the agent of the office that received it, after he has found the contents exact. The carrier of the mail is also in possession of a route ticket which informs him of the number of sacks and envelopes composing the mail. It must be checked and dated, and must show in a special column, for the way out and back and for each station, the hour of the arrival and departure of the couriers.

The sub-controllers of the post-offices must forward each month, for the purpose of verification, to the Controller of the post-office at Boma, the route tickets of the couriers sent during the previous month.

The Director of Finance sends, as often as possible, the Controller of the Post-Office to examine the accounts of the various offices which are run by selected agents appointed from the Belgian administration.

In districts where sub-post-offices are established, the District Commissioner sees to the strict observance of the instructions regulating the important postal service.

It has been found that in several districts the services of soldiers in the garrison have been utilised for the mails. Not only did these not always render the services which workmen or other men specially engaged for the service of transports of all kinds render, but even there was reason to fear that the soldiers, on account of their uniform and arms, as well as being without control, sometimes abused their powers to make levies on the villages through which they passed. But now the strict instructions of the Government forbid soldiers being taken away from their garrison and military duties, and require that they should always remain under the control of their chiefs. It has, therefore, been positively forbidden to send any mail by soldiers of the Public Force.

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE SERVICE

On 27th November, 1893, the State ordered by decree the first telegraphic line, and in July, 1895, a first wire was stretched across the river; and on 15th September, 1898, it became possible to telephone and telegraph from Boma to Leopoldville, or for a distance of 452 kilometres (282 miles). Later on, and when the transport of material had been made easier by the opening of the Matadi-Leopoldville railway, the telegraph line was extended to Coquilhatville.

At the present moment there are thirteen telephone and telegraph offices working in the State.

The principal offices and distance separating them from each other are:

Boma-Matadi 52 kilometres Matadi-Tumba 185 ” Tumba-Leopoldville 215 ” Leopoldville-Kwamouth 233 ” Kwamouth-Mopolenge-Yumbi 177 ” Yumbi-Lukolela 121 ” Lukolela-Irebu 102 ” Irebu-Coquilhatville 114 ” ————— Total 1,199 kilometres[22]

(nearly 750 miles) of development. This extensive telegraph and telephone line is carried on iron posts from Boma to Leopoldville, and from Leopoldville to Coquilhatville the wire is supported in some places on steel posts, in others on trees, in the proportion approximately of 4494 steel posts and 2782 trees.

The line has to make two very important crossings of water, one across the Congo a little above Underhill Point (Hell’s Kettle), the other across the Kassai near its mouth.

At the crossing of the river at Underhill the wires are supported by trellised steel towers, the piers of which are distant 800 metres from each other; and they are placed 73 and 63 (2) metres[23] respectively above the bed of the river at the highest flood.

The crossing of the Kassai is made by two casts of the line, one being 450 and the other 670 metres in length. Fourteen steel towers, of 36.50 and of 38.50 metres in height, help crossing the river. One of the towers is placed on an island, and four conductors ensure the proper working of the telegraph line.

The camps of Lisala and Umangi are also connected by a telephone line 22 kilometres in length. Besides a strong permanent body of native workers and European linesmen, the line is maintained by the natives of the villages through which it passes. The natives receive ample compensation in monthly payments.

Another telegraph and telephone line of about 320 kilometres, which leaves Kassongo on the Lualaba for Baraka on Lake Tanganyika, was opened on 5th December, 1903. It connects the telegraph and telephone offices of Kassongo, Kabambare, Kalembe-Lembe, Baraka. This line will be extended to Lake Kivu, in the extreme eastern part of the Free State.

For about two years past experiments have been in progress to establish communication by wireless telegraphy between Banana and Ambrizette, so as to connect the Congolese system with the rest of the world.

Telegrams for Europe are at present brought either by the State steamers or by ocean steamers from Boma to St. Paul de Loanda, to San Thome, and to Sierra Leone, whence they are transmitted to their destination. Telegrams can also be sent from the Congo for Europe by the French route of the Gaboon by taking them to the French office of Brazzaville. A convention recently established between the French Republic and the Government of the Congo Independent State will allow the telegraphic systems of the two States to be connected by sinking a cable in Stanley Pool between Brazzaville and Kinshassa. This work finished, the Congo State will be connected with the telegraphic system of the globe.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] About 22 lbs.

[22] A kilometre is .621 of a mile.

[23] A metre is 39.37 inches.

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XXIV. NAVIGATION, RAILWAYS, ROADS

[Sidenote: The Strenuous Life.]

The Sovereign of the Congo Free State adheres to a gospel of labour of which he is personally the greatest exemplar in Europe. His Majesty’s industry is in motion at five o’clock every morning. It gathers force as the sun rises, and subsides only when his ministers and attendants have retired. In this respect much might be written to attract the world’s admiration to a monarch who has the false reputation in America of toying with time and its tintinnabulation.

Tremendous are the energies which the King’s example inspires, not only in the Belgium which his rule has beautified, and which he has made the least-taxed country in Europe, but also in the heart of blackest Africa. There are, in that vast territory, manifold monuments to the infectious spirit of endeavour which prevails in the palace at Laeken, at Brussels, and in the lofty châlet at Ostend. These monuments, by their nature, appear to confirm Belgian intention to occupy the future of the Congo State with structures of enduring substance, whether they be material, political, ethical, or social. The charge, sometimes uttered against King Leopold, that his interest in the Congo is merely what it can be made to yield him during his lifetime, dissolves into the mist of the slander it becomes in the presence of the physical improvement going on, with mighty strides, in Congoland.

[Sidenote: Benefits of State Rule.]

When the Congo Free State was founded, communication by water with Europe was infrequent and uncomfortable. Liverpool and Lisbon sent a few ships at irregular intervals. Later Germany and Holland followed their example at a time when Fuka-Fuka was the farthermost settlement on the Congo coast. No means of transport into the interior existed except by canoes, or by native carriers. To-day all this has been altered by Belgian capital, skill, and industry.

The maritime development of the Congo began in 1891, when the State, joining the commercial companies of the region, concluded an agreement with certain German and English steamship lines to establish a monthly service between Antwerp and Matadi. These ships left Antwerp on the 6th of each month and arrived at Matadi in about fifteen days.

In 1895, under the auspices of a syndicate composed of the masters of these ships, there was incorporated at Antwerp La Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo, which provided a monthly service of steamers sailing under the Belgian flag. The success of this enterprise induced other companies to engage in the Congo trade, among them being L’Empresa Nacional de Navigaçao, of Lisbon; Les Chargeurs Réunis, of Bordeaux, related to Fraissinet et Cie., of Marseilles; The Woerman Line, of Hamburg; The African Steamship Company, combined with the British and African Steam Navigation Company.

Extensive harbour works have been erected at Banana, Boma, and Matadi, and several signal lights have been placed at the mouth of the Congo to indicate the entrance to the channel. The Lower Congo, from Banana to Matadi, has been charted by buoys, and a pilot service has been organised at Banana. The river channel is being constantly improved by dredging, and Matebe, which in the dry season was inaccessible except to small craft, is now on the line of general navigation. A regular service of steamers plies the Lower Congo, and the State boats go regularly to Landana to meet the Portugese mail.

In 1890 the shipping in the ports of Banana and Boma amounted to only 166,028 entries, and 163,716 departures. The present tonnage into and out of these ports is over 500,000.

On the Upper Congo a large flotilla carries on an excellent service. The State operates thirty-two of these vessels and the companies about forty-five, besides which there is a considerable number of smaller craft belonging to private individuals and to missions. The tonnage of the Upper Congo flotilla is 1675 tons. The marine service numbers 166 whites and 1300 blacks.

The first steamers launched on the Upper Congo were of only five tons, their component parts having been carried on men’s backs along caravan routes long before the construction of the railway of the Cataracts. Even before the completion of the railway from Matadi to Stanley Pool the State had launched twelve five-ton boats on the Upper Congo, each of which had a capacity of nearly 50,000 pounds. Besides these, the Government launched one steamer of twenty-three tons and four of forty tons burden.

With the completion of the railway, the necessity for considering the weight of the loads ceased, and a new type of craft, the stern-wheel, was chosen. Its system of propulsion offered greater advantages against the variable conditions of navigability with which the vessels had to contend. The ports and landings are in a state of complete organisation at numerous points on the river, and cargoes are now moved with great facility. At regular intervals along the watercourse, posts at which Government workmen gather wood, supply the steamers with this form of fuel. In order that the forests along the banks may not be denuded, a State law enforces the replanting of trees as fast as they are cut down.

In 1896 the Government established a regular fortnightly steamship service between Leopoldville and Stanley Falls. The three steamers, Brabant, Hainaut, and Flandre, have been assigned to this service. The dates of their departure from Stanley Pool have been fixed to correspond with the dates of arrival of European ships. In order to ensure service on the navigable stretches beyond the Falls, steamers have been launched on the rivers Lualaba, Itimbiri, and Ubanghi. A sailing vessel has been launched on Lake Tanganyika and a steamer on the Nile. Native rowing crews have been organised in many regions, and their services are often of great value. All in all, the 102 steamers plying the Congo River in the governmental and private service, the efficient port facilities, the means of transport up the navigable affluents, and the hydrographic surveys constantly going on constitute a condition of colonial development which truly merits the commendation of Herr Von Puttkamer, Governor of the Cameroons, in which, amongst other things, he says: “The energy and practical sense displayed here deserve the greatest admiration.”

As the Congo steamboat largely abolished the laborious native carrier system through the riverain districts of the State, so has the Congo Railway, popularly known as the Cataracts Railway, largely contributed to relieve the black man, under Belgian rule, from lugging fifty-six pounds dead weight through the African jungle. The iron horse in Central Africa has given great momentum to the industries of a fertile region. In constructing the railway from Matadi, near the mouth of the Congo River, to Stanley Pool, traversing a distance of 260 miles over as tortuous and steep a route as ever daring engineers ventured to follow; climbing the Pallaballa Mountains at gradients of 150 feet in the mile, and finally steaming over a summit 17,000 feet above the sea, Belgian skill has again manifested its extraordinary quality, a quality observed in all that it has accomplished in the Congo Basin.

To connect the navigable regions of the Lower and the Upper Congo by a line over the route just indicated seemed at first to be beyond the possibility of achievement. On July 6, 1898, after nine years of unremitting toil and the expenditure of sixty million francs, the line was in complete and regular operation through a region which, on account of its picturesque scenery, may be likened to the Simplon Pass in Switzerland.

Without a railway running round the thirty-two great cataracts which tumble furiously in their descent of eighty miles to the sea, the Congo River, in the opinion of Stanley, would not have much value in the development of the Basin.

The first estimate of the cost of constructing the line was twenty-five million francs. This was based on the surveys of Major Cambier for the Compagnie du Congo pour la Commerce et l’Industrie, which, as early as the year 1887, had been granted certain rights and privileges if it would undertake to build the railway. On July 29, 1889, the Belgian Chamber agreed to provide ten million francs of the Company’s first capital, the remaining fifteen million francs having been subscribed chiefly by Belgian investors. The work so enthusiastically undertaken met with one setback after another, owing mainly to the engineering difficulties encountered in the rocky side of the mountain of Pallaballa, forming a spur of the great Crystal range, the western rampart of the Central African plateau. It required four years and indomitable perseverance to construct the section of the line from Matadi over the summit of Pallaballa, a distance of only twenty-six miles. In December, 1893, Colonel Wahis opened this part of the line with appropriate ceremonies, which many Europeans interested in Congo affairs attended. In the Mouvement Géographique appeared the following interesting description of this unique engineering triumph:

The train, on leaving the station of Matadi, passes in front of the works of the State and the Belgian and Portuguese commercial establishments, and debouches immediately by the Neck of the Guinea Fowls (Col des Pintades) into the Leopold Ravine, which it crosses by a bridge of sixty-five feet. It follows for a few minutes the right bank of the ravine, and is then on the bank of the Congo, whose magnificent panorama is suddenly exposed. Here commences the sensational part of the journey. For four miles, first alongside the Congo and then alongside the Mpozo, the way is hooked on to the side of the strong rock of Matadi. It mounts by a gentle incline, having on its right a perpendicular rocky wall, in some places seven hundred feet high, and on its left, in the foreground, the river rolling in rapids; and in the background the grand landscape of the right bank, with Vivi and Mount Leopold. At the sixth kilometre, where the Mpozo flows into the Congo, and before entering the valley of the former river, the view is exceedingly grand. At this point the railway is two hundred feet above the river—the Congo, enclosed in a gorge, rolls its tumultuous waters with extreme rapidity, as they have just made the descent from the Falls of Yellalla. On the left, to the north-east, the scenery is quite wild. It is equally so to the south-east, while the water is closed in in the narrow valley of the Mpozo. It was in these parts, at the very commencement of the work, that the difficulties were the greatest. From the Leopold Ravine to the bridge of the Mpozo, or for over four miles, the platform of the line had to be cut in terraces on the side of an immense rock of hard stone, through the thick equatorial vegetation which encumbered every ravine. Beyond Sleepy Hollow (Ravin du Sommeil), and after passing the ancient camp of Matadi-Mapembe, commences the famous ascent of Pallaballa. At the tenth kilometre the line attains a height of three hundred feet, or a rise of six hundred feet in four and a half miles. Beyond this the line traverses the Devil’s Ravine to reach the summit of the mountain, one thousand seven hundred feet, and in the course of this part of the work several bridges have had to be thrown across the intervening chasms or ravines. The whole of this part of the journey is really inspiring. The scenery is grand, works of skill succeed each other every minute, the perspective modifies itself to each of the numerous curves the road makes at every passage across the ravines. The railway ever ascends, hanging on to the mountain, suspended in places from three hundred to five hundred feet above the bottom of the Devil’s Ravine. The engine blows with force to the very moment of reaching the station of Pallaballa. Here the most interesting portion of the journey is over. The great difficulties, the long slopes of ascent at a maximum incline, recur no more.

It had now become apparent that the railway would cost more than double the sum originally estimated. Additional powers having been granted to the Company and a tripartite convention having provided the Congo Free State and the Belgian Government with power to buy the road, capital was raised to bring the total up to sixty million francs. By an extension of the time when the Congo State and Belgium may buy the line, the railway Company has possession until 1908.

[Sidenote: A Unique Railroad.]

The Cataracts Railway has some unique characteristics. It maintains a first- and a second-class car on each train. Trains leave Matadi every other day. Persons returning from the Congo refer to it as the strangest as well as the most profitable railway line in the world. It runs the distance between Matadi and Stanley Pool in twenty-four hours. First-class passage costs 500 francs, the second-class 50 francs. The former is, therefore, at the rate of 40 cents a mile. This, it is to be hoped, is at least some compensation for the great difficulties encountered in the construction of the line. For the final accomplishment of what is regarded in Europe as one of the great engineering feats in Africa, the energy and skill of Lieutenant Thys, the original surveys of Major Cambier, and the support of the King and the Belgian Parliament are largely to be credited. Outside assistance was almost entirely lacking.

The Mayumbe Railway is the second which was undertaken in the development of the Congo Free State. It connects Boma with Lukula, eighty kilometres (about fifty-four miles) distant, and has been in operation since 1901. It is narrow gauge (0.60 metre), while the Cataracts Railway is 0.70 metre.

On the completion of the Mayumbe Railway, the State inspired the construction of three lines of one-metre gauge, with a total length of 1600 kilometres (1080 miles). These lines are being undertaken by the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs Africains under an agreement made with the State on January 4, 1902. The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates the present stage to which these lines and others have attained:

A route for a railroad from Stanleyville to the Great Lakes has been surveyed. This survey comprehends a principal trunk line, Stanleyville-Bafwaboli-Mawambi-Irumu, 762 kilometres in length. Near Irumu the track branches off in two directions, one, Irumu-Mahagi, of 358 kilometres, the other, Irumu-Beni, of 135 kilometres. At present the surveys are being made for a track from Beni to Lake Tanganyika.

In addition, the track has been completely surveyed for a railway from Dufile to Redjaf, following the left bank of the Nile, which would be 157 kilometres in length.

This railway would turn the unnavigable part of the river.

At this moment a line is being constructed between Stanleyville (left bank) and Ponthierville. This line will be 140 kilometres in length. The rails have been placed over ten kilometres, and the embankment finished for fifty kilometres. This line will permit of transports being made on the river above Ponthierville. As soon as this first line is finished, others will be constructed along the unnavigable parts of the river.

At the present moment surveys are also being made for a railway connecting a point on the southern frontier of the Congo Independent State (Katanga) with a point situated on the Lualaba, south of the junction of that river with the Lufila.

The approximate length of this line, the survey of which commenced as far back as 25th April, 1903, will be about 500 kilometres.

Having regard to those articles of the Berlin General Act which relate to the free navigation of the Congo and its affluents, the legal status of railways within the Conventional Basin of the Congo becomes a matter of considerable importance, especially in view of the growing controversy as to the proper construction of the Act.

Baron Descamps has ably treated this subject in his New Africa, a volume of exceptional interest at this time. After pointing out that the “freedom of navigation” declared by the Berlin Act must not be confounded with freedom of railway traffic, inasmuch as the latter admits of grants of monopoly and the former does not, this eminent writer on questions of general and special law says:

The idea of considering railways as continuations of water-courses, or as junctions between water-courses, was quite a new one, as was pointed out at the Berlin Conference. The Conference realised the necessity of providing for the logical consequences of such an idea, and therefore it drew up special regulations which are worthy of careful examination.

The general legal standing of railways in the Congo, the essential rights of the authorities as to their construction, their concession, their running powers, their charges, their position as public highways, their administrative and judicial policy are the same as those of railways in other countries.

The Berlin Act, as regards railways destined to provide transport where the Congo and the Niger become unnavigable, made special provision in clauses 16 and 23 on the one hand, and 29 and 33 on the other—the only clauses which are concerned with railways—for certain details of these communications. After declaring that these railways, as means of communication, are considered as auxiliaries of the rivers, the Act dwells on the legal consequences attaching to the introduction of this new idea, this conventional innovation in international relations. The consequences are as follows:

1. The obligation of opening the railways to the traffic of all nations (Art. 16, § 1), and the inviolability at all times of the lines thus opened to the trade of all nations (Art. 25, § 1).

2. The obligation to refrain from any excessive railway rates, that is to say, “not calculated on the cost of construction, maintenance and management, and on the profits due to the promoters.” The Berlin Act states but these general principles, its object being to give the basis of calculation rather than a detailed solution of the problem, since it does not draw up a schedule of rates with respect to the nature of goods or the scale of the charges.

3. The obligation to observe, in fixing a tariff within these broad limits, “equality of treatment for the strangers and the subjects of the respective territories.”

Thus, equality is sure to be observed as regards the tariff, both in the case of subjects and foreigners, and especially so in business which may be called the sphere of private activity, i. e., commerce. Thus also the power of the State to allow exclusive access to the railways, to impose extra or unfair charges, is minimised. The Berlin Act goes so far, but does not pass these limits. Beyond this, it does not affect the sovereign prerogatives of the State as regards its territory.

According to the usual right of the Powers in all that regards railways, the State can order the establishment of the same, can have them constructed, run them itself, and fix their tariff. It can also, if deemed preferable, authorise a concessionaire to collect the charges on the contemplated line, on condition that he shall undertake the construction and maintain the established tariff.

The Berlin Act respects these fundamental rights. It offers no opposition against whatever arrangements the State makes with its concessionaire as regards a schedule of rates with respect to the nature of goods or the scale of the charges. It does not intrude upon the internal organisation of the rates, except so far as it circumscribes them within the following limitations: 1, all are free to use the railways; 2, no distinction can be based on the nationality of individuals; 3, and no excessive rates are to be imposed.

Circumstances may render changes in the tariff advisable, and the State may modify the rates periodically.[24] It may also exercise the right of ordering its concessionaire to make certain modifications and reductions.

This was the course adopted by the Free State in relation to the Congo Railway in its initial estimates. It also reserved the right of repurchase. This latter reservation, however, it abandoned for a time by Act dated November 12, 1901, which also stipulated in what manner its optional power of reducing rates was to be exercised. That power it exercised by imposing a comprehensive system of reduction, and without at the time committing itself to any declaration as to the specific classes of goods on which the rates were to be reduced. It does not concern strangers whether it be exercised in one act or in two, and whether the concessionaire acts by special agreement with the State or under general powers. The main consideration is whether the procedure followed for the attainment of the reductions aimed at is in accordance with the Berlin Act. In the present case, the procedure certainly was in accordance with that Act.

From a legal point of view, nothing can be said against the State’s reducing railway rates, inasmuch as it was invested with the right of primarily drawing up those rates.

By the same Act of November 12, 1901, the State enjoys certain special conditions of transport for carrying out works of public utility. That right is quite legitimate for the Government, and does not entitle private citizens to demand its application for their own purposes. The State could have enjoyed these advantages if it had itself built and worked the line. The mere fact of a concession by no means robs the State of all its rights in this respect. These advantages are justified, for the State has made real sacrifices in ceding a part of its territory and in abandoning the repurchase clauses. The advantages accruing to the State do not in any way interfere with the equal treatment of individuals stipulated for in Article 16, which says: “As regards the rate of these tolls, foreigners and subjects of the respective territories shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality.”

No distinction is made on account of nationalities; the only difference made rests on a service of public utility, regardless of nationality. Neither subjects nor foreigners can say that their civil or commercial liberties are endangered.

There are certain authoritative interpretations of the Berlin Act which confirm our view of this question. The German Government, for example, considers no breach of equality the exemption of all dues granted to a German railway concessionaire. Below are two clauses of the Imperial German decree, dated December 1, 1891, and relating to the railway in German East Africa (Usambara line).

“Clause 1.—The Imperial Government shall grant to no other contractor, either individual or corporation, the right of constructing or working a railway line joining the said localities or liable to compete with the line ceded by the present decree or any parts of same.”

“Clause 9.—The Imperial Government guarantees to the German East African Railway Company, subject to compliance with the prescribed formalities, an exemption from all taxes on materials, engines, working tools, and all other implements and articles which may be imported into German East Africa for the construction, repair, renewal, and running of the railway.”

In drawing up special tariffs with its concessionaire, it may be asked whether the State can base these rates on the actual working expenses—that is to say, with neither profit nor loss for the concessionaire. From an economic point of view, such a tariff is perfectly justifiable. Transporting operations, per se, cannot be separated from the transactions to which they are related. These transactions must be considered in view of all the surrounding circumstances. In negotiating transport operations, which of themselves entail neither profit nor loss, a contractor is quite justified in calculating on present or probable advantages which may result from the whole of the operation; as, for instance, the opening of new markets and the renunciation to the right of immediate repurchase of the concern. To forbid him to do this would be to spoil his chances and deprive him in many cases of a part of the profit to which he is justly entitled.

Neither can it be argued, in the case of a railway like that of the Congo, that the contractor should require rates superior to his actual expenses, in order to realise an immediate profit. Clause 16 states “that there shall be collected only tolls calculated on the cost of construction, maintenance, and management, and on the profits due to the promoters.” To argue in the sense indicated would be against the purport of the clause which aims at forbidding excessive rates, but which in no way interferes with a gradual realisation of average profits by the contractors. To arbitrarily forbid the contractor to make such profits would be to fly in the face of Clause 16, inasmuch as it refers to the profits due to the contractor. It is equally fallacious to imagine that because certain merchandise is carried for a time without profit, the rates for certain other merchandise must needs be increased. Finally, it would still have to be shown that the Berlin Act forbids a proper and reasonable equalisation of contractors’ charges. But the Berlin Act does not meddle with such arrangements; it does not establish a detailed and proportional schedule of rates. It only says that such charges must not be excessive—that is to say, they must not exceed the comprehensive amount of the necessary expenses and due profits. The Act, moreover, fixes no maximum for such profits, neither does it fix any maximum rates on produce. Its intentions in this respect are shown by its refusal to define, even by means of a maximum scale, the extent of compensatory rates.

[Sidenote: Africa Unknown to Africans.]

Time was when the native Congolese, lazily living out his torpid life in a land where Nature in her luxuriance yielded him subsistence without the ennobling concomitant of his labour, avoided the great forests, the jungles, and the marshes of Equatorial Africa. He moved about to regions of easy access where the land afforded his indolence the greatest pleasure for the least responsibility. Explorers and the early builders of the Congo Free State often experienced great difficulty in preventing the desertion of their native carriers over a trackless course, such, for instance, as Stanley, Wissmann, De Brazza, cut out on their several expeditions. In short, the African Negro regarded his feet with such solicitude that he waited for the white man to show him the thickets and the fastnesses which contained those natural resources—rubber, oil, gum, ivory, nuts—which certain library philosophers and untravelled colonisers assert were the conscious property of the savage who neither knew of, nor cared for, their existence. Industry was not worth while to him who could supply his wants in idleness.

The State, on the other hand, has not only taught the native Congolese the enlightening influence of honest labour, it has set him an example of colonial industry the like of which can not be found in the possessions of any other European Power. It built its railways where the engineering skill of its more powerful neighbours predicted failure; it sought the hidden treasure of a vast domain with routes and transport services which, in part, account for prosperity which others observe with manifest envy. Not content with these, it has lately penetrated the forests with wide avenues, hundreds of miles long, upon which to operate an automobile service. On this subject Vice-Governor-General Fuchs says:

The Government has also given attention to the construction of routes for motor cars; two chief routes of this kind are being constructed.

The first in the Uelle between Redjaf and Ibembo. It will be about 1250 kilometres in length, of which, according to the latest information furnished, 400 kilometres are now open to use. Experiments are being made there by means of three steam waggons.

The second starts from Songololo, a station on the railway from Matadi to the Pool, and proceeds to Popokabaka on the river Kwango.

Routes destined for transport by waggons are, besides, in course of construction, and in some parts of the territory are sufficiently advanced to permit of transport by oxen, particularly in the Uelle, Katanga, and Manyema. The Mahagi-Irumu route is working for a length of 165 kilometres; eleven large villages are now established along this route, at distances of from 13 to 16 kilometres from each other.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] As this volume is going to press, the announcement is made that the rates have been reduced.

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