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Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Belgian System of Government in Central Africa By Henry Wellington Wack, F.R.G.S. (Member of the New York Bar) With 125 Illustrations and Maps G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1905...
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As a student of Mid-African affairs for the past seven years, and a close observer of the rapid progress toward complete civilisation now being made in that part of the world, I have felt it my duty to lay before my countrymen the true and complete story of the conception, formation, and development of the Congo Free State. At a period of such bitter controversy concerning the government of the Congo Free State as the present, it is necessary that I should explain the circumstances under which I add this volume to the literature of that subject. During a residence of several years in the United Kingdom, I could not fail to observe the growth there of an organised campaign against the Congo Free State. That a small section of the British public, interested in the rubber trade, should by subtle means seek to delude or should even succeed in...
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Outline Map of Africa THE STORY OF THE CONGO FREE STATE...
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The decline and fall of great empires has ever been a fascinating subject of study, congenial alike to students of widely diverse opinions and pursuits; yet it must be clear to all that in human interest the breaking up of an empire is as nothing when compared with its founding. The reason is, probably, that so little is known of the origin of great national communities. The United States is almost alone among nations in respect that its growth, from its inception to its mature ultimate triumph, has been watched by keenly observant eyes, and every particular of its perilous progress carefully recorded. But when the future historian, with comprehensive appreciation impossible in a contemporary, reviews the events of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, one fact will stand well out before him, a unique and very potent fact, fraught with vast possibilities for the future—none other than the...
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In every case the National Committees of the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa displayed extraordinary activity; but, as was to be expected, their rate of progress was measured by the Belgian Committee, which met, for the first time, on the 6th of November, 1876, in Brussels, just six weeks after the close of the Brussels Geographical Conference which had decreed its existence. As was fitting in the circumstances, King Leopold was present at the meeting, and delivered upon that occasion a speech which may be regarded as an amplification of his Majesty’s previous pronouncements on the situation, now in some measure become political, in Central Africa. “Gentlemen,” said King Leopold, “the slave trade, which still exists over a large part of the African Continent, is a plague-spot that every friend of civilisation would desire to see disappear.” House of Governor-General, Boma. “The horrors of that...
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On the 15th day of November, 1884, the International Conference, convened by Prince Bismarck to regulate what that statesman termed “the African question,” held its first meeting. It took place in Berlin, Prince Bismarck presiding. In briefly outlining the object of the Conference, the distinguished president exhibited in no small degree that condensation and lucidity for which his utterances were remarkable. The Imperial Government [said Prince Bismarck] has been guided by the conviction that all the Governments invited here share the desire to associate the natives of Africa with civilisation, by opening up the interior of that continent to commerce, by furnishing the natives with the means of instruction, by encouraging missions and enterprises so that useful knowledge may be disseminated, and by paving the way to the suppression of slavery, and especially of the slave trade among the blacks, the gradual abolition of which was declared to be, as...
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Having narrated the principal political circumstances which eventuated in the founding of the Congo Free State, it now becomes necessary to revert to an earlier period, and sketch briefly the various Belgian expeditions to whose labours are so largely owing our knowledge of the geography of Central Africa, the suppression of the slave trade there, and the establishment of civilising and humanitarian government by Belgians. It is hardly necessary to say that so great an enterprise was not possible of achievement without loss of life, and much personal sacrifice and suffering; that many men of high intellectual power and indomitable courage fell by the way, martyrs to disease, treachery, and the innumerable accidents by flood and field which ever dog the footsteps of pioneer explorers. The official records of the expeditions, for the most part vouched for by independent testimony (chiefly English), establish beyond possibility of dispute the patient forbearance...
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It was Diego Cam, an intrepid Portuguese navigator, who, in 1484, voyaging towards the mythical East Indies, discovered the Congo. In the name of his sovereign, King Juan II., he took possession of the country, though it does not appear that he proceeded far into the interior. From n’zadi , the native name for river, the Portuguese formed the word Zaire, and it is by this name that the river was long called. It so appears in the map of Martin of Bohemia, who accompanied the expedition. The globe prepared by this German cosmographer is still to be seen in the museum of Nuremberg. It was not until two centuries later that the river was called Rio de Congo. Ss. “Leopoldville” Bound for Boma. On the south promontory of the Delta the Portuguese erected a pillar to commemorate their discovery. This promontory is still known as the Padrão Foreland. It...
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Slavery: the absolute, irresponsible ownership of one class of human beings by another class; a contract in which the only factors are might on the one side and helplessness on the other; servitude exacted by force. Slavery has existed in all countries from the earliest recorded periods. The most enlightened philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome were unable to conceive a community of which a section was not enslaved by the rest. As a system, slavery, by its long-continued, universal practice, and the simple solution it affords of what in our modern world is referred to as the labour difficulty, appeals to two powerful human instincts: conservatism and cupidity. The ethical unfairness of one man’s being made wholly subservient to the will of another; forced to labour for him without reward; his chattel to retain, sell, or slay, as though he were a horse or a dog, was perceived from...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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. Native Ploughing in Botanical Garden at Ealer (Equateur). The Berlin Conference of 1885 had not dealt with questions of territory except to delimit the area comprised in the Congo Basin. By the Anglo-German Agreements of 1886 and 1890, the borders of...
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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,...
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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...
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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. 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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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: (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...
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On Friday, the 25th of March, 1904, in the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, London, the case of Captain Henri Joseph Leon De Keyser, and his colleagues-in-arms, Commandants Chaltin and Dubreucq, against Captain Guy Burrows, an Englishman, one time in the service of the Congo Free State, and his publishers, Messrs. R. A. Everett & Co., London, came on for trial before Mr. Justice Ridley and a special jury. The trial of this action for libel is the first which has, so far, been determined against those who are charged with traducing the men whose courage in, and devotion to, the Congo cause has erected a prosperous State in the heart of savage Africa. The case irradiates much that has been long proceeding in Great Britain, and that has recently received significant impetus in the United States through the action of certain persons operating from the...
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SIR HENRY M. STANLEY It will ever be esteemed a fortunate circumstance by all who have regard for historical accuracy, that the late Sir Henry M. Stanley, discoverer of the course of the Congo, who assisted so materially in the creation of the Congo Free State, did not pass away without recording his opinion of the campaign of calumny against the Congo Administration. Incomparably the greatest authority of his time upon this subject, what Stanley had to say about it must be given here in full. It took the form of an interview with a representative of the press, and was first published in the Petit Bleu (Brussels), 13th November, 1903: I do not believe [said Sir Henry Stanley] in the charges brought against the Congo, and I do not share the opinions that inspire them. I do not think that any State will be inclined to step in, and...
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The three authorities whose testimony was given in the preceding chapter are all distinguished travellers of British nationality. It is now proposed to lay before the reader the opinions held upon Belgian Administration in the Congo by three well-known Americans—Mr. James Gustavus Whiteley of Baltimore, member of the Institute of International Law, who has represented the United States Government at several international congresses; the Rev. W. H. Leslie, a missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Union; and Mr. Mohun, a former United States Consul at Boma. MR. JAMES G. WHITELEY It is unfortunate that so many false impressions about the Congo have been accepted without examination. For example, there is a popular belief that the King runs the Congo “for revenue only,” and that he oppresses the natives in order to extort money from them. The exact opposite is the truth. The King receives no revenue from the Congo Government;...
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ALEXANDER DAVIS THE following valuable testimony is extracted from an interesting volume written by this gentleman, entitled The Native Problem in South Africa : The Congo atrocities campaign is fed upon just a sufficient substratum of truth to make it plausible. But the public in their administered sentimentality travel very wide of the true case. After a full career of blood-curdling horrors unhesitatingly placed at the door of the administration in highest authority irrespective of conditions of environment or personal responsibility, a Sir Harry Johnston, accepted authority, in plenitude of personal knowledge and experience presents a rock of fact which checks the wave of misrepresentation. In the Congo Free State in addition to the superior council to advise the King in Belgium, the Governor General has the assistance of a similar nominated body at Boma. Local conditions here do not admit at present of following the French system, but it...
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The rise and progress of the Congo Free State marks a unique page in modern history. The boldness of the State’s conception, the apparent hopelessness of its early conditions in a region unspeakably savage and barbarous, its gradual evolution under the magic touch of a master hand; the horrifying vicissitudes of its bloody redemption from the accursed slave-raider, and finally its admission into the society of independent nations, constitute a set of circumstances unparelleled in the history of the world. The span of its life from a wilderness to a self-supporting and prosperous State is about twenty-five years. Its rapid evolution was at first watched with sneers and derision. During the last ten years it has been the object of the hostile vigilance of those whose early regard had been scorn. Young as it is, a considerable literature already exists descriptive of the infant State. This literature, however, is very...
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M. August Sparhawk, agent of the International Expedition of the Upper Congo, acting in the name and for the account of the Comité d’Études , of the Lower Congo, and Vivi Mavungu, Vivi Mku, Ngusu Mpanda, Benzane Congo, Kapita, have come together the 13th of June, 1880, at the station Vivi, in order to discuss and to decide upon certain measures of common interest. After full examination they have arrived at the dispositions and engagements which are embodied in the present treaty, to wit: Article I. —The aforesaid chiefs of the district of Vivi recognise that it is highly desirable that the Comité d’Études of the Congo should create and develop in their states establishments calculated to foster commerce and trade, and to assure to the country and its inhabitants the advantages which are the consequence thereof. With this object they cede and abandon, in full property, to the Comité...
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During the palabre held at Manyanga the 12th of August, 1882, it is agreed between the members hereinafter designated of the Expedition of the Upper Congo: Dr. Edward Pechuel Loesche, chief of the Expedition; Capt. Edmund Hanssens, chief of the division of Leopold-Manyanga; Lieut. Arthur Niles, chief of Manyanga; First Lieut. Orban, deputy chief of Manyanga; Edward Ceris, assistant of Pechuel, representing the Comité of the Upper Congo; and the chiefs hereafter named of Manyanga— Makito, of Kintamba; Nkosi, of Kintamba; Filankuni, of Kintamba; Maluka, of Kintamba; Kuakala, of Kintamba; Mankatula, of Kintamba-Kimbuku; Luamba, of Kintamba; In the name of their subjects. Article I. —Hereafter the territory of Manyanga, heretofore belonging to the chiefs before cited, situated north and south of the river, and bounded on the west by the stream Luseto, and by the stream Msua Mungua on the east, shall be the sole property of the Comité d’Études...
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29th of April, 1883. We, the undersigned, chiefs of the district of N’Kamo, of Kuiswangi, of Kimpe, and of all the districts extending from the river Congo to Leopoldville and to Ntamo, up to the river Lutess and the mountains of Sama Sankori, have resolved to put ourselves, as well as our heirs and descendants, under the protection and patronage of the Comité d’Études of the Upper Congo, and to give power to its representative at Miamo to regulate all disputes and conflicts that may arise between us and foreigners of whatsoever colour, residing out of the district or territory of N’Kamo, in order to prevent strangers, animated by wicked intentions or ignorant of our customs, from exciting embarrassments or endangering the peace and security and independence which we now enjoy. By the present act we also resolve to adopt the flag of the Comité d’Études of the Upper Congo,...
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Between, on the one side, Captain John Grant Elliott, commissioner and representative of the Comité d’Études of the Upper Congo, and, on the other hand, M’Wuln M’Boomga, King of Niadi, in his own name, and in that of his heirs and successors, the following contract has been made and signed in the presence of the witnesses whose signatures are below given: Article I. —The party first named engages himself to make to the second party named above an immediate payment of 60 yards of savelist , 20 pieces of superior stuffs, 8 pieces of ratteen stuff, and a keg of powder. He, moreover, engages to make to the above-named party of the second part, his heirs and successors, a monthly payment, which shall commence in four months, with arrears from the date of this contract, of four pieces of stuffs, and to continue always this payment, if, in compensation therefor,...
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March 26, 1884—Ordered to be printed Mr. Morgan, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany S. Res. 68 and Mis. Doc. 59) The Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom were referred Senate Mis. Doc. No. 59 and Senate Joint Resolution 68, relating to the occupation of the Congo Country, in Africa, have had the same under consideration, and report a substitute for the same, and recommend its passage. The President, in his annual message to this Congress, expresses the sentiment of the people of the United States on the subject of our future relations with the inhabitants of the valley of the Congo, in Africa. Our attitude towards that country is exceptional, and our interest in its people is greatly enhanced by the fact that more than one-tenth of our population is descended from the negro races in Africa. The people of the United States,...
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In examining this question from the standpoint of international law, we must first ask if the chiefs of savage tribes can, generally, make treaties, conventions, cessions of territories; in other words, if the tribes which they represent are considered as states, having the capacity to make international treaties, which would be respected as such by all civilised or non-civilised nations. From the fifteenth century till early in the nineteenth century, the rules of international law were regarded as being to some extent an exclusive privilege of Christian peoples, for the establishment of regular relations between them. With regard to pagan peoples, they were not considered as participating in the political community which international law established between Christians; and it was only by Article VII. of the treaty of Paris of the 30th of March, 1856, that the Sublime Porte was admitted “to participate in the advantages of the European concert.”...
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Let us take the second question. Can a cession be made to a private citizen ? We are happy to be able to abridge this part of our work by referring to the article, “The Free Navigation of the Congo,” published by our eminent colleague of the Institute, Sir Travers Twiss, in the sixth number of the Revue du droit international for 1883. It is true that Sir Travers Twiss occupies himself with the question whether those associations which are not organised as States can exercise sovereign rights, rather than whether these rights of sovereignty can be conceded to private individuals; but the argument which he invokes in support of his thesis applies in great part to cessions made to individuals. When writers establish their point of departure to arrive at a demonstration they commence often by saying: “It is an established principle,” etc. Or, “It is a principle of...
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(Extract from the Droit international codifié , by M. Bluntschli.) (Page 68, paragraph 35): A new State has the right to enter into the international association of States, and to be recognised by other powers when its existence cannot be put in doubt and is assured. It has the right because it exists, because international law unites existing States by common laws and principles based upon justice and humanity. Recognition by other sovereign States is a voluntary act on a part of these latter. It is not, nevertheless, an absolutely arbitrary act, because international law unites, even against their will, diverse existing States, and makes of them a kind of political association. The opinion is frequently advanced by the older publicists that it depends upon the good pleasure of each State to recognise or not to recognise another, outside of the necessary and absolute line of international law. If this...
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(From Vattel, Le droit des gens , vol. i., page 489, par. 206.) If free families, scattered over an independent country, unite to form themselves into a nation or a State, they acquire the sovereignty over the whole State which they inhabit, for they possess already the domain; and since they wish to form a political society and to establish a public authority to which all will owe obedience, it is quite manifest that their intention is to confer upon this public authority the right of sovereignty of the whole country. (From Heffter, Le droit international publique de l’Europe .) (Pages 32 and 33): The existence of a state supposes the following conditions, to wit: I. A society capable of existing by itself and independently. II. A collective will regularly organised, or a public authority charged with the direction of society for the end which we have just indicated. III....
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In the name of Almighty God,— His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc., and Apostolic King of Hungary; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; the President of the United States of America; the President of the French Republic; Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, etc.; His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, etc.; His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias; His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, etc.; and His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, Wishing, in a spirit of good and mutual accord, to regulate the conditions most favourable to the development of...
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The Powers assembled in Conference at Brussels, who have ratified the General Act of Berlin of the 26th February, 1885, or who have acceded thereto, After having drawn up and signed in concert, in the General Act of this day, a collection of measures intended to put an end to the Negro Slave Trade by land as well as by sea, and to improve the moral and material conditions of existence of the native races; Taking into consideration that the execution of the provisions which they have adopted with this object imposes on some of them who have possessions or Protectorates in the conventional basin of the Congo obligations which absolutely demand new resources to meet them; Have agreed to make the following Declaration:— The Signatory or adhering Powers who have possessions or Protectorates in the said conventional basin of the Congo are authorised, so far as they require any...
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Lord Lansdowne’s dispatch of the 19th April, 1904, a copy of which was handed to the Congo Government on the 27th April by his Excellency Sir Constantine Phipps, calls for certain remarks. With regard to the opinion to which this dispatch takes exception, “that the interests of humanity have been used in this country as a pretext to conceal designs for the abolition of the Congo State,” it will be well to remember that a Member of the House of Commons declared that he would prefer “to see the Valley of the Congo pass into the hands of a foreign Power,” and that some pamphlets described the “disruption of the Congo Free State,” the “partition of the Congo Free State among the Powers,” as absolute and immediate necessities, and even went so far as to suggest the bases of such a partition; while the organs of the English press contemplated...
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There are at present over four hundred commercial establishments carrying on trade in the Belgian Congo, among which are the following: Société Anonyme Belge pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo, 31 establishments; Abir, 28; Nieuwe Afrikaansche Handels Vennootschap, 28; Société Anversoise du Commerce au Congo, 22; Comité Spécial du Katanga, 21; Hatton & Cookson [Liverpool], 16; Comptoir Commercial Congolais, 13; Valle & Azevedo, 12; Magasins Généraux, 12; Compagnie du Congo Portugais, 10; Compagnie du Lomami, 9; Freitas & Barreira, 9; Produits Végétaux du Haut-Kasai, 8; Plantations de la Lukula, 7; Crédit Commercial Congolais, 7; L’Enterprise Africaine, 7; Société Isangi, 7; La Helgika, 6; Shanu, 6; L’Equatoriale Congolaise, 5; La Congolia, 4; La Loanje, 4; Produits du Mayumbe, 4; La Lulonga, 4; Comptoirs Congolais Velde, 4; Les Produits du Congo, 4; Samuel, 4; Shanusi Agbabiaka, 4; Les Plantations Lacourt, 3; Société Forestière et Commerciale du Haut-Congo, 3; Plantations du Lubefu, 3; Ferreira...
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OFFICIALS OF THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE CONGO FREE STATE THE BELGIAN MINISTER TO THE UNITED STATES Baron Ludovic Moncheur , Belgian Legation, Washington, D.C. Baron Moncheur graduated at the University of Louvain (Belgium) in philosophy, letters, and law, with the highest honours. He entered the diplomatic service of Belgium at the age of twenty-five, and was successively Attaché to the Belgian Legation at The Hague in 1883; Second Secretary, Belgian Legation at Vienna, 1885; First Secretary, Belgian Legation at Berlin, 1887; Counsellor of the Belgian Legation at Rome, 1892; Chargé d’Affaires at Luxembourg, 1897; Minister Resident of Belgium to Mexico, 1898; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Belgium to the United States, 1901. He is a member of the Geographical Society of Antwerp, and author of La Terre chaude Mexicaine and From Tampico to the Pacific . The Baroness Moncheur is a daughter of the Hon. Powell Clayton, United...