The Story
of the
Congo Free State

Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the
Belgian System of Government in
Central Africa

By

Henry Wellington Wack, F.R.G.S.

(Member of the New York Bar)

With 125 Illustrations and Maps

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1905

Copyright, 1905
BY
HENRY WELLINGTON WACK
The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFACE

As a student of Mid-African affairs for the past seven years, and a close observer of the rapid progress toward complete civilisation now being made in that part of the world, I have felt it my duty to lay before my countrymen the true and complete story of the conception, formation, and development of the Congo Free State.

At a period of such bitter controversy concerning the government of the Congo Free State as the present, it is necessary that I should explain the circumstances under which I add this volume to the literature of that subject.

During a residence of several years in the United Kingdom, I could not fail to observe the growth there of an organised campaign against the Congo Free State. That a small section of the British public, interested in the rubber trade, should by subtle means seek to delude or should even succeed in deluding, the great British nation so completely as to obtain general credence for its stories of cruelty and oppression alleged against King Leopold’s government failed to move me. It was not my concern, while enjoying the hospitality of England, to criticise the way in which her religious organisations were being used to further the selfish aims of a small clique of Liverpool merchants. But when, within the past year, I perceived that the campaign of calumny against the Congo Free State was being extended to the United States, I could not longer regard the phenomenon with a merely passive interest. It occurred to me that my knowledge of Mid-African affairs might enable me to place before the American people a complete statement of the actual facts of the Congo Free State, and that my self-imposed task could not fail to be of value at a time when interested partisans were endeavouring to deceive them.

Having obtained an introduction to the King of the Belgians, I informed his Majesty that I believed the American people would much esteem the true history of the affairs of the Congo written by an American, and that if his Majesty would grant me access to the archives of the Administration of the Congo Free State in Brussels, and leave me free to write the story of his enterprise in my own way, absolutely without interference or suggestion from any of his ministers or himself, I would undertake the task on my own account.

His Majesty, having considered my credentials and the nature of my introduction, in due course informed me that all the documents in the Congo Administration Office were open to my inspection. His Majesty added that he had no fear but that the American people, when informed of the truth about the Congo, would appreciate, as he did, that the Congolese civilisation movement is the greatest colonising success in the history of the world. I was admitted into the offices of the Congo Administration and spent many weeks there searching for, translating, and copying documents. Those which had already been translated into English, I adopted in the form in which I found them. When I left Brussels, I again indicated to his Majesty’s ministers, and to his Majesty himself, that I should write the story in my own way. I brought away many boxes of memoranda and documents and at once began to work upon The Story of the Congo Free State. I have not submitted the manuscript or proofs to any person connected, either directly or indirectly, with his Majesty, with the Congo Free State, or with the Belgian Government, neither have I in any way communicated with his Majesty in reference to what I have written. For all I know, his Majesty may entirely disapprove of this history. I should, of course, regret exceedingly to learn that I had displeased the royal host who had extended to me the hospitality of his country during a long and interesting visit. But as I am under no obligation whatever to the Congo officials, nor to his Majesty, and as my original intention of writing an independent history of the Congo was made quite clear to both, I regard myself as absolved from blame should the King of the Belgians disapprove of the straightforward story here presented.

That this story is true, I have satisfied myself in every particular. It is the story of a great colonising undertaking founded upon modern social science. It can hardly fail to interest the reader who admires the courage and daring which small countries sometimes display in extending their borders and establishing new markets.

Should this book in any way assist my countrymen in thinking out the underlying motives in the campaign against the Congo, and bring them to a knowledge of the real issues at stake, my labour will be sufficiently rewarded.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge my obligation to the works of Messrs. Stanley, Descamps, Boulger, Johnston, Cattier, and Wauters, and to all who have kindly assisted me with information.

H. W. W.

New York, January 2, 1905.

CONTENTS

ERRATA

Illustration, page [92], read Basoko for Baneko.

Illustration, page [130], read Turumbus for Barumbus.

Illustration, page [216], read Commissary-General.

Illustration, page [226], read House for Mission.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MAPS.

Outline Map of Africa

THE STORY OF
THE CONGO FREE STATE

CHAPTER I
GENESIS OF MID-AFRICAN CIVILISATION

An Empire in Embryo.

The decline and fall of great empires has ever been a fascinating subject of study, congenial alike to students of widely diverse opinions and pursuits; yet it must be clear to all that in human interest the breaking up of an empire is as nothing when compared with its founding. The reason is, probably, that so little is known of the origin of great national communities. The United States is almost alone among nations in respect that its growth, from its inception to its mature ultimate triumph, has been watched by keenly observant eyes, and every particular of its perilous progress carefully recorded. But when the future historian, with comprehensive appreciation impossible in a contemporary, reviews the events of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, one fact will stand well out before him, a unique and very potent fact, fraught with vast possibilities for the future—none other than the founding, by the wisdom of a kingly philanthropist, of a humanitarian, civilising, free political state in the very heart of savage and cannibalistic Africa.

Consider for a moment how the great Congo Free State has been evolved out of a group of warring tribes (in part cannibal), and inquire what manner of man is Leopold II., King of the Belgians, alone responsible for this wondrous transformation; and who even now, when weight of years and record of achievement might well entitle him to repose, works on bravely, through good and through ill report, for the prosperity and happiness of the twenty-odd million Africans who acknowledge him for their Sovereign.

Thirty-six years ago, when the present Sovereign of the Congo Free State succeeded his father as King of the Belgians, and became known to the world as Leopold II., Africa was generally referred to as the “Dark Continent.” At that period, and for long after, even the most optimistic of statesmen failed to perceive in those vast regions any promising outlet for the congested populations of the Old World, or possible markets for their manufactures. Diamonds, small in quantity and of indifferent quality, had, it is true, been discovered in the southernmost part of that continent, in a region already appropriated by the British. Gold, also, was thought to exist there, but not in paying quantities; while the deadliness of the African climate to Europeans, in all save a few favoured sections, was an universally accepted article of faith.

Foremost among the small band of thinkers who totally dissented from this view was Leopold II., King of the Belgians. A young man of extraordinarily fine physique, an accomplished linguist, widely read and travelled, and holding advanced liberal views in all matters pertaining to statecraft and social science, King Leopold had early the prescience to perceive in Africa the means to uplift some twenty or more millions of the Negro race from debased savagery to peaceful civilisation, and at the same time and by the same means—the latter a necessarily accompanying incident of the former—found a colony for the surplus population of the small State of which he is King; Belgium being then, as now, the most densely populated of European countries, its people almost entirely dependent on the sale abroad of the products of their industry.

Bold and original ideas rarely find much favour when first presented to the world. The bulk of mankind is conservative; it thinks of yesterday, is oppressed by the troubles of to-day, and lets to-morrow take care of itself. At first, where King Leopold’s ideas for the regeneration of Africa attracted any attention at all, they were regarded with bland smiles as utopian visions, more creditable to the heart than to the head of the princely visionary. But true genius, though it may be hampered and delayed in its onward march, is not to be extinguished either by active opposition or cold indifference. Of such calibre is King Leopold, or there would to-day be no Congo Free State, nor what some past-masters in the obscuration of the obvious are sometimes pleased to call “the Congo Question.”

A Prophetic Sentence.

Gladstone’s Choice.

So long ago as 1860, King Leopold, then Duke of Brabant, in a speech delivered before the Belgian Senate, said: “I claim for Belgium her share of the sea,”—apparently a plain and colourless utterance, but really the expression of a vital interest for his country, for which no market spells extinction, and no political power but on Belgian soil means no market for Belgian goods. In 1860 the attention of mankind was just beginning to turn to Africa. Two years before, Sir Richard Burton and Captain Speke had startled geographers by discovering Lake Tanganyika, a revelation to be soon afterwards eclipsed by the further discovery of the sources of the Nile and Lake Victoria, by Speke and Grant. About the same time Sir Samuel Baker, then in the service of the Khedive of Egypt, discovered Lake Albert. The travellers whose fortune it was to make these important discoveries had been preceded by the intrepid Dr. Livingstone, whose marvellous energies on behalf of civilisation and Christianity were, however, chiefly confined to the Zambesi Valley until the year 1866, when he first entered the Congo region and further enhanced his already great reputation by discovering the lakes Moero and Bangweolo. Then came the discovery of Livingstone—himself so long lost to his anxious countrymen—by Henry M. Stanley. That was in 1871, when the armed hosts of France and Germany were engaged in a death struggle, and led Mr. Gladstone to remark:

The eyes of all the world are bent toward the bloody battle-fields of France; but I prefer to regard those almost impenetrable African wilds where a small band of men, whose numbers may be counted on the fingers of one hand, add year by year to our knowledge of those little-known regions, carrying with them the blessings of civilisation and of truth, heralding the extinction of what for so many ages has been the world’s curse—slavery.

Native Huts Built of Leaves (Aruwimi).

Gladstone was right. To all civilised peoples, but specially to men of Anglo-Saxon speech—Englishmen, who had given lavishly of their millions to free the slaves held in their colonies; Americans, who had poured out their blood like water in a similar cause—the accounts given by explorers and missionaries of the horrors of the slave trade, rampant in Central Africa, were as the smell of powder to the war-horse. Only a few people are interested in geography as a science. A vastly greater number are affected by a widening of the area for trade. But the effectual suppression of slavery is a question that comes home to everybody. No one can stand aside, indifferent to it. The ghastly horrors of the murderous raids made by the remorseless Arab slave-traders upon defenceless Central African villages, so graphically described by travellers, thrilled the civilised world. No effort was needed now to direct public attention to Africa. Africa loomed large in men’s minds; and the question of slavery, fondly thought to be for ever laid at rest by the tremendous conflict in America in the early sixties, again became a vital problem.

King Leopold’s Main Object.

Of the numerous activities which distinguish the character of Leopold II., philanthropy has the greater force. Much that is quite incontrovertible might be urged in support of this statement; but this is neither the place nor time to argue that matter. Suffice it to say here that upon no one did the revelations as to the methods of capture and subsequent treatment of Central African slaves make a deeper impression than upon King Leopold. As a lifelong student of Africa, and a geographer of rare attainments, in personal touch with all the authorities on the subject, his information was as accurate and complete as it was possible for it to be. Though the great European governments had compelled the Khedive of Egypt to exert himself to the utmost to repress slave-trading on the Upper Nile, and the complaisant Egyptian ruler had appointed first one Englishman and then another (Sir Samuel Baker and Charles Gordon, the latter being the ill-fated General of that name) to administer the government of the Soudan, and some good resulted, it was well known to King Leopold that south of the Equator to the Zambesi the slave trade continued to be prosecuted as vigorously as it had ever been in the remote past. How might the evil be stamped out? Or, if such a consummation were too much to hope for within the immediate future, how best might the evil be checked? In considering these questions, King Leopold very rightly concluded that the more thorough the knowledge of Central Africa possessed by Europeans the greater the possibility of success in their efforts to ameliorate the awful misery of its people.

Imbued with these views, King Leopold in 1876 called the attention of the principal geographical societies throughout the world to the conditions then prevailing in Central Africa, and invited all expert geographers of international reputation to confer in Brussels. The circular letter of King Leopold convening this Conference, though perfectly explicit in its terms, has, in light of subsequent events, been so distorted to serve personal interests, that no excuse is necessary for reproducing its exact words:

In almost every country [wrote King Leopold], a lively interest is taken in the geographical discoveries recently made in Central Africa. The English, the Americans, the Germans, the Italians, and the French have taken part in their different degrees in this generous movement. These expeditions are the response to an idea eminently civilising and Christian: to abolish slavery in Africa, to pierce the darkness that still envelops that part of the world, while recognising the resources which appear immense—in a word, to pour into it the treasures of civilisation: such is the object of this modern crusade. Hitherto the efforts made have been without accord, and this has given rise to the opinion, held especially in England, that those who pursue a common object should confer together to regulate their march, to establish some landmarks, to delimit the regions to be explored, so that no enterprise may be done twice over. I have recently ascertained in England that the principal members of the Geographical Society of London are very willing to meet at Brussels the Presidents of the Geographical Societies of the Continent, and those other persons who, by their travels, studies, philanthropic tastes, and charitable instincts, are the most closely identified with the efforts to introduce civilisation into Africa. This reunion will give rise to a sort of conference, the object of which would be to discuss in common the actual situation in Africa, to establish the results attained, to define those which have to be attained.

An Historic Conference.

In cordially accepting King Leopold’s invitation, the six great nations of Europe selected their most distinguished geographers and travellers to represent them. Great Britain sent five delegates, all men of distinction in African affairs, Germany sent four, France three, Austria two, Russia one, and Italy one. Belgium had eleven representatives, among them the accomplished Baton Lambermont. The Conference, which lasted three days, was convened in the royal palace at Brussels on September 12, 1876. It was opened by King Leopold in person. The speech made by his Majesty on that occasion follows so naturally his invitation to the assembled gentlemen that it might almost be mistaken for a continuation of that document. The reason for quoting the former now applies to the following exact translation of the King’s speech:

“Gentlemen,” said his Majesty, “permit me to thank you warmly for the amiable promptness with which you have been kind enough to come here at my invitation. Besides the satisfaction that I shall have in hearing you discuss here the problems in the solution of which we are interested, I experience the liveliest sense of pleasure in meeting the distinguished men whose works and valorous efforts on behalf of civilisation I have followed for many years.

Elephant Farm on the Bomokandi.

“The subject which brings us together to-day is one that deserves in the highest degree to engage the attention of the friends of humanity. To open to civilisation the only part of the globe where it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness enshrouding entire populations, that is, if I may venture to say so, a crusade worthy of this century of progress; and I am happy to discover how much public sentiment is in favour of its accomplishment. The current is with us.

“Gentlemen, among those who have most closely studied Africa, a good many have been led to think that there would be advantage to the common object they pursue if they could be brought together for the purpose of conference with the object of regulating the march, combining the efforts, deriving some profit from all circumstances, and from all resources, and finally, in order to avoid doing the same work twice over.

“It has appeared to me that Belgium, a central and a neutral state, would be a spot well chosen for such a reunion, and it is this view which has emboldened me to call you all here, to my home, for the little Conference that I have the great satisfaction of opening to-day. Is it necessary for me to say to you that in inviting you I have not been guided by egotistic views? No, gentlemen; if Belgium is small, she is happy and satisfied with her lot. I have no other ambition but to serve her well. But I will not go so far as to declare that I should be insensible to the honour which would result for my country if an important forward movement in a question which will mark our epoch should be dated from Brussels. I should be happy that Brussels should become in some way the headquarters of this civilising movement.

“I have, then, allowed myself to believe that it would be convenient to you to come together to discuss and to specify, with the authority belonging to you, the means to be employed in order to plant definitely the standard of civilisation on the soil of Central Africa, to agree as to what should be done to interest the public in your noble enterprise, and to induce it to support you with its money. For, gentlemen, in works of this kind it is the concurrence of the greater number that makes success; it is the sympathy of the masses which it is necessary to solicit, and to know how to obtain.

“With what resources should we not, in fact, be endowed if every one for whom a franc is little or nothing consented to throw it into the coffers destined for the suppression of the slave trade in the interior of Africa!

“Great progress has been already accomplished; the unknown has been attacked from many sides; and if those here present, who have enriched science with such important discoveries, would describe for us the principal points, their exposition would afford us all a powerful encouragement.

“Among the questions which have still to be examined have been cited:

“1. The precise designation of the basis of operation to be acquired on the coast of Zanzibar, and near the mouth of the Congo, either by conventions with the chiefs, or by purchase or leases from private persons.

“2. Designation of the routes to be opened in their order towards the interior, and of the stations—hospitable, scientific, and pacifying—to be organised, as the means of abolishing slavery, of establishing concord among the chiefs, of procuring for them just and distinguished judges, etc.

“3. The creation—the work being well defined—of an International and Central Committee, and of National Committees to prosecute the execution, each in what will directly concern it, by placing the object before the public of all countries, and by making an appeal to the charitable that no good cause has ever addressed in vain.

“Such are, gentlemen, the different points which seem to merit your attention. If there are others, they will appear in the course of your discussions, and you will not fail to throw light on them.

“My desire is to serve, as you shall point out to me, the great cause for which you have already done so much. I place myself at your disposal for this purpose, and offer you a cordial welcome.”

The object of the Conference, thus clearly outlined by the King, was loyally adhered to by the delegates, their discussions being strictly confined to geography and philanthropy, nothing political or personal obtruding itself upon their deliberations. At the close of its three days’ session the Conference submitted to King Leopold the following declaration upon its labours:

In order to attain the object of the International Conference of Brussels—that is to say, to explore scientifically the unknown parts of Africa, to facilitate the opening of the routes which shall enable civilisation to penetrate into the interior of the African Continent, to discover the means for the suppression of the slave trade among the Negro race in Africa—it is necessary:

(1) To organise on a common international plan the exploration of the unknown parts of Africa, by limiting the regions to be explored—on the east and on the west by the two oceans, the Indian and the Atlantic, on the south by the basin of the Zambesi, on the north by the frontiers of the new Egyptian territory and the independent Soudan. The most appropriate mode of effecting this exploration will be the employment of a sufficient number of detached travellers, starting from different bases of operation.

(2) To establish, as bases for these operations, a certain number of scientific and hospitable stations both on the coasts and in the interior of Africa—for example, at Bagamoyo and Loanda, as well as at Ujiji, Nyangwe, and other points already known, which it would be necessary to connect by intermediate stations.

The Outcome of the Conference.

In accordance with the recommendation contained in this declaration of the Brussels Geographical Conference, “The International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa” was formed, consisting of an International Commission sitting in Brussels, assisted by dependent National Committees in each country. The executive power of the International Association was vested in an Executive Committee, of which King Leopold was appointed President. When the British Government selected Sir Bartle Frere for the Governorship of the Cape, it became necessary for him to resign his position as a member of the Executive Committee, the vacancy thus created being filled by an American, General Sanford, for many years United States Minister at Brussels.

Basongolo Chiefs, (Lokandu).

The idea of an International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa, to which the Brussels Geographical Conference had given birth, at once began to grow, and flourished amazingly. Not only were influential committees formed in those countries which had sent delegates to the Conference, but in other countries as well, the United States among them.

To show how keen general interest in the civilisation of Central Africa had now become, it is only necessary to cite a few instances of the powerful support given to the National Committees. In Spain, the King; in Austria, the Archduke Rudolph, heir to the Austrian throne; in Holland, Prince Henry of the Netherlands; in Belgium, the Count of Flanders, brother of the King; all became Presidents of their respective National Committees. Philanthropists, men of science, all who were in any way interested in the world’s progress towards better things, accorded ungrudging support to the work set in motion by King Leopold.

The civilisation of Central Africa had now begun in earnest.

CHAPTER II
STANLEY, AND KING LEOPOLD II.’S CONCEPTION OF THE CONGO FREE STATE

Belgian Enterprise.

In every case the National Committees of the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa displayed extraordinary activity; but, as was to be expected, their rate of progress was measured by the Belgian Committee, which met, for the first time, on the 6th of November, 1876, in Brussels, just six weeks after the close of the Brussels Geographical Conference which had decreed its existence. As was fitting in the circumstances, King Leopold was present at the meeting, and delivered upon that occasion a speech which may be regarded as an amplification of his Majesty’s previous pronouncements on the situation, now in some measure become political, in Central Africa.

“Gentlemen,” said King Leopold, “the slave trade, which still exists over a large part of the African Continent, is a plague-spot that every friend of civilisation would desire to see disappear.”

House of Governor-General, Boma.

“The horrors of that traffic, the thousands of victims massacred each year through the slave trade, the still greater number of perfectly innocent beings who, brutally reduced to captivity, are condemned en masse to forced labour in perpetuity, have deeply moved all those who have even partially studied this deplorable situation, and concerting, in a word, for the founding of an International Association to put an end to an odious traffic which makes our epoch blush, and to tear aside the veil of darkness which still enshrouds Central Africa. The discoveries due to daring explorers permit us to say from this day that it is one of the most beautiful and the richest countries created by God.

“The Conference of Brussels has nominated an Executive Committee to carry into execution its declaration and resolutions.

“The Conference has wished, in order to place itself in closer relationship with the public, whose sympathy will constitute our force, to found, in each State, National Committees. These Committees, after delegating two members from each of them to form part of the International Committee, will popularise in their respective countries the adopted programme.

“The work has already obtained in France and Belgium important subscriptions, which make us indebted to the donors. These acts of charity, so honourable to those who have rendered them, stimulate our zeal in the mission we have undertaken. Our first task should be to touch the hearts of the masses, and, while increasing our numbers, to gather in a fraternal union, little onerous for each member but powerful and fruitful by the accumulation of individual efforts and their results.

“The International Association does not pretend to reserve for itself all the good that could or ought to be done in Africa. It ought, especially at the commencement, to forbid itself a too extensive programme. Sustained by public sympathy, we hold the conviction that, if we accomplish the opening of the routes, if we succeed in establishing stations along the routes followed by the slave merchants, this odious traffic will be wiped out, and that these routes and these stations, while serving as fulcrums for travellers, will powerfully contribute towards the evangelisation of the blacks, and towards the introduction among them of commerce and modern industry.

“We boldly affirm that all those who desire the enfranchisement of the black races are interested in our success.

“The Belgian Committee, emanating from the International Committee, and its representative in Belgium, will exert every means to procure for the work the greatest number of adherents. It will assist my countrymen to prove once more that Belgium is not only a hospitable soil, but that she is also a generous nation, among whom the cause of humanity finds as many champions as she has citizens.

“I discharge a very agreeable duty in thanking this assembly, and in warmly congratulating it for having imposed on itself a task the accomplishment of which will gain for our country another brilliant page in the annals of charity and progress.”

We have here, in his Majesty’s own words, a very lucid and reiterated exposition of King Leopold’s main object in concerning himself with Central African affairs—the suppression of the slave trade, with consequent moral and material advancement of its peoples. But let it not be lost sight of that, subsidiary to this lofty mission, King Leopold has never disavowed—nay, his Majesty had more than once expressly declared it—his desire to find in Africa new markets for Belgian manufactures, and a wide field for the surplus population of overcrowded little Belgium, where his people might live and where their peculiar genius in the arts and sciences might flourish unfettered by alien laws.

Old Beliefs Disproved.

The experience of recent travellers, and particularly of Livingstone and Stanley, had demonstrated the truth of what had hitherto always been disbelieved, viz., that it was possible for the white man to live and maintain his health in Central Africa. This fact alone was of vast importance; but when was added to it proof that the country was fertile, with immense natural sources of wealth, needing only the brain and hand of civilised man to tap them, a prosperous future for the country was assured. England, France, and Portugal, but notably England, had already claimed large sections of Africa for their own, and Italy and Germany—especially Germany—were feverishly anxious to follow suit. But it is doubtful if among all the students of the African problem—and they numbered among them the ablest of every nation—there was at this period another man with prescience to foresee, as we now know King Leopold must have foreseen, the illimitable possibilities of Central Africa. Indeed it is tolerably certain that had the great nations realised the potential value of this region, their cupidity would never have permitted them to allow its sovereignty to become vested in any single individual with claim to it based upon anything except irresistible material force. King Leopold’s claim, as we have already partly seen, and as will presently be fully demonstrated, had for its foundation a long-cherished and active philanthropic interest in the welfare of its natives, chiefly in the form of the suppression of slavery; the expenditure, out of his Majesty’s private purse, of large sums of money for exploration, establishment of route stations, etc.; and generally for calling the attention of the civilised world to a little-known and less-cared-for region commonly thought to be worthless.

The Congo at Lokandu.

Bacon asserts, in his Advancement of Learning, that “States are great engines moving slowly,” and from the beginning of the world until long past the English philosopher’s time, the axiom was true; but we of the twentieth century inhabit a world as unlike the world that Bacon lived in as modern New York is unlike the city that Washington Irving described under that name. The teeming millions of Europe are ever more and more perplexed by the problem of how to live, and not a day passes but the cruel competition of life waxes fiercer and hotter. New lands, new markets, must be found—the social pressure in the older nations demands it as a prime necessity. Therefore comes it that States are no longer “engines moving slowly.” On the contrary, they move very rapidly; and as all the fat lands of the earth have already been appropriated, future trouble seems not improbable. John Bull, early in the field, worked hard painting the map red, and now it is not possible to get far away from one or other of his frontiers. The British colossus has many imitators; but these started in the game late, when most of the prizes had been won.

Universal Land Hunger.

No sooner was it perceived that the Congo region of Central Africa is a valuable possession, than France set up her flag on the Congo, at Brazzaville. The Portuguese, rummaging in their musty archives for traces of their past glory, set up a claim to the Congo River because one of her navigators had discovered the mouth of it five hundred years ago. Germany, too, now exhibited her desire for huge territories in East Africa, and did not betray any marked scrupulousness as to whose rights were invaded in obtaining them. With such neighbours pressing closely upon him, it was no more than natural that King Leopold should cast about him how best he might preserve inviolate the great country to which he had so lavishly devoted his time and money; and he finally conceived the idea of a Congo Free State, with himself as its Sovereign ruler. Without some such clear recognition of Congo territory, and of his own personal rights in respect of it, it was abundantly clear that the first would be filched and the second ignored. For King Leopold to proclaim himself Sovereign ruler of the Congo region was, of course, not sufficient. It would be necessary to secure the assent to that course of all the great Powers interested.

It was a momentous time. While the French were establishing themselves on Stanley Pool, Stanley the man was working in the interests of King Leopold, travelling through the Congo country, buying land here and there, establishing stations, and making treaties in the King’s name with native chiefs.

The French regarded Stanley’s proceedings with jealous distrust, and in France the question was raised whether the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa ought to be permitted to exercise sovereign rights. That history furnished examples of corporate bodies exercising sovereign authority was acknowledged, but there was a large party in France which insistently asserted that no such right pertained to the International Association.

The situation was very complicated. If King Leopold recognised the preposterous claim of Portugal over the mouth of the Congo River, the entire region in which he was interested would be without a free way to the sea, a fatal bar to its proper development.

To deal with Portugal in this matter, even supposing her alleged right to be well founded, would have presented no insuperable difficulty; poor nations like poor individuals being ever open to sell their commodities at something more than their market value. But just at this juncture an unexpected act on the part of Great Britain added enormously to the difficulty. Lord Granville, at that time British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, after having refused to recognise any right by Portugal over the mouth of the Congo, in return for concessions granted by Portugal to Britain elsewhere, now recognised those claims in an extended form.

This Anglo-Portuguese Convention, made on the 26th of February, 1884, had it been carried out, would have killed at one blow the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa, and all King Leopold’s cherished dreams would have evaporated like mists before the sun.

John Bull Complaisant.

But the good work done by King Leopold was not fated to be so ignominiously extinguished. France and Germany combined to denounce the Convention; and even with the British public it was very unpopular, as hard things being said of it in the British Parliament and press as any uttered in Belgium. King Leopold appealed to the British Government to suspend the ratification of the Convention, urging the despatch of a British mission to the West Coast to examine the validity of the treaties made between his Majesty’s representatives and native chiefs in that part of the Congo country which the Convention proposed to acknowledge as Portuguese territory. The British Government granted the King’s request, and despatched General Sir Frederic Goldsmid to the Congo. The result was a complete triumph for King Leopold, General Goldsmid reporting to his Government that the treaties were in perfect order and that the allegations of the Portuguese were baseless. That was the end of the Anglo-Portuguese Convention.

Though the Anglo-Portuguese Convention was dead, and nothing remained to fear from it, the incident served to emphasise the great and growing necessity for endowing the Congo region with a clearer and more definite political status than it yet possessed. There were not wanting other, and happier, incidents pointing the same moral. On April 22, 1884, the United States officially recognised the flag of the International Association as that of a friendly Government, in which course it was soon after followed by France, though the latter country made it a condition of its acknowledgment that the Association would never alienate any of its territory without France having the right of pre-emption. Germany, entering upon joint action with France for the first time since the war of 1870, concurred in recognising the International Association as an independent and friendly State; and on the very day that she gave her adherence to it, she invited, through Prince Bismarck, all the Powers interested in the future of Africa to confer in Berlin with the object of regulating African affairs. The invitation was accepted by fourteen nations, whose representatives met under circumstances to be presently described, and gave reality to the grand idea, conceived long before by Henry Morton Stanley and Leopold II., King of the Belgians, of a Congo Free State.

CHAPTER III
FOUNDING OF THE CONGO FREE STATE

The Great Nations Agree.

On the 15th day of November, 1884, the International Conference, convened by Prince Bismarck to regulate what that statesman termed “the African question,” held its first meeting. It took place in Berlin, Prince Bismarck presiding. In briefly outlining the object of the Conference, the distinguished president exhibited in no small degree that condensation and lucidity for which his utterances were remarkable.

The Imperial Government [said Prince Bismarck] has been guided by the conviction that all the Governments invited here share the desire to associate the natives of Africa with civilisation, by opening up the interior of that continent to commerce, by furnishing the natives with the means of instruction, by encouraging missions and enterprises so that useful knowledge may be disseminated, and by paving the way to the suppression of slavery, and especially of the slave trade among the blacks, the gradual abolition of which was declared to be, as far back as the Vienna Congress in 1814, the sacred duty of all the Powers. The interest which all the civilised nations take in the material development of Africa assures their co-operation in the task of regulating the commercial relations with that part of the world. The course followed for a number of years in the relations of the Western Powers with the countries of Eastern Asia having up to this moment given the best results by restraining commercial rivalry within the limits of legitimate competition, the Government of His Majesty the German Emperor has considered it possible to recommend to the Powers to apply to Africa, in the form appropriate to that continent, the same regimen, founded on the equality of the rights and the solidarity of the interests of all the commercial nations.

Proceeding, Prince Bismarck declared that the main object of the Conference was the opening up to all the world of Central Africa. He rejoiced that France was in perfect accord with Germany in this matter. The first thing to be considered in this matter was, he thought, how best to establish freedom of trade at the mouth and in the basin of the Congo. On that subject the German Government had formulated a plan, drawn as a declaration, designed to assure freedom of trade in that region, with equal rights for all nations,—monopolies and preferential duties for none.

Prince Bismarck was followed by the British representative, Sir Edward Malet. No other Power in the world, said Sir Edward, had done so much on behalf of the objects that the German Government affected to have at heart as Great Britain; and he went on to point out that the warm support of his country and Government might be relied upon for proposals which had always formed part of their policy. He hoped that the attention of the Conference would not be devoted entirely to commerce, and that the welfare of native races would receive attention. Freedom of trade should be restricted to legitimate articles of trade, or the natives would lose more than they gained. He apprehended that the chief difficulty of the Conference would be, not to secure its unanimous adherence to general principles, but to provide means for carrying those principles into effect. It was certainly desirable to establish the validity of effective new occupations on the coasts of Africa.

The Portuguese representative claimed for his country the honour of having introduced the elements of civilisation into Africa, and saw in an increase of commerce in that part of the world the assurance of peace and respect for the rights of humanity. The American representative contented himself by calling attention to the part his country had taken in the opening of Central Africa, and referred with pride to the achievements of Stanley, congratulating his countrymen on being first to recognise the good work accomplished by that great philanthropist, the King of the Belgians. The practical business, however, of the sitting, was the question, “What territories constitute the basin of the Congo and its affluents?” This being a matter less easily disposed of, it was referred to a Commission of eight experts selected by the eight Powers chiefly interested in its solution.

The Commission of eight reported to the Conference at its third sitting as follows:

The Basin of the Congo is delimited by the crests of the contiguous basins, to wit, the basins in particular of the Niari, the Ogowe, the Schari, and the Nile, on the north; by the Lake Tanganyika, on the east; by the crests of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge, on the south. It comprises consequently all the territories drained by the Congo and its affluents, including Lake Tanganyika and its eastern tributaries.

This report seems as explicit as it well could be, and after much discussion and some slight modifications it was adopted. Baron Lambermont (Belgium) presented a report upon the best means of safeguarding the welfare of the native races, treating with remarkable ability of slavery, the importation of alcohol into the Congo country, and other dangers that threaten uncivilised races at their first contact with civilisation. Count Van der Straeten Ponthoz (Belgium) spoke even more vigorously to the same effect, and between them these two Belgian subjects of King Leopold showed themselves more solicitous for the welfare of the Congo native than the representative of any other nationality present.

The International Conference held its tenth and last sitting on the 26th of February, 1885. As on the occasion of its first sitting, Prince Bismarck presided. The drafting of the final act of the Conference was ably performed by Baron Lambermont. The representatives of the Powers assembled at Berlin signed conventions with the International Association, acknowledging it as a friendly and sovereign State whose flag—a golden five-pointed star on a blue banner—they agreed henceforth to recognise.

View of the Port of Leopoldville (Stanley Pool).

I am sure I am the interpreter [said the President in announcing the existence of these treaties to the Conference] of the unanimous sentiment of the Conference in saluting as a happy event the communication made to us on the subject of the almost completely unanimous recognition of the International Association of the Congo. All of us here render justice to the lofty object of the work to which His Majesty the King of the Belgians has attached his name; we all know the efforts and the sacrifices by means of which he has brought it to the point where it is to-day; we all entertain the wish that the most complete success may crown an enterprise that must so usefully promote the views which have directed the Conference.

Thus the great Bismarck. Sir Edward Malet (Great Britain) said:

The part which Queen Victoria’s Government has taken in the recognition of the flag of the Association as that of a friendly Government warrants me in expressing the satisfaction with which we regard the constitution of this new State, due to the initiative of His Majesty the King of the Belgians. During long years the King, dominated by a purely philanthropic idea, has spared nothing, neither personal effort nor pecuniary sacrifice, which could contribute to the realisation of his object. Yet the world at large regarded these efforts with an eye of almost complete indifference. Here and there his Majesty attracted some sympathy, but it was somehow rather the sympathy of condolence than that of encouragement. People said that the enterprise was beyond his resources, that it was too great for him to achieve success. We now see that the King was right, and that the idea he pursued was not utopian. He has brought it to a happy conclusion, not without difficulties, but the very difficulties have made the success all the more striking. While rendering to his Majesty this homage by recognising all the difficulties that he has surmounted, we salute the new-born State with the greatest cordiality, and we express the sincere desire to see it flourish and grow under his ægis.

Baron de Courcel (France) said: “The new State owes its origin to the generous aspirations and the enlightened initiation of a prince surrounded by the respect of Europe.” Other members of the Conference were as warm as the representatives of Great Britain and France in their eulogy of the great work achieved by King Leopold, and their opinions of his Majesty’s life-work were admirably summed up by Prince Bismarck in his speech closing the Conference, in the course of which he referred to the consolidation of the Congo Free State as a “precious service to the cause of humanity.”

Central Africa had now become in all essential respects a State. It had been recognised as such by the United States on April 22, 1884, seven months before the opening, and ten months before the close, of the Berlin Conference, but now its geographical limits were defined, its political status fixed, its neutrality assured. The large part played by Leopold, King of the Belgians, in its creation had received full and complete acknowledgment from the foremost geographers and statesmen of the world, who had united in lauding the King, not only for his wonderful achievement, but for the high humanitarian motive stimulating his Majesty through all the years of its difficult accomplishment.

Hard Work Ahead.

But let no one suppose that it followed, as a necessary consequence of all this, that the future government of Central Africa was to be as plain sailing in smooth water. A new State had been created, it is true, and it had had as its sponsors the great Powers of the world, who had recognised Leopold II., King of the Belgians, as its Sovereign ruler. But it is beyond the ability of States, just as it is beyond the ability of individuals, to exist without money, and to be entrusted with the government of a territory nearly a million square miles in extent—about a fifth the size of Europe, or a third of the United States—inhabited by twenty millions or so of semi-barbarous tribes, was no light task. The “African Exploration Fund” of the Geographical Society of London contributed £250, and the Belgian Committee collected among their countrymen 500,000 francs—a generous gift, but utterly inadequate for such a colossal task as the civilisation of Central Africa. Belgians, as a people, were in no degree liable for the expense of the philanthropic colonial enterprise entered upon by Leopold, their King, as an individual. The magnitude of that expense will be apparent to anybody who gives the subject a moment’s thought. The payment of explorers,—men of the first rank in intellectual attainment, such as Stanley,—the cost of their equipment (stores, carriers, lake steamers, etc.), the carving out of routes, establishment of stations, purchases of land from native chiefs, conciliatory gifts, and so forth, had seriously depleted the large private fortune of King Leopold.

Though all civilised countries were more or less interested in the opening up of Central Africa, less than twenty thousand dollars was subscribed outside Belgium for that object. It had, therefore, some years before the Berlin Conference, become necessary to raise money for the continuation of the work. On November 25, 1878, the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo was formed in Brussels, with King Leopold as honorary president and Colonel Strauch as president. The Comité was really a company, and it had a capital of a million francs. Thanks no less to its wise direction than to its sufficient capital, the operations of the Comité were attended with so much success that it soon usurped the place of the International African Association as principal agent of the civilising crusade undertaken by King Leopold. The work of the Comité was consolidated and greatly accelerated by the General Act of the Berlin Conference, assuring the Sovereignty of the Congo State to King Leopold, it being no more than natural that Belgians should have increased confidence in a State secure under the rule of their own King, and be disposed to invest their money therein more freely than when the form of its government was matter of doubt. Though much still remained to be done, the Congo Free State had now been founded, and that fact of itself was sufficient to inspire confidence everywhere, but particularly among the Belgian people, whose King was its founder.

Making a Road (175 Kilometres) for Automobiles (Kwango).

CHAPTER IV
EARLY BELGIAN EXPEDITIONS

Cartography and Civilisation.

Having narrated the principal political circumstances which eventuated in the founding of the Congo Free State, it now becomes necessary to revert to an earlier period, and sketch briefly the various Belgian expeditions to whose labours are so largely owing our knowledge of the geography of Central Africa, the suppression of the slave trade there, and the establishment of civilising and humanitarian government by Belgians.

It is hardly necessary to say that so great an enterprise was not possible of achievement without loss of life, and much personal sacrifice and suffering; that many men of high intellectual power and indomitable courage fell by the way, martyrs to disease, treachery, and the innumerable accidents by flood and field which ever dog the footsteps of pioneer explorers. The official records of the expeditions, for the most part vouched for by independent testimony (chiefly English), establish beyond possibility of dispute the patient forbearance and humanity of the explorers in their dealings with the natives. The dignity of truth is lost with too much protesting, and that some few mistakes were committed here and there, the result of over-zealousness on the part of particular individuals, is frankly admitted, such admission in no way detracting from the confident assertion that no exploration of unknown lands had ever before been made which occasioned so small an amount of friction with their indigenous occupiers. A sound discretion is not so much indicated by never making a mistake as by never repeating it. Mistake, error, is the discipline through which we all advance, and the greatest of faults is to be conscious of none.

A Bad Start.

The first Belgian expedition arrived at Zanzibar in December, 1877, having been three months on its voyage from Ostend. It was commanded by Captain Crespel, an officer of the Belgian Army, and included, besides Lieutenant Cambier, also of the Belgian Army, Dr. Maes, and M. Marno, an Austrian. Some time was spent by these explorers in Zanzibar, purchasing supplies and engaging an escort, before starting for the interior; a task in which they were assisted by the Sultan, Seyyid Burghash, an enlightened ruler, opposed to slavery and sympathetic with the expedition and its objects. Unfortunately, these favourable auspices were not followed by correspondingly happy events. In less than a month after the arrival of the expedition in Zanzibar, Dr. Maes was dead of fever; and Captain Crespel, who was ill from the first moment that he set foot on African soil, survived Dr. Maes only a few days.

Shortly before these two sad events, Cambier and Marno had started on their journey into the interior, and at once became the victims of every sort of misfortune. Their cattle were tormented and destroyed by the tsetse fly, which in that year assumed the proportions of a plague, and, their route lying through a marshy region, progress was rendered impossible. Two months later they returned to Zanzibar worn out and dispirited, having achieved nothing, only to be greeted by the melancholy news of the death of Captain Crespel and Dr. Maes. Command of the expedition now devolved upon Lieutenant Cambier, who resolved to await reinforcements from Belgium.

It was not until September of the following year that Lieutenant Cambier, accompanied by Lieutenant Wautier and Dr. Dutrieux, ventured to move forward. On the occasion of his second attempt he started from Bagamoyo. His difficulties, if not so great as on his previous journey, would have daunted any ordinary mortal. His native carriers gave great trouble, continually deserting or threatening to desert him, while crossing the Mgonda-Mkali desert. However, after passing through infinite danger and difficulty, Cambier succeeded in reaching the territory of Mirambo, and prospered so well in his efforts to secure the friendship and assistance of that powerful chief that the two entered into a treaty of alliance, and went through the strangely barbarous ceremony of taking the oath of blood; after which, according to African superstition and custom, they became brothers. This was the first example of a Belgian officer and a native chief taking the oath of blood. It was entered into by Cambier only after he had informed himself that it was a ceremony the sanctity of which the Negro race held to be inviolable, and was therefore exactly suited to his purpose.

A Saddle Ox, Kassai.

European Travelling in the Uelle District.

The object of the expedition was to found a station on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Having been provided with some necessary supplies by his newly made “blood brother,” M. Cambier was about to resume his journey, of which another hundred and fifty miles remained, when he learned with consternation of the death of M. Wautier, the able lieutenant to whom he had entrusted the difficult task of keeping open his communications with the coast, who had succumbed to the climate after prolonged exposure to torrential rain. M. Wautier was the third Belgian who had lost his life in the cause of African exploration. His place was taken by M. Bryon, a Swiss traveller of much experience, who rendered good and faithful service. But though so near to his destination, M. Cambier’s difficulties were by no means ended. As before, it was his carriers who made the trouble. They were insubordinate, quarrelled among themselves, and deserted in great numbers, on the slightest provocation, and often for none at all. Finally, however, on August 12, 1879, Karema, on Lake Tanganyika, was reached in safety, and the first station of the International Association for the Exploration and Civilisation of Central Africa established by the Belgian Committee. The site chosen for the station was about five thousand acres of land, very healthfully situated, which Cambier obtained by treaty with a local chief. Thus through difficulty and danger, by the expenditure of energy, money, and of life itself, was the object of the first Belgian expedition successfully accomplished, and M. Cambier set out to return to Belgium. When he reached the coast he was surprised to meet a second expedition, of whose existence he knew nothing, which had just arrived from Belgium. In consequence, M. Cambier decided not to return to Europe, but to remain in Africa for a while to assist, so far as he was able, in this second enterprise. The period was May, 1879. The new expedition, under command of Captain Popelin, of the Headquarters Staff, assisted by Dr. Van den Heuval and Lieutenant Dutalis, had not completed their arrangements for their inland journey when the latter fell ill and was obliged to return at once to Belgium. The expedition had brought with it four Indian elephants, attended by two English keepers accustomed to the management of those animals, it having been suggested to King Leopold that elephants were better adapted for transport purposes in Central Africa than oxen. The experiment proved a costly failure. All four of the elephants died before any use could be made of them, and their English keepers were waylaid by brigands and murdered on their way back to Zanzibar. Notwithstanding these misfortunes, MM. Cambier and Popelin persevered bravely with their task, stocked the station at Karema with provisions, and organised a native guard for its protection.

The third expedition, judged by results, hardly deserves to be called such. It consisted of only two Belgians (MM. Burdo and Roger), and the health of the former breaking down immediately on his arrival at Zanzibar, he was obliged to return home at once. War was now being waged between the chiefs Mirambo and Simba; but though each of the contestants was friendly to the Belgians, the conflict rendered their position very precarious. In the circumstances, MM. Cambier and Popelin judged it expedient to divide their forces, so as to ensure efficient protection for the newly founded station at Karema, and the route thence to the coast.

While matters were standing thus, a fourth expedition arrived, the strongest and best equipped yet sent out by Belgium, commanded by Captain Ramaeckers, an experienced African traveller, skilled in native wiles, who had been more successful in his dealing with the black man than any other Belgian. Captain Ramaeckers was ably seconded by MM. Becker and De Leu, lieutenants in the Belgian Artillery, and an expert photographer. The moment of the arrival of this expedition was opportune, for the difficulties of MM. Cambier and Popelin, due to the war between the natives, increased daily, and they were in a bad way. Captain Ramaeckers made all possible haste to succour them, and after a perilous journey succeeded in joining his colleagues on the banks of Lake Tanganyika; but he lost by death on the way his brave lieutenant, De Leu, a victim of malarial fever, and the health of the photographer failed so completely that it was found necessary to send him home. Captain Ramaeckers now took over the command from Lieutenant Cambier, who had carried on the work in Central Africa for three years, and was now desirous of returning to Europe. In that period Cambier had contrived to achieve much valuable work, of which the worth is more apparent to-day than it was in December, 1880, when he resigned his command. But in estimating its value, then or now, the enormous difficulties under which he laboured should never for a moment be lost sight of. These difficulties were so great as hardly to admit of exaggeration. Language is inadequate to convey any just conception of the trackless deserts, impenetrable forests, and malarial swamps, through which the explorers’ route lay, complicated by two friendly but warring tribes, each suspicious of the strangers’ relations with the other.

Popelin and Ramaeckers, unlike Cambier, were not destined to see their native land again. Eighteen months after the departure of Cambier, Popelin died of malarial fever, and a short while after Ramaeckers also, from a like cause. In spite of these terrible losses, the Belgian station continued to exist, and even prospered in its work. The command now devolved upon Lieutenant Storms, then on his way to Central Africa to establish a new station on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika. When Storms arrived and took command he chose as the site of the new station a spot called Mpala, immediately opposite Karema. The chief of the district, who himself bore the name of Mpala, proved friendly to the expedition, and the new station soon became as important as Karema itself. So great was the influence exerted by Storms over Mpala that that chief, when dying, left the appointment of his successor to be determined by the Belgian officer. Storms showed himself a clever diplomatist, and during his two-and-a-half-years’ control did much to consolidate the work of his predecessors.

So far, we have seen, these expeditions were exclusively Belgian. They owed their inception to King Leopold, by far the larger part of the heavy expense they entailed was met out of his Majesty’s private purse, and the personnel was Belgian almost to a man. Humanitarian in their object, the expeditions had been conducted so humanely that no injury had resulted to any one for which the expeditions could be blamed. With the exception of the two English elephant-keepers, murdered by Arab brigands, the loss of life was wholly Belgian, resulting in every case from the trying climate of Equatorial Africa.

An Intrepid Journalist.

But before any Belgian expedition had started, Henry M. Stanley, the great Anglo-American traveller, had penetrated Africa as far as the mouth of the Congo, and had startled the world by the information contained in his letters addressed thence to the New York Herald and the London Daily Telegraph. In glowing and incisive language Stanley demonstrated the future commercial importance of the superb Congo River, and significantly pointed out that, so far, no European power, except Portugal, had put forth any claim to its control—a claim which England, France, and the United States had refused to recognise.

This pregnant statement excited widespread remark, but the King of the Belgians was alone in acting upon the startling information. His Majesty invited Mr. Stanley to Brussels to confer with some distinguished geographers, merchants, and financiers; and out of that meeting grew the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo, to which reference has been made in an earlier chapter. Soon after, however, the name of this body was changed to that of the International Association of the Congo. Mr. Stanley was invited to enter its service, and to establish along the Congo a series of stations, designed as bases for future operations, humanitarian and commercial, i. e., suppression of the slave trade and securing the commerce of the Congo country.

How Stanley accepted that invitation, and carried out the mission which the King of the Belgians entrusted to him, is almost as well known as the story of the same intrepid traveller’s discovery of Dr. Livingstone a few years before. With only ten companions (five Belgian, two English, two Danish, and one French), Stanley left Europe in January, 1879. At Zanzibar he hoped to be reinforced by at least some of those who had been associated with him on his previous journey. Meanwhile the steamboats En Avant and Royal, the twin-screw steamer La Belgique, one-screw barge Young Africa, and two steel lighters, were sent direct from Belgium to the mouth of the Congo, there to await Stanley’s coming. Stanley recruited a hundred and forty blacks (Askaris and Kabindas), to say nothing of carriers, whom he obtained as he required them during his progress along the Congo.

Difficult Pioneering.

The first station to be founded was Vivi, and six months were spent in fortifying it. Then came the construction of a road from Vivi to Isanghila—fifty miles higher up the river—required for the conveyance of the steamers in section, stores, merchandise, etc. This proved a formidable task and took a whole year to accomplish. But Stanley and his men proved equal to it, and another station was founded at Isanghila. At that station, fortunately, the Congo was again found to be navigable, and Stanley pushed on to Manyanga by boat, where he founded a third station. It was while at Manyanga that Stanley first learned of M. de Brazza’s having set up the French flag on the northern shore of Stanley Pool, and calling it Brazzaville, a fact previously referred to.

Stanley countered this act by founding, on the plain of Kintamo, near the lake, a station out of which has grown the modern Leopoldville, named in honour of the King of the Belgians, and now recognised as the capital of Central Africa.

The spread of French influence so far as Brazzaville was significant and ominous. Clearly the nations of Europe were waking up to the importance and value of Central Africa. Leaving the expedition in charge of Captain Hanssens, Stanley hurriedly returned to Brussels to report the circumstance in person. That was in April, 1882; and by February, 1883, he was back again with the expedition in Africa, recharged, as it were, with energy, and busied himself in establishing numerous stations.

Native Employees of the State Waiting for Rations at Boma.

In all, Stanley served five years with this expedition, which, notwithstanding his nationality, must in all fairness be accounted a Belgian expedition.

Such, then, were the early expeditions in Central Africa undertaken by Leopold, King of the Belgians. There were other contemporaneous expeditions in the same region undertaken by France, Germany, and Russia, or rather by natives of those countries presumably working in the interest of their respective nations, but their results will not stand comparison with those achieved by Belgians. At one time it was the intention of King Leopold to appoint General Gordon to the chief command on the Congo, and that extraordinary man had agreed to accept his Majesty’s offer; but the British Government had a prior claim on Gordon’s services, who went to Khartoum and lost his life there in tragic circumstances so well known that they need not be recounted here.

CHAPTER V
THE WATERWAYS OF THE CONGO

Discovery of the Congo.

It was Diego Cam, an intrepid Portuguese navigator, who, in 1484, voyaging towards the mythical East Indies, discovered the Congo. In the name of his sovereign, King Juan II., he took possession of the country, though it does not appear that he proceeded far into the interior. From n’zadi, the native name for river, the Portuguese formed the word Zaire, and it is by this name that the river was long called. It so appears in the map of Martin of Bohemia, who accompanied the expedition. The globe prepared by this German cosmographer is still to be seen in the museum of Nuremberg. It was not until two centuries later that the river was called Rio de Congo.

Ss. “Leopoldville” Bound for Boma.

On the south promontory of the Delta the Portuguese erected a pillar to commemorate their discovery. This promontory is still known as the Padrão Foreland. It is certain that these Portuguese, who were missionaries before they were explorers, remained a considerable time in the Delta; for they converted the King of Ekongo, as the country was then called, to Christianity. It was to this king that the sovereigns of Angolo traced descent, and it is significant that their blue banner with the golden star is to-day the flag of the Congo Free State.

About seven years after the first expedition a second was sent out from Portugal, and the ruins of the trading posts then established, called San Antonio and Salvador, are still to be seen. The old Kingdom of Ekongo continued a hundred miles into the interior. It was bounded on the north by N’zadi, the modern Congo, and on the south by the river Coanza. The accounts of the early traders, some of which are still preserved in the State archives of Portugal, abound in fanciful descriptions. To the mediæval mind the forest was peopled with mythical monsters. It was probably for this reason that the superstitious Portuguese kept so near the coast.

In 1534 San Salvador, which until the arrival of the Portuguese was known as Ambassa, became the seat of a bishopric. Here a cathedral was erected, but later the see was transferred to St. Paul de Loanda, which thus became the capital of the Portuguese authority.

In 1784, to maintain their occupation of the Congo, the Portuguese built a fort at Kabinda, about thirty miles north of the mouth of the river. Several slave stations also were established in the interior. From this position they were soon driven by the French, though the latter made no attempt to found a colony.

In 1816 the British Government despatched an expedition to the Congo. James Kingston Tuckey, the leader, explored the river from its mouth to a distance of 170 miles into the interior. In his description of the country Tuckey speaks of the numerous slave stations along the banks. At this period two thousand slaves were exported annually. Fifty years later this number had increased to over one hundred thousand!

The Congo with its multitudinous branches forms a river-basin unequalled even by that of the Mississippi. This great territory, over fourteen hundred miles in breadth, covers an area of nearly a million square miles. Though mere size is not always a measure of importance, yet this region is unsurpassed, in respect to natural resources, by any part of the world. Second only to the Amazon in volume, the Congo precipitates about 2,000,000 cubic feet of water each second into the Atlantic.

This immense basin has been divided by geographers into three gradual terraces: the first and lowest is near the coast; the second, in the region of the Upper Congo; and the highest in the vicinity of the great lakes. According to the official Act the basin is bounded by the watersheds of the neighbouring basins of the Niari, the Ogowe, the Shari, and the Nile on the north; by the eastern watershed line of the affluents of Lake Tanganyika on the east; and by the watersheds of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge on the south. Congoland is about 1,500,000 square miles in extent. From its western frontage of 400 miles it broadens eastward until at Lake Tanganyika it has a frontier of about 1500 miles.

The numerous ramifications of the Congo open rapid and economic channels of communication to the interior. To this magnificent system of waters the country also owes its unequalled fertility. Many of the rivers now practically useless can in time be rendered navigable by the skill of the engineer. Where blasting out channels is not feasible canals can be built to connect the navigable parts of the stream. It is obvious, too, that the effects on that torrid climate of these great rivers, from one to twenty miles in breadth, must be considerable. Without them the country would be an arid desert, another Sahara, deadly to life, both animal and vegetable.

We shall first follow the successive stages of the Congo, as the Chambesi, the Luapula, and the Lualaba, in the huge watershed on the eastern border between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika.

Source of the Congo.

The source of the Congo is in the Chingampo Mountains, in British territory, and about 50 miles from the western confines of German East Africa, whence it issues as the Chambesi. It was Livingstone who, in 1867, discovered the Chambesi. Mistaking it for the undiscovered source of the Nile, he explored it towards the south-west—250 miles—as far as Lake Bangweolo. Thence he followed its gradual curve to the north, first as the Luapula, through Lake Moero, as far as Ankorro; and then as the Lualaba, in a north-westerly direction to Nyangwe, 1300 miles from its source. The river assumes the distinctive name of the Congo first at Nyangwe. It was from this place that Stanley, in 1876, made his famous descent of the river. The journey, which covered 1660 miles by water and 140 miles by land, was accomplished in 281 days.

From Nyangwe the river flows due north 400 miles as far as Stanley Falls. The country between these two places is peopled by the cannibal Bakumu. With “these insensate furies of savageland” Stanley had many bloody encounters. “At every curve of this fearful river,” he writes in his now famous book, “the yells of the savages broke loud on our ears, the snake-like canoes dashed forward impetuously to the attack, while the drums and horns and shouts raised fierce and deafening uproar.”

From Stanley Falls the river, flowing west and north-west, makes a huge curve, in the form of a horse-shoe, to Equateurville, where the junction of the Congo with the Ruki takes place. Throughout this immense curve, called the Middle Congo, and as far south as Leopoldville, a distance of 1068 miles, the river is navigable. In the contiguous territory live the Balolo, or “men of iron,” forgers of metal instruments. Famous as warriors, they are also noted as clever craftsmen, and are valuable allies of the State.

From the junction of Lake Matumba with the Congo, the river, flowing south-west about 450 miles to Manyanga, forms the boundary between the French and the Belgian possessions. Thence down to Matadi it pursues a southerly course of about 100 miles through the territory of the State. From Matadi, whence it flows westward to the sea, it forms for 30 miles the northern boundary of the Portuguese Congo.

Departure of Commissioner-General Halfeyt, on Board ss. “Stanley,” Stanleyville, 1899.

At Stanley Pool the Congo is no longer navigable. Here, gathering the full force of its waters, the now immense river ploughs its passage for over 200 miles through the Crystal Mountains, whence by a succession of plunges it bounds down to Matadi, 1800 feet below.

From Matadi, unobstructed and triumphant, it hurls the overwhelming volume of its current far into the Atlantic. At its meeting with the sea, the Congo, now over 3000 miles in length, is fully twenty miles wide.

Until a few years ago there was considerable controversy as to the true upper course of the Congo. This has been at last established by the explorations of Delcommune, Bia, and Brasseur; and it is now agreed that the upper course is that continuation of the Chambesi called the Luapula, and not the Lualaba, as was formerly believed.

The Luapula, the boundary between the Congo State and North-Eastern Rhodesia, and navigable for 340 miles above Kassongo, is longer than the Lualaba. It is, however, inferior to the latter in size and in the number and importance of its affluents. The Lualaba rises in the southern part of the Congo territory, about fifty miles west of North-Western Rhodesia. The source of this river was discovered by Lieutenants Derscheid and Francqui.

Along the important tributaries of the Luapula is the Lufupa, which joins it not far below Nzilo. It is at the Nzilo gorge that the first cataracts on the Luapula are encountered. They continue almost uninterruptedly for forty-three miles. Another affluent of the Luapula is the Lubudi, a considerable river on the left, which, because of its breadth and volume, was at first mistaken for the main stream. The next important tributary—the Lufila—empties into the Luapula at Lake Kassali. It flows through the fertile country of the Katanga.

This region, noted for its mineral resources, is described by travellers as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” It was first explored by that indefatigable pioneer, Delcommune. Until a few years ago the Katanga was ruled by the truculent tyrant, Msiri. Now that this despot is dead, the country is developing rapidly. The climate is far more healthful than in the regions around the Lower or Middle Congo. The fertility of the soil and the advantageous climate augur a brilliant future for this section of the State. The conditions are, in fact, well adapted to the needs of the white race, and here, no doubt, eventually will be established cities no less important and flourishing than those of Java. Already a railway to the Katanga is being constructed. Great deposits of copper are known to exist here, and it is expected that the development of these resources will begin a new era in the history of Central Africa. By the railway, Katanga will be brought within six weeks of the European centres.

An African Switzerland.

In this vicinity also are the Kibala Mountains, which will, no doubt, soon attract tourists from all parts of the world. The beauties of this section are thus described by their discoverer, Delcommune:

Seated on a rock of sandstone, eagerly scanning all around us, glancing in every quarter, we were astonished by this picture, which no pencil could render. None of the loudly vaunted beauties of Switzerland and the Pyrenees, where charming scenery nevertheless exists, could rival these lost corners of the Kibala Mountains, of which the whole effect, in its turn picturesque and savage, imposing and on a grand scale, seemed softened and rendered pleasant by the brilliant equatorial vegetation.

We shall now briefly refer to the more important tributaries of the Congo proper, first taking up those that join the river from the south.

Of these the Lomami is navigable for nearly 650 miles. Rising in the Usamba Plateau, 600 miles east of Lake Moero, it runs almost parallel to the Congo till it joins that stream 150 miles west of Stanley Falls. The Lomami varies in breadth from 60 to 400 yards. In places it has a depth of twenty feet, and it is destined to play an important part in the development of this part of the continent. It was on the Lomami that one of those entrenched camps was established which proved so effective in the expulsion of the Arabs and suppression of the slave trade. The many tributaries of the Lomami, some of which are navigable, make that river the natural base also of commercial operations.

The next southern affluent of the Congo is the Lulongo. Rising not far from the valley of the Lomami it flows for several hundred miles in a south-westerly direction and empties into the Congo at Uranga. A northern tributary of the Lulongo is the Lopori. Both of these streams are rendered more important by the fact that, being free from obstruction, they are navigable. They water a beautiful and exceedingly fertile country, some of which is yet unexplored.

South of the Lulongo and almost parallel to it is the Ruki. It has two upper courses and rises near the great valley of the Lomami. The Ruki is a wide, open river, nearly six hundred miles in length. It empties into the Congo at Equateurville, and because of its several tributaries it renders a large territory easily accessible.

Departure of ss. “Goodwill” from Upoto.

But the largest of all the southern affluents is the Kassai, which ranks in importance next to the Congo itself. The exact course of the Kassai was until recently a matter of considerable speculation. This has now been definitely determined, and the Sankuru, formerly thought by some geographers to be the main course of that river, is now known to be its largest affluent. The Kassai rises nearly one thousand miles south of where it joins the Congo, near the Portuguese possessions in the south-western corner of the Congo State. Its course is north, north-east, and north-west. Navigable from Wissmann Falls, which is situated about midway its length, it forms its junction with the Congo not far above Stanley Pool. Joining the Kassai, near Bokala, is the river Kwango, which, rising in the Portuguese possessions, flows directly northward for several hundred miles. The Sankuru, like so many other of the Congo rivers, rises in the Sambas Plateau. Its course is first due north, then west, and, at its junction with the Kassai, is an imposing stream, almost as deep and broad as the Kassai itself. The Lubefu, a northern tributary of the Sankuru, reaches almost to the valley of the Lomami.

It is intended soon to build a railroad connecting these rivers, and when this is accomplished a large area not now accessible will be open to commerce. Necessarily such trading stations will, for a while at least, need governmental protection. Hence each station will be in the nature of a military establishment, and will form also the nucleus for a future city. The Caucasian, observing, of course, certain necessary precautions, will find the climate of a large part of this section quite congenial. It is not unlike that of the tablelands of Java or of the highlands of Ceylon. Moreover, the soil no less than the forests and the mineral resources of this vicinity will offer splendid opportunities to the investor.

The Coming Country.

Necessarily the future of this part of the Congo, as well as that of all regions distant from the navigable rivers, is dependent upon the construction of a railway system which will bring them into touch with the rest of the world. That such railways cannot be built without a great expenditure of money is obvious, but the success of the lines already established and the enormous profits sure in the end to repay the investors are calculated to attract sooner or later the necessary capital. All who have visited this part of the Congo country are agreed that its natural resources are incomparably greater than those of any part of Europe. When developed they will excite the wonder of the world. But this result, so devoutly to be wished, involving as it does the betterment of millions of lives lately enveloped in densest ignorance, is not to be attained without some sacrifices. Capital, time, and labour must co-operate to bring about this result.

The Congo’s Affluents.

On the right or northern bank of the Congo are to be found several large affluents. Of these, one of the most important is the Aruwimi, which joins the Congo just below Nyangwe. The Aruwimi rises in the Blue Mountains, not far from Lake Albert Nyanza. Thence flowing westward about seven hundred miles, and gathering on its way the waters of its numerous tributaries, it is, when it reaches the Congo, a copious stream over a mile wide. Above Yambuya the navigation of the Aruwimi is rendered impossible by a succession of cataracts, that bane of the African navigator. However, the beauty and the resources of the surrounding country somewhat compensate for these hindering conditions. Here is the famous forest of Ituri, the home of a vast population and the haunt of many species of game. In and around the Ituri occurred some noted skirmishes with the mutinous Batetelas.

About 150 miles west of the Aruwimi the Rubi reaches the Congo at Itembo. Rising in the Mabode about 500 miles north of Stanley Falls, it flows west and south-west for a distance of 600 miles.

Three hundred miles west of the Rubi is the Mongalla. It rises at the northern boundary of the State and, flowing south-south-west, reaches the Congo at Molieka. The Mongalla is a fine, open stream, and on its banks the Government has established a line of important stations. By these the State maintains control of the surrounding territory and renders possible commerce with a large population. Similar stations have been and are being erected along the smaller navigable streams, and these, when connected with the centres by railroad and by telegraph, as eventually they will be, will make the whole interior equally accessible.

Probably no tributary of the Congo is of more importance than the Ubanghi. It was Van Gele who, in 1886, first explored the Ubanghi country and demonstrated the strategic value and commercial possibilities of this mighty river. The Uelle, which flows in a north-westerly direction, rises in the Blue Mountains. It was discovered by Dr. Junker, the German explorer, and may be considered the upper course of the Ubanghi. Above the Panga Falls, the Uelle is navigable for large vessels as far as Niangara.

After receiving the waters of the Uelle the Ubanghi forms for a long distance the boundary between the Free State and the French territory. Beyond Banzyville the river makes a wide curve towards the north to Waddas, whence it flows almost directly south, joining the Congo a little above Lake Matumba. The rich valley through which this splendid stream, over a thousand miles in length, takes its winding course, comprises an area of 160,000 square miles. Emin Pasha described it as possessing wonderful productivity—“The Granary of Equatoria” he called it. Here the natives, who are instinctively agricultural, raise tobacco, coffee, and sugar-cane in large quantities. The highways now being constructed will give to the industry of this region an immediate impetus, and the natives, who are skilful in the making of brick, will greatly contribute to the development. It is also proposed to continue the Uelle Railway to the left bank of the Nile. Such a continuous route, amply justified by the resources of this section and by commercial considerations, will be a most desirable consummation.

The Lua, an eastern branch of the Ubanghi, will prove of great commercial importance. Captain Heymans, who first navigated the Lua, explored it as far as Bowara. The Dekere, which also has been partly explored, is probably the upper course of the Lua, and this continuous stream will prove a convenient route to the Uelle.

In this way the great detour of the Ubanghi, in which are the impassable cataracts of Zongo and Mokoangi, can be successfully avoided.

The importance of the Mbomu, a northern ramification of the Ubanghi, is increased by the fact that it forms for a considerable distance a natural boundary between the Congo Free State and the French possessions. Its position, therefore, renders it of considerable political consequence. The Mbomu, although not yet entirely explored, is destined therefore to play, with its numerous branches, a large part in the history of the Congo. The country around is not only of great fertility, but also very beautiful. Here is to be found one of the finest forests in the territory.

By means of the Congo and its tributaries an admirable system of communication is being established, the ramifications of which, supplemented by the telegraph and the railway, will within a few years render every part of this vast territory accessible. In proportion thereto will increase the authority of the State and its civilising influence. The growth of commerce, and the security and advancement of the native population, are, in fact, coexpansive with the extension of the facilities of intercommunication. The larger rivers—the Kassai, the Kwango, the Lualaba and the Ubanghi—are all patrolled by government steamers.

The Congo Lakes.

Of hardly less importance than the rivers of the Congo are the lakes. Besides the larger and navigable lakes are hundreds of smaller ones. There are thousands of shallow pools along the courses of the rivers, as those along the upper Luapula. It was that keen observer, M. Delcommune, who foretold that many of these lakes will eventually disappear. He contended that a combination of causes, chief among which being the dryness of the equatorial climate and the consequent evaporation of the water, will gradually bring about this result. By a succession of experiments, covering a period of more than two years, he discovered a diminution of the water of the Lualaba. This process of evaporation, incessantly continued for centuries, will completely absorb the water in the marshes and pools, and decrease the volume of the great rivers themselves. However, this need occasion no alarm. On the contrary, it is believed that it will aid materially the development of the country. Not only will it dry the pestiferous marshes, but it will also define the beds of the rivers, whose courses, because of the contraction of their channels, will thus be rendered simpler and more definite.

By the disappearance of the pools and lagoons, now to be found in the vicinity of the rivers, hundreds of thousands of acres of valuable arable lands will be reclaimed. And as this soil, formed of alluvial deposits, is exceedingly fertile, the benefits that will accrue therefrom are incalculable. The famous polders of Holland, and the lowlands of Egypt near the mouth of the Nile, demonstrate the possibilities of such a soil.

But it will not be necessary to wait for the slow processes of nature. Vast areas can be drained by artificial means, and this, since the sun is for ever assisting, can be done without great cost. The lands so drained will possess, besides their extraordinary fertility, other advantages, not the least of which is their accessibility.

The most important lake in the western part of the State is Lake Leopold II., discovered by Stanley in 1882. It is broad but shallow, and is joined to the Congo by the Mfini and the Kassai. On its banks are several flourishing stations. North-west of Lake Leopold is Lake Matumba, from which the navigable river, Irebu, flows upwards into the Congo.

On the north-eastern boundary is Lake Albert Edward, the western part of which belongs to the State. This lake, the haunt of numerous hippopotami, is joined to Lake Albert Nyanza, which is about 150 miles north, by the Semlika, the boundary between the Belgian and British possessions.

Directly south of Lake Albert Edward is Lake Kivu. From this lake, part of which is yet unexplored, flows the river Rusisi. This torrential stream dashes through a rocky country, descending 2380 feet in 68 miles. It empties into Lake Tanganyika. On the eastern shore of the lake are Lubuga and Luahilimta, trading stations, established by the State. Lake Kivu is dotted with hundreds of islets, and is situated in the centre of a lofty plateau. Towering from this plateau rises a range of enormous snow-clad volcanic cones, from eight to over fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Of these the highest is Kirunga-cha-gongo, which is said to be the largest inland volcano in the world. It was first ascended by its discoverer, Count von Gotzen, and later by the English naturalist, Moore. All around Kivu are inaccessible crags, calcined gorges, and arid deserts, showing that the whole region is of volcanic origin. Such is the wonderful clarity of the atmosphere that the outline of every crag and spur of the mountains is visible sixty miles away. The forests of Kivu abound in elephants. Travellers report seeing here as many as a thousand in one day.

Of Lake Kivu Count von Gotzen, its discoverer, has given an excellent account. I quote the following from his work, Durf Afrika von Ost nach West:

The bed of Lake Kivu, according to my measurement with the hypsometer, is at an altitude of 4800 feet. Its extent should be considerable, for on my crossing it I saw the immense sheet of blue water disappear far off into the clouds. Its general direction is from North to South.... The appearance of the isles of Lake Kivu is most picturesque. Their rocky and snow-white banks rise in peaks and are frequented by herons and cranes. A fresh breeze ever rustles across the lake and cools the air agreeably.... When one turns one’s gaze to the north a sort of immense barrier formed by the Kirunga-cha-gongo and the four other Virunga Mountains is to be seen.... The neighbourhood of Kivu is extremely fertile in provisions of every kind.

Directly south of Kivu, and connected with it by the river Rusisi, is Lake Tanganyika, partitioned equally between the Congo Free State and German East Africa. It is about four hundred miles in length and nearly fifty in breadth. It was Stanley who first circumnavigated Lake Tanganyika, though it had been discovered in 1858, about twenty years before, by Burton and Speke. It was, in fact, the latter who first called the attention of the world to the Congo Region. On the shores of this lake Lieutenant Cambier, in 1879, established, at Karema, the first station of the International Association of the Congo. Cambier was so impressed with the possibilities of this region that, by purchase and treaty, he obtained from its native ruler about five thousand acres of land, and this tract may be regarded as the nucleus of King Leopold’s colony. It was this station on Tanganyika also that afterwards became the basis of operations against the Arab slave-trade.

State Pilot Barge, Banana.

Bridge, 80 Metres (Kwilu).

From Albertville, Baudouinville, and other stations on its western shore a flotilla of small vessels and several steam-yachts now navigate this lake, and to these other and larger craft will soon be added. A telegraph and telephone line, connecting Kassongo on the Lualaba with Baraka on Lake Tanganyika, was opened in the latter part of 1903. This line will soon be extended to Lake Kivu.

The region around Tanganyika is noted for its beautiful scenery, and a large part of it is said to be unusually healthful. Like Kivu, this lake is situated in an immense plateau, six thousand feet above the sea. The angular inclination and general configuration of all these lakes in the eastern part of the Congo is, in fact, very similar; each lake, however, has its individual scenery, climate, and peculiar flora. Moore found Tanganyika floored with the shells of millions of molluscs, the zoölogical remains of a dead sea. He discovered here also three kinds of sponges. On the eastern shores abound huge swamps and immense tracts of mimosa. The dark red cliffs on the West Coast form a brilliant contrast to the blue African sky and the white clouds. Between Tanganyika and Nyangwe, the old slave-capital of Tippo Tip, the country is tenanted by the Manyema, famous as collectors of ivory. Surveys are now being made for a railway from Beni to Tanganyika. This it is proposed to continue to Stanleyville on the Middle Congo.

Lake Moero, one hundred miles south-west of Tanganyika and the south-eastern boundary between British territory and the State, was discovered by Livingstone. It was first explored, however, by the Belgian officers, Bia and Francqui. This lake, which is one hundred miles long and about half as broad, is now patrolled by a steam-yacht.

Looking Backward.

Only a few years ago the immense basin of the Congo was an untamed wilderness, “a slave-park” Stanley called it, bare to raids of murderous marauders. Bands of predatory Arabs swooping down upon the defenceless natives decimated whole tribes, and carried away men, women, and children by the thousand. The slave-trader stalked like a pestilence through the land, leaving in his wake the smoking ruins of a hundred villages and the charred skeletons of his black victims.

It was not only the natives who suffered from the raids of merciless ravagers; but the Europeans, explorer, merchant, and missionary, were also subject to their tyrannical impositions. And when, as in the case of Emin Pasha, they opposed the designs of these despoilers, they were ruthlessly murdered. Flame and sword, robbery and massacre,—such, until ten years ago, were the chief episodes in the epic of the Congo.

To-day this vast region is not only geographically determined, occupied, and effectually protected, but the power of the Arab raider has been for ever annihilated. Regions which for ages were the scene of carnage and holocaust have now been pacified. Where all was insecurity and turbulence a reign of law and order has been substituted.

Nature has here been so prodigal of her gifts that her very extravagance renders in some respects the task of colonisation less easy. Before roads could be built it was necessary to hew down huge forests; before stations could be established it was needful to explore and to conquer the wilderness. The paths that plunged into the jungle ended in trackless solitudes. The vastnesses bristled with unknown terrors. There was call for the explorer and the pioneer, but it seemed as if ages must elapse before there was need of the carriers of commerce.

To conduct broad highways from the coast to the centre, through a territory so vast in extent, so dangerous, and so impenetrable, would seem indeed a task for centuries. Such, too, it is safe to assume, would still be the situation had it not been for the magnificent water-system of the region and the great colonising genius who turned its natural destiny to the civilising course of an onward industry. Without these splendid flowing highways of commerce, pulsing from the heart of the continent to the sea, the wonderful progress of the last quarter of a century would not have been possible. Following the lead of the Congo and its tributaries, Belgian pioneers have moved through the great wilderness, planting the plough and the cross, until to-day Central Africa, so long curtained from the eyes of civilised man, lies bare to the world.

It was by this instrument that the siege of the great unknown was prosecuted. It was thus that that citadel of despair, the stronghold of Darkest Africa, was subjugated. And as we look at the magnificent results, and at the still more magnificent future which those results foreshadow, we cannot but conclude that this natural aid to the efforts of a heroic band of explorers was more than the mere manifestation of blind chance.

King and Journalist.

The campaign of exploration planned by King Leopold, and executed by his courageous subjects and his able ally, Stanley, was the first of those remarkable achievements of practical utility that have no parallel in the history of modern colonisation. In the Congo and its affluents these State-builders found a providential and generous auxiliary. These wide rivers, the veins of the civilisation of the Congo, are the key to a situation of which triumphant Belgian sacrifice and valour in Central Africa will yet perfect the sequel.

To the existence of these natural allies, then, is largely due the speedy extirpation of the slave trade, the suppression of cannibalism, the control of the country, the gradual conversion of its populations to the saving influences of civilisation, the effective system of communication between port and port, and the beginnings of the development of those vast resources which already excite the cupidity of nations less successful. Indeed, without such advantage it is doubtful whether the King of the Belgians would have been equal to the onerous responsibilities he so cheerfully assumed.

“Change in all Around.”

But now with more than nine thousand miles of waterways open to navigation, few sections of this immense domain are to-day inaccessible. Great areas which but a few years ago were virgin forests are now under successful cultivation. The jungle, once the lair of the cannibal, is safe and peaceful. Where the raider ravished his shrieking victims, the State and the Mission instruct in the attributes of a useful life. Chaos has at last yielded to order, and another triumph has been added to civilisation in the short term of twenty years. It is a great story, and the Prince who wrote it on the face of Africa need not deign to hear the hiss of envy straining at the gorge. Let Leopold II. find consolation in that rugged philosophy of Carlyle which mocked at the timid temper of his own time: “To subdue mutiny, discord, widespread despair by manfulness, justice, mercy and wisdom, to let light on chaos and make it instead a green flowery world, is great beyond all other greatness, work for a God.”

CHAPTER VI
THE STATE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

In view of the confused controversy that has prevailed between the friends and the enemies of the Congo Free State, concerning its legal foundation and its existence de facto before the Conference of the Powers which recognised its statehood at Berlin (November 15, 1884-February 26, 1885), it seems pertinent at this point to examine the issue at some length.

Central Africa Reviewed.

For unknown centuries Central Africa had been peopled with many millions of savage, semi-savage, and barbarian black men, hidden from all civilising influence. Their social condition varied. Many were cannibals, some were living in a rude state of primitive tribal order, others were at incessant war with hostile tribes, all were living in the gloom of an interminable night of barbaric existence. Their only touch with the human family had been through the slave trade, of which they were the object and the victims. The white man knew of their lot in this respect many years before he listened attentively to an appeal for deliverance from the Arab marauders who enslaved them. The natural law of human solidarity had not as yet inspired civilised nations with an energetic movement to ameliorate the condition of the savage black in Mid-Africa. Indeed, Stanley’s explorations had not gone to completion save for the enlightened and philanthropic moral and material support of Leopold II. When Great Britain declined to provide Stanley with the means to further his brave work, the King of the Belgians, having several years before openly associated himself with sentiments seeking the organisation of a consistent civilising movement in Central Africa, sent for this intrepid explorer and fortified his hopes and plans from his private purse. It was with the highest motives, from an elevated point of view, that his Majesty considered the situation of these cannibal tribes. His solicitude for the Belgians, their economic needs, their legitimate and necessary expansion, gave point to his consideration of a distant land, where great natural wealth lay unrevealed and unused, for the good of the native and his benefactor. A wild life abounded in those parts which by civilisation might be regenerated and brought into the sphere of human usefulness. Here opportunity seemed to throw wide her arms for the Prince with the courage to dare an undertaking which the great Powers and the small had so far deftly avoided. “I will pierce barbaric darkness; I will secure to Central Africa the blessing of civilised government. And I will, if necessary, undertake this great task alone.” So spake his Majesty, when, as Duke of Brabant, he electrified Europe with what Europe, in her narrowed conservatism, regarded as the utopian utterances of an impractical and effervescing youth. Europe smiled and shrugged her shoulders at the temerity of him who essayed to analyse the heart of Africa and prescribe its panacea.

If this great task had fallen upon a man of ordinary natural powers and acquired means, that part of Darkest Africa which now defies the organised conspiracy of the despoiler would interest nobody save the slave-trader who terrorised the land and polluted the sea with the black man’s blood. To his Majesty’s great initiative in 1876, and to his prescience of mind, his generous hand, and astonishing industry in the cause which inspired him are due those two decades of progress which some regard as a triumph of Colonial civilisation; while others, from motives which need not be examined with a lens, stigmatise it as the curse of Central Africa.

Point of view and interest are important elements in all controversy. Where so much has been charged and refuted, a judicial attitude is sometimes maintained with difficulty. But against the assertion that the Congo Free State is a creation of the General Act of the Berlin Conference, may be arrayed a body of well-settled law which only an unreasoning enemy or a paid advocate would have the hardihood to dispute.

Simple Facts Briefly Told.

Long before the Berlin Conference had been conceived, acts of government had been effecting organisation and order in the territory now known as the “Independent State of the Congo.” Legislation, one of the later signs of established government, had occurred in the territory acquired by the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo, of which King Leopold was honorary president and Colonel Strauch president.

Taking Merchandise to the ss. “Leopoldville.”

The conception of the State was that of the King personally; the character of its governmental manifestations was surcharged with his personality; its being was crystallised by his own touch and modelling. It is error to confound the recognition of the State by the Berlin Conference as the act which created the State. Recognition presupposes existence, and in the case of the Congo Free State there had been, for a considerable time before the adoption of the General Act of the Berlin Conference, a government de facto in the territories under the dominion of the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo. Indeed, before the Berlin Conference had adopted the General Act, the State was qualified to announce, and did notify the Conference, that it had been recognised by all the Powers except one, which, however, soon thereafter followed the example of the other signatories. It was as a State, standing on an equality with the other Powers, that the Congo Free State attended the Berlin Conference and, under Article 37, adhered to an Act which did not deal with the sovereignty of States at all, but confined itself to a consideration of an economic régime applicable throughout the Congo Basin, including the territories therein of Great Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and the Congo Free State. Events anterior to its introduction to the Conference as a friendly State by Prince Bismarck do not depend for their quality upon the form of that introduction. They are not destroyed by the peculiarity of phrase or the spontaneous honour which accompanied its entrance into the society of nations. That which does not exist cannot be the object of recognition. Even without the facts of the recognition by the United States of the State’s flag (April 22, 1884) as that of a friendly Government seven months before the Berlin Conference convened, and its recognition by Germany seven days before the opening of the Conference (November 8, 1884), the State contends that it was a State in esse, a Government de facto, fully organised and qualified to maintain itself as such within the territory it had acquired by cession from the native tribal chiefs and by prior occupation.

An examination of competent authorities on this important phase of Congolese civilisation convinces us that the idle contention which questions the State’s independence of the Powers signatory of the General Act of Berlin has been brought forth merely for its cumulative effect, not for its inherent power to sustain itself.

The subject may be approached by two questions: What is a State? What is a Government?

“A State ... implies the union of a number of individuals in a fixed territory, and under one central authority. Austria-Hungary is a State, but, as Prince Gortchakoff once sarcastically remarked, ‘It is a Government, and not a nation.’”

The Constitution of the United States defines the term State as combining the idea of people, territory, and government. Defining the difference between a government in law and a government in fact, Montague Bernard says, in Neutrality of Great Britain during American Civil War: “A de jure government is one which, in the opinion of the person using the phrase, ought to possess the powers of sovereignty, though at the time it may be deprived of them. A de facto government is one which is really in possession of them, although the possession may be wrongful or precarious.”

In Tharington v. Smith, 8 Wallace, 8-11, the Court said:

There are several degrees of what is called de facto government. Such a government in its highest degree assumes a character very closely resembling that of a lawful government.... There is another species of de facto government, and it is one which may be perhaps aptly called a government of paramount force. Its distinguishing characteristics are: That its existence is maintained by active military power, within the territories ... etc.

In Wheaton’s Elements of International Law, the latest edition of the leading authority on the subject, the author maintains that:

The recognition of any State by other States, and its admission into the general society of nations, may depend, or may be made to depend, at the will of those other States, upon its internal constitution or form of government, or the choice it may make of its rulers. But whatever be its internal constitution, or form of government, or whoever may be its rulers, or even if it be distracted with anarchy, through a violent contest for the government between different parties among the people, the State still subsists in contemplation of law, until its sovereignty is extinguished by the final dissolution of the social tie, or by some other cause which puts an end to the being of the State.

... The internal sovereignty of a State does not, in any degree, depend upon its recognition by other States. A new State, springing into existence, does not require the recognition of other States to confirm its internal sovereignty. The existence of the State de facto is sufficient, in this respect, to establish its sovereignty de jure. It is a State because it exists.

Thus the internal sovereignty of the United States of America was complete from the time they declared themselves “free, sovereign and independent States,” on the 4th of July, 1776.... The treaty of peace of 1782 contained a recognition of their independence, not a grant of it.

The external sovereignty of any State, on the other hand, may require recognition by other States in order to render it perfect and complete. So long, indeed, as the new State confines its action to its own citizens, and to the limits of its own territory, it may well dispense with such recognition.

The principles thus indicated would appear to distinguish with marked certitude the vast difference between the State’s existence and its recognition. The latter was a political consequence of the former. At the Berlin Conference no question was raised concerning a fact so patent, nor did the signatories distinguish between the five Powers in possession of the Congo Basin in framing the clauses of the Berlin Act imposing the same obligations on all these Governments. Those obligations related only to their economic régime in Central Africa. The articles of the Act concerning the Congo Basin, which applied to the Independent State of the Congo, were also binding upon Great Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal. This sign of equality is inconsistent with the notion that the Congo Free State is the vassal territory of the Powers signatory of the General Act of Berlin.

It has been contended by technicians of the law of nations who are in the service of those who seek to disrupt the Congo Free State, that a State cannot accrue out of a private association, such, for instance, as the International African Association or the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo. But just as events are constantly spoiling theories, so had the flag of the Belgians confounded that contention by demonstrating in a practical manner that a State did exist, and that all the elements of a State government were present in the neighbourhood of Stanley Pool long before the Berlin Conference.

The identity of a State consists in its having the same origin or commencement of existence; and its difference from all other States consists in its having a different origin or commencement of existence.... The habitual obedience of the members of any political society to a superior authority must have once existed in order to constitute a sovereign State.[1]

American writers on the subject are of opinion that the North American Indian in his aboriginal state was not a political unit of the United States at the time when the Union declared its independence. In Johnson v. McIntosh, 8 Wheaton, p. 543, Chief-Justice Marshall described their status in the following language:

The Indian inhabitants of the United States are to be considered merely as occupants, to be protected, indeed, while in peace, in the possession of their lands, but to be deemed incapable of transferring the absolute title to others independent of territorial sovereignty.

To this may be added the apposite declaration of Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hackett, June 12, 1873:

Aboriginal inhabitants in a savage state have not such a title to the land where they dwell or roam as entitle them to confer it upon persons from another country.

A Strange Fallacy.

The Congo State law to which the foregoing declaration applies will be discussed in the chapter on the State Lands and Concessions. The citation is offered here merely for its general bearing upon the doctrine put forth by certain writers who contend that barbarous races living in primitive conditions upon lands over which civilised government has not been established, attain to the organic level of political units or citizenship upon the recognition of the government which dominates them with either its civil or its military power. That doctrine, it seems to us, is untenable. There is, on the other hand, no doubt that savage races can, by the symbols and the operating functions of government, humanely enforced according to the conditions with which it must cope, be brought to the knowledge of, and obedience to, an orderly civil community. The instruments of civilisation must vary with the various character of the life upon which they are to operate effectively. Yet there are strabismic monitors of African civilisation who, representing no high moral standard in themselves, have laid down a rule of conduct for the Congo Free State which disregards that principle. It has been this narrow view of a liberal civilising scheme that has caused so much mischievous mewling in Great Britain concerning alleged misrule in Central Africa.

State Post at Yankomi, near Basoko, Surrounded by Palisade (Aruwimi).

The foundation of the Congo Free State really began with the organised movement and structures of the Comité d’Études du Haut-Congo on November 25, 1878. The expedition of Stanley on August 14, 1879, was an earnest of the Committee’s intention to establish the institutions of a permanent local government with all practicable speed.

The Belgian post of Vivi was the first monument fixed in the wake of Stanley. On February 21, 1880, Isanghila was established, and on May 1, 1881, Manyanga was occupied. In the following December the expedition arrived at Stanley Pool, and reconstructed the steamboat En Avant, which, having been dismantled, had been carried in small sections through the forest to this point above the cataracts. In a short time this pioneer craft bore Stanley up the Congo River to accomplish the dream of Leopold II.

Many stations were established, steamers began running between them, treaties were concluded with the chiefs of independent native tribes to protect the territory so occupied against the claims of subsequent explorers; administrative and police services were required, and all the effective essentials of a central authority and an actual government were then and there established.

At this juncture the Committee changed its name to the International Congo Association and redoubled its activities. The Niadi Kwilu Basin was explored; that important factor in late Congo prosperity, the Upper Kassai, was brought under the influence of Belgian regeneration, and the Lunda country and districts beyond were taken within the Government’s sphere.

In five years discoveries of great value had been made in Darkest Africa, hundreds of tribes had been peacefully visited, over five hundred treaties of suzerainty had been made with the ruling chiefs, forty stations had been erected and their complement of officers put to the work of administering a definite system of local government, and five steamers on the Upper Congo were regularly communicating the affairs of a Government which now effectively controlled all the territory between the East Coast and Stanley Falls, between Bangala and Luluabourg.[2]

This, then, was the position of the Government in the Congo Basin in 1883, long before the Berlin Conference. The status that Government acquired as a consequence of its administrative acts in, and dominion over, the territory it occupied, has been briefly indicated from the point of view of American authorities on the subject of international law. Before examining the leading European authorities, whose approaches to the subject are peculiar to European experience and learning, it is interesting to observe how consistently the action of the Government of the United States followed the American view of the law on the subject.

A Learned Belgian.

Baron A. Descamps’ New Africa, an excellent essay on government civilisation in new countries, embodies a concise statement of what occurred in the fortunes of the infant State early in 1884, when its progressive work had extended a civilising influence to those regions of the Congo Basin where the Arab slave trade had not retained its devastating sway. The writer says:

The practical sympathy speedily accorded to the International Congo Association by the greatest Power of the New World, the United States of America, full of life and vigour and ever inclined to progress, proved that King Leopold’s enterprise had secured public support and official suffrage far beyond the limits of Europe. On April 10, 1884, the American Senate, on Mr. Morgan’s remarkable report,[3] passed a resolution asking the President of the United States to recognise the Association “as the governing power of the Congo.” A few days later, on April 22, 1884, that recognition was an accomplished fact. In officially recalling, at the opening of the Berlin Conference, the nature and cause of this great Act, Mr. Kasson, Chief Plenipotentiary of the United States, pointed out that, following upon Stanley’s explorations, the newly discovered regions “would be exposed to the dangerous rivalries of conflicting nationalities. It was the earnest desire of the Government of the United States that these discoveries should be utilised for the civilisation of the native races, and for the abolition of the slave-trade; and that early action should be taken to avoid international conflicts likely to arise from national rivalry in the acquisition of special privileges in the vast region so suddenly exposed to commercial enterprises.” Referring to the work so effectively performed by the International Congo Association “under high and philanthropic European patronage,” he said that those gallant pioneers of civilisation had “obtained concessions and jurisdiction throughout the basin of the Congo from the native sovereignties which were the sole authorities existing there and exercising dominion over the soil or the people. They immediately proceeded,” added he, “to establish a Government de facto.” Declaring next that the legality of the acts of that Government should be recognised, under penalty of recognising “neither law, order, nor justice in all that region,” he concluded as follows: “The President of the United States, on being duly informed of this organisation, and of their peacefully acquired rights, of their means of protecting persons and property, and of their just purposes towards all foreign nations, recognised the actual government established, and the flag adopted by this Association. Their rights were grounded on the consent of the native inhabitants, in a country actually occupied by them, and whose routes of commerce and travel were under their actual control and administration. He believed that in thus recognising the only dominant flag found in that country he acted in the common interest of civilised nations.”

“In so far,” said the American Plenipotentiary, “as this neutral and peaceful zone shall be expanded, so far he foresees the strengthening of the guarantees of peace, of African civilisation, and of profitable commerce with the whole family of nations.”[4]

Such was the position taken up by the United States of America in regard to the recognition of the newly installed government in Equatorial Africa. Germany was the first European Power to consider this subject of recognition, and to accord to the new enterprise marks of its sympathy and the support of its authority. In acknowledging, by the Convention of November 8, 1884, concluded before the Berlin Conference opened, the flag of the International Congo Association “as that of a friendly State,” the German Government clearly indicated that, so far as it was concerned, the new State ought to take its place from the first among the Powers called to the Conference.

Another Learned Belgian.

M. Ernest Nys, Professor of International Law of the University of Brussels, Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal (Conseiller à la Cour d’Appel de Bruxelles); member of the Institute of International Law, a distinguished Belgian, and writer on several branches of the law, sets forth with greater detail the precise form of the recognition of the Congo Free State by the Senate of the United States. M. Nys relates:

In his annual message to Congress the President of the United States raised the question of the relations which were henceforth to be established between the Republic and “the inhabitants of the Congo Valley in Africa.” On 26th May, 1884, Mr. Morgan (Alabama) reported to the Senate in the name of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

On 18th January, 1884, a communication from Mr. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of the State Department, explained to Mr. Morgan how along the Congo the African International Association had created important establishments. On 13th March of the same year a further communication from Mr. Frelinghuysen set forth the opportuneness and the usefulness of recognising the flag of the Association, and added that no principle of international law was opposed to the creation of a State by a philanthropical society.

In his report of 26th March Mr. Morgan recalled the fact that Stanley had concluded at Vivi on 13th June, 1880, the first convention with a native chief, and that since that date nearly a hundred other treaties between tribal chiefs and the agents of the Association had been concluded, in which important commercial arrangements and stipulations relative to law, the maintenance of order, and the delegation of power figured among the provisions. Consequently two hypotheses presented themselves. “If the local rulers,” said Mr. Morgan, “were qualified to make the cession they did, the sovereign power that they conferred on the African International Association might obtain recognition on the part of other nations precisely because that Association thus proves its existence as a Government by law. If,” he added, “there exists any doubt concerning the sovereignty or the territory or the subjects, the understanding among the native tribes who conclude treaties with the Association offers a sufficient guarantee to other peoples for recognising the Association as a Government in fact.”

The Committee on Foreign Relations made a motion in favour of the recognition of the Association. It is permissible to affirm that at this moment a juridical person already existed, which could claim the principal rights of a State, and which found itself prepared to fulfil the duties of one. The first direction of the efforts of the Committee for studying the Upper Congo had been indicated in July, 1879, in the instructions given to Stanley. “It would be wise,” wrote Colonel Strauch, “to extend the influence of the stations over the chiefs and tribes inhabiting the neighbourhood. There might be made out of them a republican confederation of free Negroes, an independent confederation under this reservation, that the King, to whom its conception and creation would be due, should nominate its President who was to reside in Europe.... A confederacy thus formed might of its own authority grant concessions to companies for the construction of works of public utility, or issue loans, as Liberia and Sarawak do, and also itself execute public works. Our enterprise does not tend to the creation of a Belgian Colony but to the establishment of a powerful Negro State.”[5] But the political idea was not slow in taking a precise form. If in Mr. Morgan’s report there is still question of the Free States of the Congo the conclusion did not the less relate, as we have just seen, to the African International Association.

Europeans at Stanleyville, 1902.

It was it which was [sic], according to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, in law or in fact a “Government” qualified to claim international recognition.

Besides, the solution was very soon effected. The Government of the United States recorded the existence of The International Association of the Congo, managing the interests of the Free States established in that region, and gave orders to all United States officials on sea and on land to recognise the flag of the International Association as the equal of that of a friendly Government.

The following is the text of the declarations which were exchanged on 22d April, 1884: