The story of the Congo Free State

Report from the Committee on Foreign Relations to the Senate of the United States, March 26, 1884 (Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama), recommending the recognition of the Inter...

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...

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...

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 meetin...

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 sket...

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., h...

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_...

Slavery: the absolute, irresponsible ownership of one class of human beings by another class; a contract in which the only factors are might on the one side and helplessness on...

A clear view of the position of the State previous to the adoption of the resolutions known as the General Act of the Berlin Conference may be had from a summary of the signal e...

THE Berlin Act and the economic, that is, domestic, _régime_ which it sought to establish in the Congo Basin occupied by Germany, France, Great Britain, Portugal, and the Free S...

Slavery is as ancient as war, and war as old as human nature. Upon this premise Voltaire philosophised when his thought reverted to the early inequity of human life. Christian n...

The zealous labours of Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, who had founded the Mission of the White Fathers in 1878 to convert the Soudan and the Congo regions to Christi...

The Declaration supplemental to the General Act of the Brussels Conference, referred to in the previous chapter, assured an income to the Congo Free State, which, however inadeq...

The difficulty in arriving at an estimate of the native population of the Congo Free State that tolerably approximates the truth is very great. Some authorities place it at as h...

The State’s military organisation is constituted by what is called the Congo Public Force (_Force Publique_). It had its origin in the necessities of the International Associati...

IT had long been foreseen, as an inevitable result of the advent of the Belgians in Central Africa, that a direct conflict between them and the Arabs, continued to the extinctio...

While the events described in the preceding chapter were being enacted, M. Tobback, Resident for the Congo Free State at Stanley Falls, with his second in command, Lieutenant Va...

It is an old world-truth, supported by countless historical instances, that the way of the reformer is hard. When his progress is not opposed by vested interests, his enthusiasm...

The Conventional Basin of the Congo contains about 1,500,000 square miles, of which the Free State occupies 1,000,000, and its neighbours, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Po...

In addition to the territories of the Congo Free State proper, the sovereignty of which is vested in Leopold II., King of the Belgians, and his successors, King Leopold holds on...

The hasty and ill-advised trial and execution of the chief, Gongo Lutete, described in another chapter, proved a source of much danger and tribulation to the Congo Free State. I...

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

To provide a just and equitable process for giving effect to the civil laws of a savage country requires an administrant force of exceptional powers, of rare patience, and of wi...

Moderns regard the post-office and the mission school as substantial signs of civilisation wherever the two are found in mutual endeavour. In compliance with Article VII, of the...

The Sovereign of the Congo Free State adheres to a gospel of labour of which he is personally the greatest exemplar in Europe. His Majesty’s industry is in motion at five o’cloc...

Within the lifetime of men who may still be accounted young, the words that stand at the head of this chapter had no application to any part of Central Africa. Science, in all i...

Among the earlier trading companies on the West Coast of Africa was the house of Regis et Cie., established at Banana in 1858, whose successors, Daumas, Béraud et Cie., were car...

It will be remembered that clause VI. of the Berlin Act enacts that “They [the interested Powers] shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religions...

It would seem reasonable that practical colonial government should begin the pursuit of its objects by a policy so flexible that it might readily conform to the altering conditi...

On Friday, the 25th of March, 1904, in the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, London, the case of Captain Henri Joseph Leon De Keyser, and his colleagues-in-arm...

THE English are an admirable people, who have excelled in every department of human effort; but the evidence of the more critical among them, with whom love of fair play counts...

The interest taken by Americans in the affairs of the Congo Free State has never been very keen. What little of interest, however, we do take in that distant region has been sen...

It will ever be esteemed a fortunate circumstance by all who have regard for historical accuracy, that the late Sir Henry M. Stanley, discoverer of the course of the Congo, who...

The three authorities whose testimony was given in the preceding chapter are all distinguished travellers of British nationality. It is now proposed to lay before the reader the...

The Congo atrocities campaign is fed upon just a sufficient substratum of truth to make it plausible. But the public in their administered sentimentality travel very wide of the...

a part medical, part missionary, wholly illogical perverter of facts. The plunges made by this eccentric individual into the depths of human credulity would certainly receive no...

The Congolese kaleidoscope has revolved so swiftly since 1896, that it is with difficulty the European attitude towards the Congo Free State notoriety can be completely indicate...

The rise and progress of the Congo Free State marks a unique page in modern history. The boldness of the State’s conception, the apparent hopelessness of its early conditions in...

1. In all the regions forming the basin of the Congo and its outlets. This basin is bounded by the watersheds (or mountain ridges) of the adjacent basins, namely, in particular,...

ARTICLE 9. Seeing that trading in slaves is forbidden in conformity with the principles of international law as recognised by the Signatory Powers, and seeing also that the oper...

ARTICLE 10. In order to give a new guarantee of security to trade and industry, and to encourage, by the maintenance of peace, the development of civilisation mentioned in Artic...

ARTICLE 13. The navigation of the Congo, without excepting any of its branches or outlets, is, and shall remain, free for the merchant ships of all nations equally, whether carr...

ARTICLE 26. The navigation of the Niger, without excepting any of its branches and outlets, is and shall remain entirely free for the merchant-ships of all nations equally, whet...

ARTICLE 34. Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto wi...

ARTICLE 36. The Signatory Powers of the present General Act reserve to themselves to introduce into it subsequently, and by common accord, such modifications and improvements as...