CONGO HORRORS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2670, 27 November 1909, Page 2

CONGO HORRORS.

CONAN DOYLE’S PAMPHLET

■■ Siil' l Arthur Conan Doyle, who has been leading* the agitation in England for reform in the' Congo, published; a pamphlet* entitled “The Crime of the Congo,” last month. In this he stated that the British Government is definitely responsible, because, in combination with- other nations, it practically -helped in the founding of the Congo State at the Berlin Conference of 1885. ,Of course, the objects of King Leopold were, at the start, of blameless integrity. There was to he free trade everywhere; the. ports were to he open; the natives were to be raised physically. morally, and intellectually; and the enormous wealth of the country was to be exploited solely in humanitarian interests. What actually happened was the direct contrary of all these laudable objects. The Congo State became the private domain- of the King. Every obstacle was thrown in the way ef traders other than Belgian. The land was taken away from the natives, and declared to belong to King Leopold. And. ip order to collect rubber, ivory, and other products, the most terrible system «<xf punishment, fines, and taxes was instituted, accompanied by nameless torture of the miserable natives. And for this, as Sir Arthur impresses upon us, the British Government, as one of the signatories of the Berlin Conference, cannot avoid responsibility. Then, in 1889-1890. there took place the Brussels Conference, and the Powers were still ready to accept, apparently, King Leopold’s professions of his humanitarian aims. For they agreed to relieve the new State from those freeport promises which it had made in 1885, and to permit it in future to levy 10 per cent on imports. Holland, it is true, which alone- had the sagacity to appreciate the true situation, protested for two years; the other Powers were more complaisant. A scries of terrible incidents has marked the subsequent history, illustrated from, time to time by conspicuous infamies so dreadful that they have for a. time arrested the attention of the world. As a matter of fact, however, various voices have been heard from time to time testifying to the wholesale massacres,. widespread cruelty, and gradual depopulation of the whole country. Everything has been sacrificed for greed; everything, also, has been done to keep all traders, except Belgian ones," out of the district. When the Congo State was annexed to Belgium on August 10, 1908, everyone hoped '.that some reform would be instituted'; but, alas, the hope has been frustrated. The Ifctest “mockery” is the report ot a Belgian Colonial Minister, Mr Reukin '" who, after a visit to the Congo, did-,-his best to whitewash "the official Adiiatnistration of which he is the spokesman.