Mission of the White Fathers, Tanganyika.
As the appropriation by the State of vacant lands in the Congo has inspired many of the specious arguments which have lately emanated from England alone and more particularly from the claque of the Congo Reform Association in Liverpool, it may be opportune to consider first what the Belgians have said in justification of a course which every student of political history knows has been followed by all civilised States.
In his essay, New Africa, Baron Descamps briefly analyses the theory of the State’s unquestionable property in all vacant lands within its territory:
Territory is that part of the globe over which a State exercises its sovereign rights; it is the material basis of sovereign influence.
The mere fact of the acquisition of a political sovereignty over a certain territory does not in itself confer on the Sovereign—at least according to modern law—the ownership of all property over which private individuals have acquired rights. But the recognition of these same rights, the fixing of just titles of acquisition, the regulation of the legal system relating to property and especially of the condition of vacant land, all that constitutes an essential attribute of sovereignty, in conformity with the necessities of public order and the general welfare of society.
As a sovereign and independent State, the Congo State has been, and continues to be, invested with that prerogative.
In appropriating vacant and ownerless land, the State has made lawful use of an indisputable and perfectly legal right, sanctioned by international custom and acknowledged by the law of nations.
When regularly in possession of vacant land, is it expedient for the State to appropriate certain portions for public uses; to transfer other portions gratuitously or for a consideration, with full rights of ownership or with the right of using them only, to private individuals; to preserve other parts for revenue purposes, by means either of direct administration or of tenure, with a view to employing the revenue according to the needs or convenience of the State? That is a question of internal administration which may be discussed theoretically, as we have already observed, but which must be left, in practice, to the sovereign decision of the State.
Early European Settlers.
Before the Congo State was founded, a few European traders and missionaries in the Lower Congo were occupying certain undefined lands under agreements—more or less precarious in term and effect—with native chiefs. These occupations partook largely of the temporary nature of the native occupations on the banks of the river. As these occupations ceased and the land was abandoned, it reverted to the State, precisely as it reverts, under certain conditions, in other States and colonies throughout the world.