The story of the Congo Free State

by Henry Wellington Wack

MR. MAGUIRE

(English Missionary)

Though I have travelled by boat and on foot from Boma to Amadi and higher up to Surunga, calling at all the State stations; though I have visited many establishments, both Catholic and non-Catholic, as well as some stations of independent companies; though I have passed nights and days in my tent in the forest and in villages of the natives; though I have had ample opportunities of seeing much in my journeys as to how the natives are treated, I have never seen or heard of any of the atrocities with which the agents of the Free State are charged. On the contrary, one cannot but admire the wonderful progress that has been made in so short a time, the commendable way in which the natives are treated, the little work that is exacted of them, and the manner in which they are punctually paid for every service rendered or work done. The little work which is occasionally exacted of them by way of tax in porterage or otherwise is as nothing when compared with the immense benefits conferred upon them by the State. In fact the methods of the Belgian officers drew a highly complimentary eulogium from the Sirdar during his recent visit to the Enclave of Lado—methods which, he stated, might be followed with advantage by our English officers: “Messieurs,” said the Sirdar, “nous avons d’excellentes leçons devant nos yeux.”—March 31, 1904.

DR. CHRISTY

(English Physician)

I went to the Congo last September as a member of an expedition of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which was despatched especially to investigate sleeping sickness in the Congo, the same disease which so recently, as the public know, broke out in such virulent epidemic form in Uganda. For a considerable time I was in Leopoldville, which is the Bombay of the Congo—that is, everybody throughout the whole of the Congo goes through Leopoldville in order to reach Europe and the outer world. Hence you can quite understand that any one, like myself, for instance, stationed for a time in Leopoldville, must, if he take any trouble at all, come across all the officials from the whole of the Congo, who, from various causes, are bound at intervals to be in or passing through Leopoldville. Thus, whilst there I had excellent opportunities of finding out exactly what happens in that country, particularly as these men—that is, the officials of the Congo—are extremely ready to talk. Besides opportunities of acquiring information in that way, I have travelled on foot in the Belgian Congo State, and personally observed the condition of things which prevails there. I assure you that if I were to tell you all I know against the Congo Administration it would amount to a very little indeed compared with what I know in its favour. The credulousness of the British Government in respect of the Casement report is something marvellous. Casement travelled up the river in a missionary steamer, arm in arm with missionaries practically all the time, and obtained all his information from the river bank instead of personally investigating the various stories of outrage and mutilation which he received. It is the most astonishing thing that the British Government have given the Casement report so much credence.

The agitation now going on with respect to atrocities in the Congo is based on things that happened a long time ago. There is no doubt that in times gone by atrocities have occurred; but, thanks to the altered methods and conditions of administration, such things are not likely to recur. The basin of the Congo, mainly the Belgian Congo, is practically the sole rubber-producing area of the world. This territory also contains the lowest class of natives in the whole of Africa. The natives all over the East Coast—the Masai, the Nandi, the Kaverondo, the Bukedi, the Baris, the Madis, the Dinkas, the Shiluks, and others—stretching right away up to the Soudan, are all a magnificent class of Negro, a fighting people, a manly, upstanding people, who impressed me immensely. I have been through parts of all their territories, and they are indeed a magnificent set of people. Then you get towards the West Coast—the basin of the Niger, where I was for nearly two years, and you see a lower class of natives. On the Benue, where the present punitive expedition is operating in Niaiger, you have again a distinctly lower class of natives. Then, as you go farther South, and get into the Congo watershed, you come upon a still lower class of natives. The natives over large areas in the Congo are cannibals to the present day. They are a very low class of native indeed. That is the territory which the Belgians have so successfully opened up for the rubber trade. In that opening-up process they have had, as I say, to contend with absolutely the lowest class of natives in Africa at the present day. As you travel through the Congo you cannot help feeling—at all events any one like myself, who has been through the British tropical colonies—that the amount of general advancement and civilisation in the Congo Free State is far ahead as compared with our own. This is doubtless owing to the fact that the Belgians have made the natives work. The Belgians have gone on the principle, to begin with, that the native must be a participating element in the development and civilisation of the country—that is, that he must work with and for the white man, and thereby benefit not only the white man but himself. I was immensely impressed with the state of government and the advancement and general opening-up of the Congo, the more so as I can compare it with other districts under British control in which I have been. We do not attempt to make the native work, with the result that we do not get the benefit we should from our Protectorates. Uganda and British East Africa are far behind the Congo Free State. Not more than a third of Uganda is opened up to administrative control. I once spent ten months in Uganda, and visited every station in it, walking 2300 miles and returning down the Nile. The Belgians have got stations everywhere in the Congo practically, and most of the natives, except in one or two areas, are entirely under control. The Uganda native is a fat, lazy chap, who will do no work. There is no industry in Uganda. The Belgians pay the Congo natives for their labour. They realise that the native is a valuable asset in the country, and treat him accordingly. It is surely obvious that it is not to the interest of the Congo administrators to maim the native.

All the mutilations and cruelties which have been spoken of took place in the early days of the opening-up process to which the country has been subjected and before the railway was constructed. The men who have been guilty of the atrocities have not been Belgians in all cases. In many instances they have been Italians who have been appointed to the smaller outlying posts, the better and higher positions being kept for Belgians. These Italians and other foreigners who have been given the charge of outlying stations have in some cases perpetrated cruelties in times gone by. These men were not accustomed to exercise power, and this led them to ill-use the natives. That is how the atrocities such as these were originated. But that has all gone now; they are all cleared out. I have seen nineteen such men, chiefly Italians, in prison at Boma on charges of cruelty, which proves that the Belgians are doing their best to put a stop to the kind of thing complained of. The agitation that is now going on about atrocities is exaggerated out of all proportion to the amount of the atrocities that happened at any time. The Belgians are doing everything they can to supersede the men who have acted improperly in the past; they have appointed inspectors for different districts, and they have allowed inspectors appointed by the Italian Government and the Scandinavian Government to go out into the Congo for the purpose of keeping an eye on those of their own nationality in positions of responsibility and control in the Congo Free State. Things in the Congo now are very different to what they were even two or three years ago. The King of the Belgians has sent out Baron Dhanis—who had more to do with opening up the Congo in the early days than anybody else—to reorganise the whole military system of the Congo Free State. There are to be two or three large military centres in the Congo, and the soldiers will be much more highly trained and be more under control. Hitherto the small posts have recruited men from the surrounding villages, and given them a bit of uniform and a rifle, and they have gone about, supposed to be doing their duty, instead of which they have probably been ill-treating the natives. The whole thing will be changed now, however, for they will have a much more highly organised army and a much higher class of officer. It has been these unscrupulous foreigners—Italians, etc.—who have been guilty of the cruelties reported. Another proof of the endeavours to stop any existing abuses of administration is the fact that a Belgian officer who for many years held a high post in the Congo has recently been sent out by the King as Royal High Commissioner, to investigate all questions of maladministration and, particularly, payment of State employees and the natives for labour, with power there and then to rectify or alter any existing rules which he thinks might be amended in any part of the Congo, the territories of concessionary companies included. With regard to the mutilations in the Congo, described by Mr. Casement, I may tell you that only last year in Uganda I saw similar mutilations, which, it is well known, were done by the natives in Uganda, notably in King Mtesa’s day. In walking through Toro and Unyoro, I have seen men without noses, ears, and, frequently, without hands.

With regard to Lord Cromer’s assertion that in the Lado Enclave the natives have left the banks of the river and the immediate regions of the Belgian posts,—well, I have walked along the Nile from the Albert Nyanza into the Soudan, and visited the Belgian stations on the river, besides having seen a good deal of the natives on both banks. I feel sure that Lord Cromer is wrong when he states that the natives are leaving the Belgian side and going over to the Uganda side. The natives certainly had nothing to complain of, and certainly are not migrating across the river. As for there being no villages round Lado Enclave, the explanation is that there is for several months of the year absolutely no water and, therefore, necessarily no villages. But at many other places along the banks in the Lado Enclave there are large villages. I saw several thousand natives at Wadelai, employed by the Belgians in rebuilding the old fort of Emin Pasha, preparatory to making a large station there, and they seemed quite contented and happy, and worked like a hive of bees. The conclusion to which I am irresistibly driven as a disinterested observer is that the present administration of the Congo is not only free from cruelties, but is of the most complete and efficient description, and counts for the fullest commercial and industrial development of the Free State. I am sure that that administration is doing its level best in every way, from the highest to the lowest officer, to make the country prosperous, and the native happy and useful.—June 23, 1904.