Now, I mention all this about the building of Irebu, not simply to glorify Commandant Jeuniaux, but because the work that has been done there, the difficulties he has had to contend with and has overcome, the result that has been achieved, are identical with what every commandant has met with in each of the beautiful stations that you will find in the Middle Congo. Each of these represents the personal exertion of one individual, and their existence is eloquent testimony to the ability and devotion with which the State is served by its servants.
Mrs. M. French Sheldon
Mrs. French Sheldon, the traveller and author, returned to Europe in December, 1904, after a tour through the Congo Free State.
I have witnessed [she says] more atrocities in London streets than I have seen in the Congo, which remark applies to the rubber country as well as the rest of the State. I travelled through every part of the country, and am convinced that the allegations of maladministration are groundless. Wherever I went I found the natives treated with kindness and consideration, while the improvements in the condition of the land and its inhabitants are almost incredible.
FOOTNOTES:
[47] The Commissary-General of New Antwerp.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
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 indicated. It would be unfair to the English people—that great, sane mass of them which sits imperturbably serene and looks on—to say that the British attitude towards the Congo is of that bitter hostility which a few hysterical Liverpool merchants and writers wish the outside world to believe. Indeed, it would appear to be part of their plan to make sufficient noise to induce the Germans, French, and Americans to attribute the agitation to the entire British public. The fact is that the severest condemnation of the anti-Congo campaign is being uttered by Britons against the clique which is striving to entangle British ministers in an affair that may some day redound to England’s humiliation. The shifts have been many to which certain Liverpool merchants and their chief crier have been put to maintain a hubbub which they hope will, by accident or the logic of events, create an opening for their ulterior commercial plans.
Native Planter’s House, near Stanley Falls.