The Commission will also have the duty of drawing the attention of the Government to the measures to be taken to prevent slave-trading, to render more effective the prohibition or restriction of the trade in spirituous liquors, and gradually to bring about the disappearance of inhuman practices. The simplest mode of procedure in this matter would be, in the opinion of the Government, that you, in your capacity as Secretary—and the Government is convinced that you will be willing to accept this duty—should send in a half-yearly report on these questions, containing the observations and proposals of the members of the Commission on the subject. This half-yearly report might also deal with the working of the Commission, the acts of violence definitely established by its members, the complaints made, and the results achieved.
But in this matter, as in everything which relates to the working of the Commission, the Government give it full discretion.
In forwarding to each of the members a copy of the new Decree, and in announcing his nomination to each individually, I am informing them of your appointment as Secretary. You will be good enough to place yourself in communication with them in order, if possible, in spite of distance, to arrange, at Leopoldville, for instance, a meeting of all the members of the Commission, or of a certain number of them, or definitely to constitute the Commission by correspondence, and to settle such measures as should be taken for the execution of the Decree.
Believe, etc.,
The Governor-General,
(Signed) Wahis.
To
The Reverend George Grenfell,
Baptist Missionary Society, Bolobo.
CIRCULAR TO ALL THE DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS, HEADS OF ZONES AND OF POSTS, WITH REGARD TO BARBAROUS CUSTOMS PREVAILING AMONG THE NATIVE TRIBES.
Brussels, February 27, 1897.
Gentlemen,
As you are aware, the Government have had constantly under their consideration the barbarous practices, such as cannibalism, ordeal by poison, and human sacrifices, which prevail among the native tribes, and the best means of bringing about their disappearance.
In this matter, as in all questions in which allowance must to some extent be made for long-established custom and social conditions which it would be impolitic to attack too directly, the Government have thought it advisable to act at first with prudence and circumspection, without, however, remaining inactive.