The story of the Congo Free State

by Henry Wellington Wack

Those among them who are accused of offences or crimes must be remitted to the competent Tribunals and tried according to law.

Should officers of the State infringe the Rules laid down respecting the relations which they are to have with the natives, or tolerate mutilations and cruelties on the part of their soldiers, they will, in case of a specified offence, be remitted to a Court of Justice. They would, in any case, be subjected to disciplinary punishment. Moreover, the guilty officers, if already decorated with the Service Star, will lose their right to wear it.

It is equally indispensable that officers should act justly, and in accordance with the instructions in force, in their dealings with the servants of the State. They are forbidden to act illegally, i. e., to inflict punishments other than those provided for breaches of discipline or to disregard legal forms for the purpose of repressing offences of which the servants of the State, and notably soldiers, may be guilty. When sentences have been passed, they must be undergone in accordance with the specified legal conditions.

Any officer departing from these Rules would be guilty of abuse of authority, and render himself liable to dismissal.

District Commissioners and Heads of expeditions must exercise the most vigilant control over such detachments of black soldiers as they may be obliged to place among the natives. These detachments must on no account be provided with improved firearms. Their task is exclusively one of protection and supervision.

They are never to intervene in quarrels between natives. They must confine themselves to informing the nearest station commanded by an European.

It is the duty of the European officers to make frequent inspections of such detachments, and to see that they do not in any way transgress the limits imposed upon them by their orders. They are to summon the neighbouring native Chiefs on the occasion of these inspections, and will receive their complaints, should they have any to make.

The Negro officers of the stations are strictly forbidden themselves to take any measures of repression against the natives; the duty of taking measures, when occasion arises, devolves upon the European officers alone.

The arrangements to be made with the villages must be concluded by a European.

Any Chief of a Negro station levying exactions on the natives, or ill-treating them, or in any way abusing his authority over them, must be prosecuted according to law, and immediately suspended from his duties.