German Astuteness.
The Act Praised and Condemned.
It was during the agitation of this feeling that the Conference was summoned at the instance of Germany. If one could analyse in extenso all the essentials which so aptly informed Prince Bismarck of Germany’s masked advantages in such a Conference, the Iron Chancellor would stand revealed as an early monument to the German astuteness of to-day. In creating an Areopagus of the fourteen Powers assembled at Berlin and referring to it the questions which, if unsettled, would have led to conflicts, combinations, and confusion prejudicial to German East Africa, Prince Bismarck’s workmanship surpassed the materials which his skill employed. As the Prince said at the final session of the Conference, the lofty aims and political idealities proclaimed during its earlier sessions would, when translated into facts, offer opportunity for improvement. Indeed, time and the practical application of its precepts, so enthusiastically proclaimed, have revealed the theorist where the man of practical political sense would better have written certain clauses of the General Act. As it stood in 1885, it cannot be regarded with that awe which certain persons manifest when they misinterpret its inconclusive preachments. Some praise it as “the inauguration of a truly new era in colonial affairs.” Others, condemning it without reserve, speak of it as “the work of theorisers without experimental basis.” A fair estimate of this unique political palaver, as embodied in its General Act, probably lies somewhere between the extravagant praise and the untempered condemnation frequently bestowed upon it. If, from a legal and political point of view, it can be regarded as only a tissue of the substance it aimed at, the fact remains that the Berlin Conference has more than justified itself by guiding, often dispelling commercial rivalries which, in their unchecked development, might have nullified the great sacrifices of Belgian blood and money in the cause of African civilisation. The Conference entered the forum when many complications, arising from competing expeditions, conflicting explorations, unregulated trading operations, the advent of evil adventurers, the devastating slave trade, and a combination of other causes—commercial and political—had provoked the distrust and avarice frequently observed when several European peoples occupy in common a vast and fertile territory inhabited by savage tribes. At a meeting of a Committee of the Conference held on December 10, 1884, Mr. Kasson, the Plenipotentiary of the United States, gave utterance, in retrospect of early American colonisation, to expressions of historic fact which graphically portray Mid-African conditions twenty years ago:
The first colonies founded in America [said Mr. Kasson] have been the work of different nationalities. Even there, where at first emigration was of a free and peaceful nature, foreign Governments were soon installed, with military forces to support them. Wars immediately broke out in Europe. The belligerents had colonies, and soon the field of battle spread to America. In the heat of the struggle, each of the belligerents sought allies amongst the native tribes, where they thus excited their natural inclination for violence and plunder. Horrible acts of cruelty ensued, and massacres where neither age nor sex were spared. The knife, the lance, and the torch transformed peaceful and happy colonies into deserts.
The present condition of Central Africa reminds one much of that of America when that continent was first opened up to the European world. How are we to avoid a repetition of the unfortunate events, to which I have just alluded, amongst the numerous African tribes? How are we to guard against exposing our merchants, our colonies, and their goods to these dangers? How shall we defend the lives of our missionaries and religion itself against the outburst of savage customs and barbarous passions?
Finding ourselves in the presence of those whom we are urging to undertake the work of civilisation in Africa, it is our duty to save them from such regrettable experiences as marked the corresponding phase in America.
The Real Value of the Act.
Belgian Dominance.
Whatever defective novelty may still reside in the Berlin Act, the Conference which begot it gave an immense impetus to the great work of African civilisation. It eliminated movements by the various Powers which were accomplishing little or nothing for lack of definition and unity. It organised a scramble, so to speak, into an orderly and intelligently directed set of enterprises, chief among which were those urged forward by the King of the Belgians and his diligent subjects. In that amplitude of pledges, which when applied to them the other Signatory Powers found it convenient to forget, little Belgium strove mightily not only to discharge her obligations under the Berlin Act, but to demonstrate her own innate genius for the work of colony-building and civilisation. It is perhaps in the inevitable result of this spirit that we find the explanation of Belgian dominance and Belgian progress far excelling that of its African neighbours.
Freedom of Commerce.