The story of the Congo Free State

by Henry Wellington Wack

Judge, Court of First Instance: M. T. Beeckman.

Prosecuting Attorney: M. F. Waleffe.

Director: M. A. Gohr.

Magistrates (Territorial Judges and Substitutes): Ernest Dupont, Hermann Weber, Iwan Grenade, Louis Rossi, J. Jenniges, P. Vincart, C. M. B. L. Greban de St. Germain, Stanislas Lefranc, Martin Rutten, Albert Sweerts, Robert de Meulemeester, Michel Cuciniello, Angelo Cagginla, Mario Falcetti, Gennaro Bosco, Frederic Erdrich, Manlio Scarpari, F. J. S. M. Lambin, Torquato Polimante, Louis Tessaroli, Paul Bossolo, T. C. Lund, H. G. Moth-Borglüm, C. J. R. Vandekelder, A. A. A. Celletti, C. E. A. M. Smets, C. L. Gianpetri, Jacob Vogt, Ragnvald Koht, T. Fessante, Adrien Beeckman.

The administration of justice shows that its representatives are conscious of the responsibility of their mission. No one has ever been able to impugn its impartiality and independence, and the judgments and sentences awarded establish its anxiety to reach all the guilty, and not to leave unpunished any breach of the laws for the protection of the natives. I will not mention any other examples of this than the judgments recently pronounced against the agents of a trading company, upon whom heavy sentences of penal servitude were passed for crimes committed upon natives. The tribute which the Government on that occasion paid to the Courts’ sense of their duties will be a valuable encouragement for them. I am confident that the Government’s appeal to the vigilance of the Department of Public Prosecution to prevent any offence of the kind passing unpunished will not be in vain.

The Negro as a Witness.

The superior administration of Boma is instructed to follow the principle of bringing before the competent courts all cases of abuses of natives that are pointed out to it by the authorities, by the direct complaints of residents in the Congo, or by criticisms in the press. These last accusations, the frequency of which is found to coincide with the campaign conducted against the Congo State, are regularly submitted on the spot to careful examination in detail. The impression that is left by the investigations that have been made, and some of which are still unfinished, is that as a general rule the complaints formulated are wanting in the precision necessary to fix the responsibility, if any, for them; or that they rest exclusively on the gossip and statements of natives which have not been sufficiently verified. In this latter respect a long experience of African affairs has shown me with what circumspection, not to say with what distrust, the statements of the blacks must be accepted. Their peculiar mental characteristic renders them inclined to lie with an ease that is disconcerting, and magistrates are obliged to direct their inquiries and questionings with real skill and untiring patience in order to arrive at the truth amongst the inaccuracies and omissions of coloured witnesses. That will reveal how much and how often the stories of sensational facts circulated by natives are distorted by them, when they are not absolutely invented, and what disappointments those who accept them too easily prepare for themselves. A typical case is that of a Protestant missionary who was accused by natives of having inflicted on the black engineer of his mission’s steamer blows and wounds that caused his death. The judicial investigation disposed of this charge, which had been fabricated in all its details by the natives with the view of avenging themselves on the missionary, with whom they were engaged in a dispute on a question of wages. And yet the natives making the accusation never ceased for a moment, despite the proofs to the contrary, from maintaining their lying charges with a persistency which could not fail to create an impression. It is to be regretted that Mr. Casement[19] was not put on his guard against the statements of the blacks, and especially by this incident, of which he could not have been ignorant, since the missionary concerned accompanied him during the inquiry into the case of Epondo, whom the natives also represented to have been the victim of a criminal act.

I will, by another example revealed during a recent inquiry, show how much the charges brought against the Administration of the State are wanting in prudence. Some correspondence from a missionary published in England has given rise to violent comments in the press of that country upon the Congo Free State. When invited by the State Prosecutor to formulate and present his charges, this missionary did not allege anything against the State agent, whom, in his writings he had charged with responsibility for odious crimes. He had invoked, as corroborating his own statement, the affirmations that other European agents had made to him; he declared by what follows that these affirmations were to be kept strictly confidential. “It is true,” he adds, “that these facts have been published, but as the publication was made in England I thought that the confidence placed in my discretion was not betrayed.” He also declares that “before accepting the responsibility of revealing and specifying in a precise manner the facts, he desires to consult, and take the opinion of, if not a barrister, at least some one knowing Congolese law, and that the extracts published of his letter have not perhaps been made with strict precision of language.” In short, the want of clearness, the subterfuges of the examination, attracted the attention of the State Prosecutor, and left on his mind the most unfavourable impression as to the good faith of this missionary, and as to his highly blameworthy manner of recognising the hospitality that he has hitherto enjoyed in the Congo.

Children of the Settlement School, Boma.