Chapter VIII: The Berlin Conference

A clear view of the position of the State previous to the adoption of the resolutions known as the General Act of the Berlin Conference may be had from a summary of the signal events which had marked its formative period.

[Sidenote: The General Act of Berlin.]

The Congo Free State was born of the Congo International Association founded by his Majesty, Leopold II. in 1883, while Stanley was in his service. Prior to the legal foundation of the State, the Association had obtained recognition of its sovereignty as hereinbefore indicated. By treaties concluded in 1884 and 1885 with the United States and with many of the European Powers, it adhered, on the 25th of February, 1885, to the resolutions of the Berlin Conference, which, embodied in a General Act, established, amongst other things, freedom of trade throughout the Congo Basin, and declared free navigation on the Congo River, its tributaries, and the lakes and canals connected therewith. The text of the General Act of Berlin, so far as it relates to the Congo, is fully set forth in an appendix. The principal subjects contained in the Act which may concern the reader are briefly stated:

1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the Basin of
the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other
provisions connected therewith.

2. A Declaration relative to the Slave Trade, and the operations by
sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade.

3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories
comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo.

4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard
to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and
the waters in its system (_eaux qui leur sont assimilées_), the
general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII. and CXVI. of the
Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, and intended to regulate, as
between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of
the waterways separating or traversing several States—these said
principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain
rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube, with
the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856), of
Berlin (1878), and of London (of 1871 and 1883).

5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having
regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its
affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII. and
CXVI. of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna.

6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain
uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coasts of
the African Continent.

The treaties which, before the adoption of these resolutions on February 26, 1885, the Congo Free State had concluded with various Powers, were those with the United States of America, dated April 22, 1886; Germany, 8th November; Great Britain, 16th December; Italy, 19th December; Spain, 7th January, 1885; France, 5th February; Russia on the same day; Sweden and Norway, 10th February; Portugal, 14th February; Denmark and Belgium, 23rd February. These treaties[7] were notified to the Conference on the 23rd February, and the neutrality of the State was declared and published on the 1st August in the same year.

[Sidenote: Praise from Bismarck.]

At the close of the Berlin Conference on 26th February, 1885, Prince Bismarck offered his tribute of appreciation for the work which, deriving its inspiration from the King of the Belgians, had, by the Powers represented, been formulated into an economic code for the guidance of the four nations, which, besides the Congo Free State, occupied the great Congo Basin. Prince Bismarck’s address has the effect of oracular utterance in the light of events since the day when he wisely said that the work of the Conference would be, like every human undertaking, susceptible of improvement. The following is the full text of Prince Bismarck’s closing speech:

GENTLEMEN:—Our Conference, after long and laborious deliberations,
has reached the end of its work, and I am happy to state that,
thanks to your efforts, and to the spirit of conciliation which
has presided at our negotiations, a complete agreement has been
established on all the points of the programme which was submitted
to us.

The resolutions which we are on the point of sanctioning assure
to the commerce of all nations free access to the centre of the
African Continent. The guarantees with which commercial liberty in
the Basin of the Congo will be surrounded, and all the arrangements
made in the Acts of Navigation for the Congo and the Niger, are of
a nature to offer to the commerce and the industry of all nations
the most favourable conditions for their development and security.

By another series of provisions you have shown your solicitude for
the moral and material well-being of the native populations, and
there is room to hope that those principles, dictated by a spirit
of practical wisdom, will bear fruit and will contribute to bestow
on those populations the benefits of civilisation.

The practical conditions under which are placed the vast regions
that you have just opened to commercial enterprise have seemed
to exact special guarantees for the maintenance of peace and
public order. As a matter of fact, the evils of war would assume
a particularly disastrous character if the natives were led to
take part in the conflicts of civilised Powers. Justly preoccupied
with the dangers that such an eventuality would entail in the
interests of commerce and of civilisation, you have sought the
means of withdrawing a great part of the African Continent from the
vicissitudes of general politics, by restraining these national
rivalries to the pacific competition of commerce and industry.

In the same category you have aimed at preventing the
misunderstanding and contests to which new seizures of territory
on the coasts of Africa might give rise. The declaration as to
the formalities to be complied with in order to make acquisitions
of territory effective has introduced into public right a new
regulation, which will contribute in its degree to remove from
international relations causes of dissension and conflict.

The spirit of mutual good understanding which has distinguished
your deliberations has equally presided over the negotiations
which have taken place outside the Conference, with the object of
regulating difficult questions of delimitation between the parties
which exercise sovereign rights in the basin of the Congo, and
which by the nature of their position are called upon to become the
chief guardians of the work which we are about to sanction.

I cannot touch on this subject without rendering my homage to the
noble efforts of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the founder
of a work which is to-day recognised by almost all the Powers, and
which by its consolidation may render precious services to the
cause of humanity.

Gentlemen, I am charged by His Majesty the Emperor and King, my
august master, to express to you his warmest thanks for the part
that each of you has taken in the happy accomplishment of the task
of the Conference.

I fulfil a final duty in making myself the mouthpiece of the
gratitude that the Conference owes those of its members who have
discharged the difficult labours of the Commission, notably the
Baron de Courcel and the Baron Lambermont. I also thank the
delegates for the valuable assistance they have afforded us, and I
associate with the expression of that gratitude the Secretaries of
the Conference, who by the precision of their work have facilitated
our task.

Gentlemen, the work of the Conference will be, like every human
undertaking, susceptible of improvement and perfection; but it will
mark, I hope, a step forward in the development of international
relations, and will form a new link of solidarity between civilised
nations.

[Sidenote: Sir Charles Dilke Astray.]

The brilliant, cordial, and edifying final session of the Berlin Conference presaged no such campaign of calumny as that which has proceeded since Sir Charles Dilke, on gross misinformation purveyed by interested persons, and on what appears to have been his wilful misreading of a book entitled _The Fall of the Congo Arabs_, attacked the Congo State by moving in the British Parliament on April 2, 1897, a measure calling for a new Conference to consider charges which no one had presented, but which, for some inscrutable reason, this eminent parliamentarian seemed anxious to dignify by sensational legislation.

When the Berlin Conference concluded its labours, it was with manifest sympathy for the King of the Belgians and his voluntary pledge to an African task which practically all the participating Powers regarded as impossible of achievement, such were its glaring difficulties. Now, after twenty years of Belgian sacrifice, there are those who, jealous of the achievements in a task they were so anxious to avoid in 1885, must destroy where they cannot reap in 1905. To men of purpose and brave outlook, this is merely one of the many incivilities of civilisation. Success begets envy in one’s neighbour; failure often confirms him in his secret contempt.

In Belgium the completion of the General Act of the Berlin Conference evoked a patriotic feeling of satisfaction which, in its address to the King, the Chamber of Representatives voiced in the following language: “To your Majesty belongs the honour of having conceived the African work, of having pursued and developed it by persevering efforts.... We felicitate your Majesty on these important results, and, as Belgians, we are proud of the solemn homage rendered by the Powers to the generous and progressive ideas of our Sovereign.” The Belgian nation, for a long time uncertain of the result of the philanthropic work of its King in Central Africa, and having observed that other nations had shrunk from this costly task of civilisation, now uttered its sentiments of approval in many forms. In his speech before the Chamber on March 10, 1885, M. Beernaert, then Minister of Finance, said, amongst other expressions of hope for the new State, that the merit of the work accomplished “belongs especially to the initiation, to the persistent energy, and to the sacrifices of our King.” Then, expressing the hope of extended industries—a hope that was largely, if not entirely, the incentive which actuated the Powers Signatory to the Berlin Act—the Minister concluded his address with the belief that the Congo would offer “to our superabundant activity, to our industries more and more confined, outlets by which we shall know how to profit. May the enterprising spirit of our King encourage our countrymen to seek, even at a distance, new sources of greatness and prosperity for our dear country.” The Belgian Chamber and Senate ratified the nation’s participation in the General Act of the Berlin Conference without a dissentient voice.

To the loyal address of his Parliament, the King of the Belgians made reply, graciously acknowledging the support his subjects had given him in his great African work.

There remained now the making of a Sovereign for the new State, and, having regard to the universal tribute of praise rendered to its founder at the Berlin Conference, it was clear enough, in its opinion, who should continue to direct the destinies of a wild territory in which so much had been accomplished in so short a time. Belgium, however, was not prepared, in 1885, to take over the Congo State as her colony. There were, at that time, many considerations in Belgium and in the Congo to suggest caution to a naturally conservative Government. The creation of the Congo State had involved many risks and great difficulties. It had required a huge expenditure of money, nearly all of which the King had personally contributed without the slightest assurance that his country or his estate would ever recover it, except in so far as his marvellous foresight assured him in this respect. If there were many difficulties at the beginning of his Majesty’s African enterprise, there were still greater obstacles to be surmounted. To the ultra-conservative section of the Belgian Parliament the whole project was still enshrouded in doubt. But the King, having so far borne the risks and the cost of civilising the savage African black man, had also given his country the written assurance that the result of his labours—whatever they were when realised—should be at the disposal, by appropriation or otherwise, of the Belgian nation “without costing her anything.” As the theory of a purely personal union between Belgium and the Congo State had found much favour, it was proposed that the King of the Belgians should be empowered to become the Sovereign of the Congo Free State without in any respect involving the Belgian nation.

In this eminently practical proposal the King had taken the initiative in the following letter to his Council of Ministers:

GENTLEMEN:—The work created in Africa by the International African
Association has greatly developed. A new State has been founded,
its limits are fixed, and its flag is recognised by almost all the
Powers.

There remains to organise a Government and an Administration on the
banks of the Congo.

The plenipotentiaries of the nations represented at the Berlin
Conference have shown themselves favourable to the work
undertaken, and since then the two Legislative Chambers, the
principal towns of the country, and a great number of important
bodies and associations have expressed to me on this subject the
most sympathetic sentiments.

With such encouragement I could not recoil from the prosecution and
achievement of a task in which I had, as a matter of fact, taken an
important part; and since, gentlemen, you consider, as I do, that
it may be useful to the country, I beg of you to demand from the
Legislative Chambers the assent which is necessary to me.

The terms of Article 62 of the Constitution describe by themselves
the situation which has to be established.

King of the Belgians, I should at the same time be the Sovereign of
another State.

That State would be independent, like Belgium, and it would enjoy,
like her, the benefits of neutrality.

It would have to provide for its own needs; and experience based on
the example of the neighbouring colonies justifies me in affirming
that it would dispose of the necessary resources.

For its defence and its police it would rely on African forces
commanded by European volunteers.

There would then be between Belgium and the new State only a
personal bond. I am convinced that this union would be advantageous
for the country, without there being the possibility of imposing
any burdens on it in any case.

If my hopes are realised, I shall find myself sufficiently rewarded
for my efforts. The welfare of Belgium, as you know, gentlemen, is
the object of my whole life.

LEOPOLD.

There were a few obstructionists in the Belgian Parliament who, impelled by an habitual attitude of opposition to all that the dominant political party proposed, offered considerable criticism. They disregarded the similar expedients adopted by Prussia, Holland, and Great Britain in reference respectively to Neuchatel, Luxembourg, and Hanover. But the spirit of the Belgian people favoured the King’s suggestion, and his Majesty’s Ministers stood firmly by him. When the vote was called on April 28, 1885, the Chamber passed the following resolution with but one dissentient:

His Majesty, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, is authorised to
be the chief of the State founded in Africa by the International
Association of the Congo. The union between Belgium and the new
State of the Congo shall be exclusively personal.

The Senate two days later having passed a similar resolution, the King addressed the following acknowledgment to his Ministers:

GENTLEMEN:—The Chambers, by voting almost unanimously the
resolution that you submitted to them, have shown themselves
convinced that at the same time that I was pursuing, in the
general interest, the international African work, I had it at
heart to serve the country, to contribute to the augmentation of
its wealth, and to increase its reputation in the world. I have
asked you to thank, in my name, the Chambers for the mark of high
confidence which they have given me. I also beg of you to accept
for yourselves the expression of my very sincere gratitude. Believe
me, gentlemen, your very affectionate

LEOPOLD.

Leopold II., King of the Belgians, had now become Sovereign of the Congo Free State, a territory with a population estimated as five times larger than the Belgium which he had ruled since 1865. Many foreign bodies, philanthropic, scientific, and commercial, sent their congratulations; the Lord Mayor of London visited the King in state, and offered him the felicitations of the British metropolis, and all the Powers concerned in the Conventional Basin of the Congo expressed their satisfaction with this happy consummation of his Majesty’s enlightened undertaking in Mid-Africa.

What, by the Berlin Conference had been sanctioned, now assumed permanent form, organisation, and well-defined onward movement. There were still difficulties ahead, some of them with the State’s neighbours, France and Portugal. Their early exactions may be regarded as symptomatic of that febrific goading which has now become the mania of lesser bodies elsewhere. Subsequent conventions with France and Portugal somewhat assured the Congo State that its onward march would not be obstructed by these Powers. On the other hand, the exalted views and edifying principles so generally prevalent at the Berlin Conference soon became stale and innocuous in the official mind of the other Powers who had subscribed to precepts which, from subsequent indifference or self-interest, were disregarded. Not the least among the pledges of the Powers of the Berlin Conference was that designed to regulate the importation of alcohol. Consistent with the Christianising aims of its Sovereign, the Congo Free State has fulfilled this pledge in a manner to put its neighbours to shame for the large percentage of revenue they derive from a debasing liquor traffic.

So if the young State started upon its progressive course in 1885-87, having paid a heavy price to France and to Portugal for freedom to develop under the government of the strong personality of its magnanimous Sovereign, it was perhaps because such a course would secure the Congo State to the Belgian nation in accordance with the preconceived purpose of its King. By the Congo-French Convention the basin of the Kwilu and the left bank of the Congo, from Stanley Pool as far north-eastward as its explorations had attained, were assigned to France. On the other hand, it insured to the Congo Free State what constitutes its outlet to the sea, the possession of the district of the Cataracts, and the towns of Boma and Banana at the mouth of the Congo. The Congo-Portuguese Convention assigned to Portugal territory south of the Congo as far as Noki, and along the parallel of Noki to its intersection by the river Kwango, which from that point was designated as the boundary in a southerly direction. The territorial assignments of these conventions were subsequently modified, and Germany and Great Britain have since acquired the large areas of the Congo Basin lying east of Lake Tanganyika and its parallel north and south.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] For full text of the treaties with Germany, Great Britain, France, and Portugal, and the Declaration exchanged with Belgium, see Appendix.