Chapter XIV: The Congo Public Force

[Sidenote: To Maintain Order.]

The State’s military organisation is constituted by what is called the Congo Public Force (_Force Publique_). It had its origin in the necessities of the International Association before the State had gone far along its difficult way. It was recruited from the blacks of Zanzibar and along the West Coast at Lagos, Sierra Leone, Elmira, and Accra. The first troops were, therefore, foreigners—Zanzibaris and Haussas. Their foreign origin was, in a sense, an element of security to the Association when it had to direct repressive measures against some of the Congolese tribes. The Zanzibaris and the Haussas had great military aptitude and, lacking sympathy for the Congolese, were generally loyal to their commanders. They loved an enemy from the instinct inherent in savage natures.

The maintenance of this early body of troops was exceedingly expensive for the young State. Besides food, uniform, and medical attendance, these mercenaries received one franc twenty-five centimes a day. Moreover, on the expiration of their term of service they were sent back to their homes at the expense of the Government. As the term of their engagement was only three years, this obligation formed an important addition to their cost.

It was beyond the financial power of the State to provide an adequate military organisation on such a basis. While the administrators of the Congo were devising means for the support of an efficient force at a reduced cost, the British government on the Gold Coast prohibited further recruiting of Haussas by foreign states. Barred from getting its soldiers from surrounding British territory, the Congo Government proceeded to develop its earlier plans for raising a native local force, the first purpose of which was that it should supplement the main body of regular troops.

The nucleus of what is the present Public Force were the men of the Bangala tribe, whom Captain Coquilhat employed as armed police when he founded Equateurville in 1885. A short time thereafter, Captain Van Dorpe made the same experiment among the Manyanga. Finding the men from both tribes fit for a military career, the principle of employing aboriginal races in the Public Force was followed with the rapid establishment of the numerous posts and stations erected at that time. The wisdom of employing natives for the organisation of such a national force was soon apparent. In 1888 an order was issued to form eight companies of one hundred and fifty men, with power to increase the number to two hundred and fifty. It was not, however, till 1891 that Baron Van Eetvelde and the Governor-General, M. Camille Janssen, drafted a practical scheme for the foundation of a permanent Public Force. Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger, whose volume entitled _The Congo State_ treats at length of the subject up to 1898, describes the scheme which the Sovereign had approved:

The principal features of the scheme were, that the force
should be divided into twelve companies corresponding with the
administrative districts, and that one hundred and twenty European
officers, chiefly Belgians, should be appointed to the command
and disciplining of this force. The different grades of this army
were: one commandant, eleven captains, ten lieutenants, thirty-nine
sub-lieutenants, and sixty sergeants. The new system of recruiting
was of two kinds. The first provided for the engagement of
volunteers for a period not exceeding seven years, and the second
for an enforced levy of militia by order of the Governor-General,
and arranged between the commissary of the district affected and
the local chiefs. The levy was to be made, wherever possible, by
lot, among the men between the ages of fourteen and thirty. The
term of service for the latter was to be five years, with a further
period of two years in the reserve. Each man received, besides food
for himself and his wife (if he had one), a daily pay of twenty-one
centimes, or a sixth of that which had to be paid for the alien
soldier. Moreover, the expense of sending the men back to their
homes was reduced to a minimum. The reduction in the cost meant,
besides a saving to the Government, the possibility of raising
the strength of the force to a figure more in proportion to the
requirements of the State. Of the old alien contingent, it has
never been found possible to maintain more than three thousand men,
and the native contribution to this was about two hundred; but in
1891 the latter was increased to sixteen hundred men, and in 1897,
by which time the alien element had been eliminated, the Public
Force was raised to a grand total of eight thousand militiamen
and four thousand volunteers. The number of companies had been
raised to twenty-two, with a nominal strength of nine thousand five
hundred and forty men at the end of last year (1897), whereas in
1891 the total was only two thousand nine hundred and fifty.

For the purpose of training these forces, seven camps of about five
hundred men each were formed, and the period of training the men
undergo is fixed at eighteen months. The uniform is blue linen, or,
for full uniform, blue cloth, with a scarlet fez. The arm in
general use is the Albini, with a short bayonet. The white officers
carry the Mauser rifle, with a magazine. The greatest pains is
taken in the fire-training and discipline of the men. Competitions
are held every three months among sections of fifty men, and prizes
awarded. A great improvement has been effected in the housing of
the troops, who are now almost entirely accommodated in brick
barracks. The artillery of the force is of considerable strength,
and includes, Krupps, Maxims and Nordenfelts.

The seven camps of instruction are Zambi, for the Lower Congo;
Kinshassa, Bolobo, Irebu, Kassongo, Umangi, La Romee, for the Upper
Congo. The principal armed camps, as they are called (because they
are bases of military power), are those at Lusambo, Bomokandi,
and the Aruwimi; but Vankerckhovenville, Dungu, and Redjaf are
now of equal, if not of greater, importance. At Kinshassa, on
Stanley Pool, a fort with a battery has been constructed for the
protection of Leopoldville and the railway terminus; and here an
experiment has been successfully tried of utilising the services of
prisoners of war. Men selected from the captives of the numerous
expeditions have been passed through a probationary course on the
works of this place, and in this manner a considerable number of
recruits have been obtained for the Public Force on more favourable
terms than the militiamen recruited through the chiefs. Kinshassa
is not the only fortified place within the State territory; for
at Chinkakassa, near Boma, a strong fort has been constructed,
commanding the navigation of the Congo and the approaches from the
ocean. Here Captain Petillon, of the Belgian Engineers, has placed
eight Krupps and a number of smaller guns in an admirably selected
position, while the Mongos tribe, from the Equateurville district,
has supplied an adequate number of skilful and handy gunners. The
authorities of the Congo State will experience no difficulty in
procuring suitable men for this arm of their Public Force.

The first and oldest company of the Public Force deserves a special
notice to itself. This is the auxiliary company of the Congo
Railway, and was founded by royal decree of 9th August, 1890, or
twelve months earlier than the decree constituting the general
force. Its organisation was entrusted to Captain Weyns, an officer
of the Carabiniers. Its strength was first fixed at the modest
total of fifty men; in 1892 it was increased to a hundred men, and
afterwards it received a further addition of fifty men. The task
entrusted to this corps was the protection of the railway works and
of the villages through which the railway passed. As eight thousand
navvies were employed on the line, and as these were composed of
many nationalities, the task was no sinecure, but it was performed
with perfect success and without friction. The auxiliary force was
recruited in a different manner from the rest of the military. It
contained several elements: for instance, twenty-five Senegalese,
and fifty Batetelas from the country between the Sankuru and the
Lualaba. Although of precisely the same race as the mutineers
of the Dhanis column, the latter gave no trouble in 1897. Like
the other militiamen of the State, they serve for five years
with the colours and for two years in the reserve, but the cost
of maintaining this corps is borne by the railway company. It,
however, forms an integral part of the general Public Force, and
can be utilised if any occasion arises. Captain Weyns reported so
favourably of the quickness of the Batetela recruits and their
military aptitude, that all vacancies in this company are now, like
those in the rest of the Public Force, filled up with natives of
the Congo territory.

In the archives of the Congo State’s Administration in Brussels, there are interesting official reports dealing with the question of creating a reliable native force from the most civilised of the Congolese tribes. The problem was not without many peculiar difficulties. Baron Van Eetvelde, whose lofty aims for Congolese civilisation were fortified with many wise measures of great utility to the Government, had formulated plans for the establishment of a system of military conscription, as to which in January, 1897, he reported as follows:

The State has set itself to the task of creating a purely national
army, with the view of lightening the budget of the considerable
charges which weighed upon it through having to recruit abroad,
and also with the view of putting an end, in accordance with the
highest dictates of policy, to its dependence in this matter
upon foreigners. It considers, moreover, the period of military
service as a salutary school for the native, where he will learn
respect for authority and the obligations of duty. It is happy,
from this view, to see the number of national militiamen increase,
and, in order that the institution may preserve all its value,
special provisions have been made to prevent abuses, to regulate
the recruiting, to assure the welfare of soldiers on service, and
to provide occupation for those who have served their term. The
decree on the recruiting of the Public Force is not more rigorous
than any other similar act of legislation, and the incorporation
is made under as sure guarantees of human liberty as in the armies
of Europe. As is the case in almost all countries, the recruiting,
independent of voluntary engagements, is made by annual levies, but
“within the limits of the contingent fixed by the King-Sovereign,”
and within these limits “the Governor-General determines the
districts and localities in which the levy is to be made, and
also the proportion to be furnished by each locality.... The mode
according to which the levy operates is determined by the district
commissary in agreement with the native chief; and although the
drawing by lot is recommended, we must recognise that it would be
difficult, in the present circumstances, to have recourse always
and everywhere to this method in each village, and to refuse to
recognise the customary authority of the village chief, when he
designates the militiamen among his own dependants.... The length
of active service is for five years. At the expiration of this
term, the men pass two years in the reserve. The time passed
under the colours, then, cannot exceed seven years—a term which
experience shows not to be excessive; and it is strictly forbidden
to keep under the flags men who are no longer borne on the lists,
or whose term of service has expired, under pain of misdemeanour.
These organic dispositions have been completed by instructions,
which prescribe on the officers ‘to watch carefully that the men
receive a sufficient nourishment, are comfortably housed, that
the sick are well taken care of, that the men are always properly
treated, that their misconduct is dealt with in conformity with the
regulations, and carefully avoiding all excessive severity.

In fact, this system renders light for the native his obligations
as a soldier. We do not desire any other proof than those four
thousand volunteers who are actually enrolled, and those numerous
re-engagements, which show the taste of the native for the
profession of arms. It was not with an army of malcontents that the
State could have carried out its anti-slavery campaign. The State
continues to interest itself in its soldiers after their term has
expired. The time-expired men, sent back to their homes at its
expense, together with their wives and children (if there are any),
are the object of special protection, and receive concessions of
land in a station at their own choice.

The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates the great improvement to which the Public Force has attained since the date of Baron Van Eetvelde’s statement of the system which prevailed in 1897. Local experience in savage lands should be the foundation of the reforms imposed. In the case of the State’s Public Force, many local conditions, traits, and prejudices, and much inaptitude, were encountered to modify or extend those principles of police control which the State’s earlier administration had adopted with characteristic hopefulness. M. Fuchs sets forth the present position of the Force with considerable detail and suggestion:

The Government is aware that the military service of the black race
must be the object of constant watchfulness, in order that it may
be impossible for them to practise the cruelties to which their
primitive instincts might impel them.

The officers and commanders of the troops have been often warned
that they must show themselves inflexible guardians of the
observance of those instructions, which have been issued for the
protection of the natives against any possible abuse on the part
of soldiers left in isolated positions or subject to insufficient
control. Instructions have been given to this effect—and I am
happy to be able to say that they have been almost everywhere
faithfully carried out. Any contravention of the order forbidding
the despatch of armed soldiers under the command of black officers
is also severely punished, and may entail even the dismissal of the
agent in fault. These measures have been completed by the formal
prohibition of the employment of auxiliaries under no matter what
circumstances.

It has also been laid down that direct relations are to be
established between the natives and European agents. In order still
further to strengthen the maintenance of discipline among the
soldiers of the black race, the regulations on the subject have
been completed by the penalty of dismissal from the Public Force.
This is the most severe punishment in the eyes of the soldiers,
for they highly esteem the profession of arms. Dismissal from the
Public Force is inflicted on those soldiers who show themselves
absolutely incorrigible or who are unworthy to remain in the ranks.
In order to surround this rigorous measure with all the necessary
guarantees, the soldiers whom it is wished to dismiss are brought
before a Council of Discipline. The dismissal is pronounced,
at Boma by the Commander of the Public Force; in the districts
by the District Commissioner or by the head of the expedition,
after examining the charge, the evidence, and the decision of the
Council. Chiefs of zones cannot pronounce dismissal.

The Government have just finally decided that, for the future,
the soldiers of the Public Force shall not take part in work at
the stations, and that their time shall be exclusively given up
to their instruction, education, and military service. The former
arrangements which put soldiers, during some hours of the day, at
the disposal of the territorial chiefs, chiefs of zones, and chiefs
of posts, over and above the hours assigned for military duty,
have been modified so as to maintain in a more continuous fashion
the men under the control of their officers. In order to make this
decision of the Government as fruitful as possible, the territorial
chiefs have been ordered to reduce to the effective force strictly
necessary for the assurance of security, the garrisons stationed at
the posts in zones and districts, and to concentrate at the chief
places in the territory garrisons as complete as possible. These
measures are intended to produce the best results from the point of
view of educating and instructing the troops, as well as from that
of assuring military discipline, provided the territorial chiefs
scrupulously carry out the new instructions mentioned above.

It has also been pointed out to them that it will be expressly
recommended to the officials charged with the inspection—and the
Government has decided to increase the inspections throughout
the State territories—to ascertain if all these instructions,
concerning the execution of the new table of daily work for the
public force, have been carried out.

The other measures of organisation which have been passed, the
formal prohibition to establish posts commanded by black officers,
or to confide military operations to them, and finally forbidding
the practice of taking sub-officers from their military duties to
employ them as chiefs of stations, are of a nature to make us hope
that very soon our public force will constitute a body in which we
may have complete confidence.

In February, 1904, I thought it my duty to point out to the
Government the manner in which instruction was given in the camps,
and to draw its attention to the necessity that there would be
to engage quickly a superior officer entrusted more especially
with the mission of seeing to the higher direction and the general
control of all the orders issued concerning the Public Force. The
Government, which had also occupied itself with the question, has
confided this high employment to a superior officer who will be
entrusted with the command of the Public Force.

The Government has resolved to send, at the same time three or four
officers of the grade of commandant to be attached to the staff of
the Public Force, and whom the commander will be able to appoint to
exercise constant control over the companies and camps.

It is right to recall the fact that military service is so far
from constituting a laborious servitude for those subjected to
it, by virtue of the organic law of conscription, that voluntary
engagements increase from year to year. Besides, the instructions
of the Government encourage this state of mind by improving
the well-being of the soldier from the triple point of view of
habitation, food, and clothing. And they are not only natives of
Congolese territory, properly speaking, who seek there military
employment; numerous Africans coming from the English colonies of
the West Coast solicit engagement at Boma.

The table (on page 174) of the engagements of men, natives of the
coast and British subjects, is characteristic in this respect.

The multiplicity of voluntary enrolments will gradually remove,
from the absolutely indispensable law of conscription, what
might seem rigorous, particularly in the eyes of people not yet
thoroughly acquainted with civilisation, and with the idea of the
necessity of public order.

It is nevertheless important to note that the efforts attempted
with the view of nationalising the police forces are being crowned
more and more with success. The State can now renounce the
assistance, elsewhere advantageous, of foreign mercenaries, thanks
to the methodical, extensive, and wise application of the militia
law, and especially to the considerable increase in the number of
national volunteers. But there

Abbreviations: Eng. = Engaged; R-Eng. = Re-Engaged; Offcs. = Officers
—————++——————————————————++—————————————————————++———————————————————
|| ACCRA || HAUSSAS || SIERRA-
|| || (LAGOS) || LEONESE
|| (British) || (British) || (British)
Years||————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
||Eng.|R-eng.|Offcs.|| Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs.||Eng. |R-eng.|Offcs.
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
1883 || — | — | — || 50 | — | — || — | — | —
1884 || — | — | — || 30 | — | — || — | — | —
1885 || — | — | — || 20 | — | 2 || — | — | —
1886 || — | — | — || 5 | — | 2 || — | — | —
1887 || — | — | — || 642 | 20 | 16 || — | — | —
1888 || — | — | — || 300 | 5 | 17 || — | — | —
1889 || — | — | — || 10 | 5 | 4 || 204 | — | —
1890 || — | — | — || 1,200 | 53 | 12 || — | — | —
1891 || — | — | — || 542 | 6 | 11 || 9 | — | —
1892 || — | — | — || 300 | 16 | 9 || 125 | 13 | 3
1893 ||192 | — | 3 || 450 | 13 | 9 || 790 | 3 | 9
1894 ||295 | — | 1 || 760 | 14 | 14 || 710 | 5 | 2
1895 || 36 | — | 2 || 330 | 10 | 11 || 72 | 20 | 2
1896 || 3 | 2 | — || 300 | 28 | 11 || 136 | 40 | 10
1897 || 6 | 6 | — || 70 | 6 | 8 || 55 | 43 | 2
1898 || 8 | 13 | 3 || 200 | 11 | 14 || 200 | 37 | 12
1899 || 19 | 1 | 1 || 71 | 40 | 15 || 76 | 52 | 9
1900 || 1 | 5 | — || 20 | 17 | 5 || 50 | 38 | 8
1901 || 1 | 3 | — || 15 | 26 | 6 || 92 | 43 | 9
1902 || 2 | 6 | 1 || 10 | 50 | 4 || 42 | 70 | 10
1903 || — | 7 | — || 10 | 21 | 7 || 37 | 59 | 6
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————
||563 | 43 | 11 || 5,335 | 341 | 177 ||2,598| 423 | 82
—————++————+——————+——————++———————+——————+——————++—————+——————+——————

could be no question of abandoning the system of recruiting by
means of regional conscription. It signifies, indeed, that all
the population throughout the whole extent of the territory
participates in this public charge as much in the interests of the
regular and permanent operation of the recruiting of the national
militia as in that also of the natives who benefit by the lessons
of their military profession (a sense of order, discipline,
cleanliness, clothes, hygiene, habitation, &c.). The stay in the
ranks of the armed force has as its principal advantage their
initiation in civilised life, and their preparation for a regular
life of work.

The proportion of deaths has become very low among the blacks of
the Public Force and among the labourers. This is due in a great
degree to the improved conditions under which our men live. The
lodgment is well aired and neatly kept. The food is varied as
much as possible, and its careful preparation is provided for.
The camps of the soldiers of the Public Force are well kept up.
Barracks constructed in stone with cemented floors serve in the
Lower Congo as lodgment for our troops. The black officers have
their habitation separate from that of their men.

In the stations on the upper river these prescripts are also well
followed. At Boma the creation of a working city, constructed of
well-chosen materials, is in progress.

It is interesting to quote with regard to the constant and
progressive improvement in the existence of the natives the
following paragraphs from the report of Mr. Casement, His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul:

“Then (in 1887) I had visited most of the places I now revisited,
and I was thus able to institute a comparison between a state of
affairs I had myself seen when the natives lived their own savage
lives in anarchic and disorderly communities, uncontrolled by
Europeans, and that created by more than a decade of very energetic
European intervention. That very much of this intervention has
been called for, no one who formerly knew the Upper Congo could
doubt, and there are to-day widespread proofs of the great energy
displayed by Belgian officials in introducing their methods of rule
over one of the most savage regions of Africa.

“Admirably built and admirably kept stations greet the traveller at
many points.

“The Government station of Leopoldville numbers, I was informed by
its chief, some 130 Europeans, and probably 300 native Government
workmen, who all dwell in well-ordered lines of either very
well-built European houses, or, for the native staff, mud-built
huts.

“On the whole, Government workmen at Leopoldville struck me as
being well cared for, and they were certainly none of them idle.”

In thus taking care of their employés the agents have performed a
duty which has not only resulted in the well-being of the blacks,
but has also allowed of a reduction in the number of the workers,
and accomplishing better and more rapidly executed work.

[Sidenote: Imperfect, but Good.]

It will be observed elsewhere in this volume that some of those who condemn the State’s _system_ of government point to the _Force Publique_ as the chief instrument by which the Administration encompasses the enslavement of the native population. There are glaring discrepancies in what such persons, either maliciously or in ignorance, represent as the police system which prevails in the State at the present time. There does not exist a police system anywhere in Europe or Africa which has not some inherent defect. To expect the highest discipline and the utmost control in a police body composed of the imperfectly civilised Negroes of Equatorial Africa is only one manifestation of that narrow, unintelligent outlook upon the subject over which certain persons are agitating themselves into suspicious frenzy. The report of M. Fuchs denotes that the State’s police system is founded upon high principles of justice, that discipline and order are being maintained without the abuse of power, and that, whatever individuals may have done to transgress in the sphere of their opportunity, no such extravagant charges of misgovernment as a few persons have made can be fixed upon a State with the police laws above indicated. A million square miles of savage territory are governed with 14,270 natives enrolled in the State’s military service. This is seven soldiers to about every 625 square miles. Does this not signify native respect for, and tranquillity in, the State? What civilised community maintains its authority with such a meagre force?