While the commission was sitting, further evidence was forthcoming
that the system complained of on the Congo remained
unaltered, and that the “reforms” of June 1906 were illusory.
Various revolts of the natives also occurred, and in some parts
of the state complete anarchy prevailed. Not only in Great
Britain and America did the agitation against the administration
of the Congo State gain ground, but in Belgium and France reform
associations enlightened public opinion. The government
of Great Britain let it be known that its patience was not inexhaustible,
while the senate of the United States declared that
it would support President Roosevelt in his efforts for the
amelioration of the condition of the inhabitants of the Congo.
The attitude of the powers was at the same time perfectly
friendly towards Belgium. In this manner the movement in
favour of ending the baneful régime of Leopold II. was strengthened.
On the 10th of July 1907 the Belgian premier announced
that negotiations with the Congo State would be renewed, and
on the 28th of November following a treaty was signed for the
cession of the Congo State to Belgium. This treaty
The new
treaty of
cession. stipulated for the maintenance of the Fondation de la
couronne. This “government within a government”
was secured in all its privileges, its profits as heretofore
being appropriated to allowances to members of the royal family
and the maintenance and development of “works of public
utility” in Belgium and the Congo, those works including schemes
for the embellishment of the royal palaces and estates in Belgium
and others for making Ostend “a bathing city unique in the
world.” The state was to have the right of redemption on
terms which, had the rubber and ivory produce alone been
redeemed, would have cost Belgium about £8,500,000.
Even those politicians least disposed to criticize the actions of the king protested vigorously against the provisions concerning the Fondation. It was recognized that the chamber would not vote the treaty of cession unless those provisions were modified. Negotiations between Leopold II. and the Belgian premier followed. While they were in progress the British government again expressed its views, and in very monitory language. They were conveyed in a passage in the king’s speech at the opening of parliament on the 29th of January, and in a statement by Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons on the 26th of February. Sir Edward Grey affirmed that the Congo State had “morally forfeited every right to international recognition,” and quoted with approval Lord Cromer’s statement that the Congo system was the worst he had ever seen. The foreign secretary declared, in reference to the negotiations for the transfer of the Congo to Belgium, that any semi-transfer which left the controlling power in the hands of “the present authorities” would not be considered by Great Britain as a guarantee of treaty rights. On the same day that Sir Edward Grey spoke a parliamentary paper was issued (Africa No. 1, 1908) containing consular reports on the state of affairs in the Congo. The most significant of these reports was from Mr W. G. Thesiger, consul at Boma, who in a memorandum on the application of the labour tax, after detailing various abuses, added, “The system which gave rise to these abuses still continues unchanged, and so long as it is unaltered the condition of the natives must remain one of veiled slavery.” Eight days later (on the 5th of March) an additional act was signed in Brussels annulling the clauses in the treaty of cession concerning the Fondation, which was to cease to exist on the day Belgium assumed the sovereignty of the Congo and its property to be absorbed in the state domains. Leopold II., however, was able to obtain generous compensation for the surrender of the Fondation. Certain fragments of the domain, including an estate of 155 sq. m. in Africa, a villa at Ostend, and some land at Laeken, were kept by the king, who further retained a life interest in property on the Riviera and elsewhere. Belgium undertook at her own charges and at an estimated cost of £2,000,000 to complete “the works of embellishment” begun in Belgium with funds derived from the Fondation and to create a debt of £2,000,000 chargeable on the funds of the colony, which sum was to be paid to the king in fifteen annual instalments—the money, however, to be expended on objects “connected with and beneficial to the Congo.” The annuities to members of the royal family were to be continued, and other subsidies were promised. But the most important provision was the agreement of Belgium to respect the concessions granted in the lands of the Fondation in November 1906 to the American Congo Company and the Compagnie forestière et minière, companies in which the Congo State had large holdings.
Both the treaty of cession and the additional act were submitted to the Commission of XVII. That body expressed its approval of both measures. Its report on the treaty and the proposed colonial law were presented to the chamber on the 3rd of April. Neither the treaty, the additional act, nor the colonial law expressly modified the land, commercial and concessionary régime established in the Congo, but article II. of the colonial law provided that laws should be passed as soon as possible to settle the natives' rights to real property and the liberty of the individual, while the Belgian government announced its determination to fulfil scrupulously all the obligations imposed on the Congo by international conventions. Public opinion in Belgium was disturbed and anxious at the prospect of assuming responsibility for a vast, distant, and badly administered country, likely for years to be a severe financial drain upon the resources of the state. But, though those who opposed annexation formed a numerous body, all political parties were agreed that in case of annexation the excesses which had stained the record of the Free State should cease.
On the 15th of April 1908 the chamber began a general debate on the Congo question. The debate made it clear that while the Belgian people did not desire colonial possessions, annexation was the only means of escape from a situation Completion of Act. the country found intolerable. The debate closed on the 20th of August, when the treaty of annexation, the additional act and the colonial law were all voted by substantial majorities. Amendments had been made in the colonial law giving parliament fuller control over Congo affairs and securing greater independence for the judicature. On the 9th of September following the three measures were also voted by the senate. Thus at length ended the hesitation of the legislature, fourteen years after the first annexation bill had been submitted to it. On the 14th of November the state ceased to exist, the rights of sovereignty being assumed by Belgium the next day without ceremony of any kind.[1] Administrative control in Brussels was transferred to the newly created ministry of the colonies.
II. The Belgian Congo
The colony of which Belgium became possessed in the manner narrated in the historical sketch has an area estimated at 900,000 sq. m. It is bounded W. by the Atlantic, N. by French Congo, N.E. by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, E. by the Uganda Protectorate, British and German East Africa, S.E. by northern Rhodesia (British), S.W. by Angola (Portuguese). The coast-line is only 25 m. long. It extends north from the estuary of the Congo, the northern bank of the estuary belonging to Belgium, the southern to Portugal. The greater part of Belgian Congo lies between the parallels of 4° N. and 10° S. and 18° and 30° E.
Physical Features.—Except for its short coast-line, and for a comparatively small area on its eastern frontier, the colony lies wholly within the geographical basin of the Congo. It may roughly be divided into four zones:—(1) the small coast zone west of the Crystal Mountains, through which the Congo breaks in a succession of rapids to the Atlantic; (2) the great central zone, described below; (3) the smaller zone east of the Mitumba range (including the upper courses of some of the Congo tributaries which have forced their way through the mountains), and west of Lake Mweru and the upper course of the Luapula; and (4) an area which belongs geographically to the Nile valley. The Crystal Mountains form the western edge of the great Central African plateau and run, roughly, parallel to the coast. The
- ↑ The first power to recognize the transfer of the state to Belgium was Germany, which did so in January 1909.
