CONGO
228
CONGO
of sun, moon, and stars, of hills and fields and rivers,
the superstitious use of divination by means of stalks
and tortoise shells, and the crude notion that the
higher spirits, together with the souls of the dead, are
regaled by splendid banquets and food-ofTerings, can-
not stand the test of intelligent modern criticism.
Nor can a religion answer fully to the religious needs
of the heart which withdraws from the active partici-
pation of the people the solemn worship of the deity,
which has little use of prayer, which recognizes no
such thing as grace, which has no definite teaching in
regard to the future life. As a social system it has
lifted the Chinese to an intennediate grade of culture,
but has blocked for ages all further progress. In its
rigid insistence on rites and customs that tend to per-
petuate the patriarchal system with its attendant
evils of polygamy and divorce, of excessive seclusion
and repression of women, of an undue hampering of
individual freedom, Confucianism stands in painful
contrast with progressive Christian civilization.
Legge, The Chinese Classics (7 vols., London, 1S61-71): Idem, The Shu King, Shih King, and Hsiao King in Saxyred Books of the East, III; Idem. The Yi King, ibid., XVI; Idem, The Li Chi, ibid.. XXVII, XXVIII; Jennings, The Confucian Analects (London, 1895); de Harlez, Yi-king (Paris, 1886); Idem, I-li (Paris, 1890); Callert, Li Ki, ou Memorial des rites (Turin, 1853); Zottoli, Li Ki in Cursus LitteraturcB SiniccB (Shanghai, 1880); Philastre, Le Yi-King in Annates du Musee Guimet, VIII, XXIII; Legge, The Re- ligions of China, Confucianism and Taoism compared with Chris- tianity (London 1880) ; Faber, A Systematic Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, tr. by von Mollendorp (Hong-Kong, 1875); Kudo, Ethics of Confucius (Toldo, 1904); Giles, Con- fucianism in the Nineteenth Century in Great Religions of the World (New York, 1901); Douglas, Confucianism and Taoism (London, 1897); t)\aK\K, China's Religimwti Cnnfunn^ und seine Lehre (Miinster, 1895); Plath, Ch^m'" . . - -. ' yrinr SchiiJer (Munich. 1871); de Groot, The A', . , /„ of
China (3 vols.. Levden, 1892-93); de Hahi.j , . ;.: . , ..„, dr la Chine (Paris, 1891); de la Sausbave, Lil„b. J.,- l:,l„jiuns- geschichte (Freiburg, 1905), I.
Charles F. Aiken.
Congo, Dioce.se of. See Angola and Congo.
Congo Independent State and Congo Missions.
(Editor's Note: — The following account of the Congo Independent State was written before the an- nexation of the State by the Belgian Government. Belgiimi's right to take over the Congo and the suc- cessive steps which have led up to the annexation will be found treated imder sections II and VII. On 20 August, 1908, the Chamber of Deputies ap- proved the treaty of annexation, and on 9 September following the treaty was adopted by the Belgian Senate. By this agreement the Belgian Government took over the Independent State, including the Do- maine de la Couronne, with all its rights and obliga- tions. Among other trusts the Government guaran- teed certain allowances to Prince Albert and Princess Clementine and created two funds, one of $9,100,000 to be expended in Belgium for public works, and an- other of $10,000,000 to be paid to the king and his successors in fifteen annuities and used for objects con- nected with the Congo.
The present article deals with the Independent State — both in its interior organization and international position — as it was down to the time of annexation.]
I. Exploration; Founding op the State. — Amer- ica has not been without a share in the discovery of the Congo Free State. It was James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the "New York Herald", who (October, 1879)engaged (Sir) Henry Morton Stanley to undertake his voyage through Africa to find the lost explorer, David Livingstone. Americans, therefore, may claim a part in the honour of a discovery which has changed our geographical notions and opened a new countrj- to civilization. Congo had been considered an arid, unin- habited desert; Stanley found there rich forests, an immense river, vast lakes, and millions of hmnan be- ings to be civilized. Further, the United States was the first Power (22 April, 1884) that recognized the
flag of the International Association as that of a
friendly state. There are (1908) in Africa four Congo
States: the French, German, Portuguese, and the In-
dependent, or Free, State. It is this last which, more
than the others, deserves particular attention. It was
here that the plenipotentiaries, gathered at Berlin
(24 Feb., 1885), hoped to see realized their ideal of
generous freedom and civilizing humanity. Leopold
II ascended the throne of Belgium in 1S65. A man of
imdoubted genius and erudition, of large ideas and
tenacious will, he was also inspired with great ambi-
tions. Even before becoming king, in his speeches to
the Senate (9 Apr., 1853, 7 Feb., 1860, 21 March, 1861)
he expressed the desire to see his country rely on her
own resources and extend her empire beyond the seas.
Ascending the throne, he found himself ruler of a coun-
try so small that it was scarcely \Tsible on the map of
the world, and it was but natural that he should con-
ceive the hope of one day ruling over a more extended
dominion. He therefore set his heart on obtaining
possession of the Congo for his people; nor was this his
first effort' to realize his ambition; it was perhaps the
seventh or eighth attempt he had made at Belgian col-
onization.
Briefly, the successive stages in the foundation of the Congo Free State were as follows: As a conse- quence of the expeditions (1840; 1 May, 1873) of Liv- ingstone and Stanley, public attention began to be drawn to Central Africa, and Leopold II divined the great possibilities of the newly-discovered country. On 12 Sept., 1876, he called a Conference Gcographique at Brussels, which gave birth to the association for the exploration and civilization of Central Africa com- monly called the International African Association. This was divided into different national committees each charged with the task of promoting the common cause. The Belgian committee was founded on 6 Nov., 1876; Kng Leopold assisted at its foundation and delivered a remarkable speech. The Belgian was the only committee which displayed any serious activ- ity. It collected a sum of 100,()00 dollars, five times as great as the united collections of all the others, and took the leading part in the organization of the first expedition. The expedition naturally followed the route which had already been traced by Living- stone, i. e. it moved from east to west. It was a fail- ure, however, and many lives were sacrificed in vain. In January, 1878, the news came that Stanley had crossed right through Central Africa, from the Zanzi- bar Coast to the mouth of the Congo River, whose upper course he was the first to discover during this journey. It was then that Leopold conceived the idea of sending out an expedition which should start from the western coast and explore the country. While others were content to applaud Stanley or to listen to his interesting narratives, the lung of the Bel- gians resolved to employ the explorer to further his designs, which were not nierelj' commercial or political, but sincerely humanitarian as well. At the very mo- ment Stanley set foot on European ground envoys were waiting for him at Marseilles. The king suc- ceeded in gaining him for his purpose, and then pro- ceeded to found (Nov., 1878) a society afterwards called the International Congo Association. In the name of this association, in which Leopold was the principal though hidden agent, Stanley's little party, counting only tliirteen white men, set out. It w;is not the only expedition intent on planting a European flag on this virgin soil ; at the same time a French and a Portuguese mission were also on their way.
Towards the end of 1879 Stanley reached a non- Portuguese territory on the right bank of the Congo River and founded there the post of Vivi. Moving slowly up the river he came at last to the Pool. The Brazza mission was already there, and the French flag was planted on the right bank. The French had not crossed th(; river, however, and the Portuguese expedi-
