CONGO, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE. 



169 



ing constructed by Stanley around the Congo 

 cataracts. He laid out a series of stations 

 along the two rivers, and concluded a treaty 

 with the makoko, or head chief, of the Bate- 

 kes, by which he acquired a small strip of 

 land called Meuma, on the Congo, above Stan- 

 ley Pool. By virtue of this and a second 

 treaty, he asserted a French protectorate over 

 the right bank of the Congo, from the Gordon 

 Bennett to the Impila river, a length of three 

 hundred miles. The two treaties made with this 

 potentate were ratified by the French Cham- 

 bers. When Stanley returned, six months aft- 

 er the departure of De Brazza, he 

 found the site he had selected for a 

 port on Stanley Pool already taken 

 for the French station of Brazza- 

 ville. De Brazza's makoko was 

 dead, and his successor, Mpumo 

 Ntabo, wished to repudiate his en- 

 gagements ; but Mr. Stanley was not 

 disposed to begin a conflict. Later, 

 De Brazza raised a claim, which the 

 agents of the Association would not 

 allow. Although the treaty with the 

 makoko defined the ceded district as 

 on the right bank, the French claimed 

 sovereign rights over the left bunk 

 of Stanley Pool and the Congo up 

 to the mouth of the Kwango, affirm- 

 ing it to be Bateke territory, be- 

 cause it is largely populated by peo- 

 ple of that tribe. The Batekes on the 

 south bank of the Congo are traders 

 and refugee slaves. The real owners of the 

 soil are said to be the hill tribes to the south 

 and west, who exact a tribute of the ivory 

 that is sold by the Bayansi and Babuma trad- 

 ers of the Upper Congo to the Bakongo, who 

 transport it to the coast. The ivory -traders 

 occupy the south bank of the river while wait- 

 ing for the caravans, and give their landlords 

 a share of the price tor the privilege. On this 

 bank are the stations of the International 

 Association. The French agents tried to gain 

 the support of the negro settlers to their 

 territorial claims. Several times they entered 

 the territory occupied by the Association and 

 claimed jurisdiction in a menacing manner. 

 The Association finally, in order to escape the 

 danger of being evicted from its establishments 

 in the vicinity of Stanley Pool, entered into a 

 convention with the French Government in 

 April, 1884, whereby it promised France the 

 right of preference in case it should be obliged 

 to sell its possessions on the Congo and in the 

 valley of the Niadi-Kwilu. It declared tha"t it 

 would not cede its territories to any power, 

 but promised the pre-emption to France if un- 

 foreseen circumstances obliged it to part with 

 them, in return for which the French Govern- 

 ment promised to respect the stations and free 

 territories of the Association, and not obstruct 

 the exercise of its rights. France and the As- 

 sociation were to fix in conventions the limits 

 ar.d conditions of their respective action. 



Franco-German Coneert. Germany, on the 

 26th of April, 1884, invited France to an ex- 

 change of views with reference to the Anglo- 

 Portuguese treaty, in order that they might 

 act in concert. The British Government aban- 

 doned the treaty in consequence of their ob- 

 jections. The result of correspondence and a 

 conference at Varzin between M. de Courcel 

 and Prince Bismarck was an agreement reached 

 in September to call a congress of maritime 

 powers m Berlin, for the purpose of establish- 

 ing freedom of navigation on the Congo and 

 the Niger, in accordance with the doctrines of 



A HOUSE IN BOLOBO. 



the Vienna Congress, and free trade in the 

 basin of tne Congo through the instrumentality 

 of the International Association and future 

 Congo state. Germany stipulated for the same 

 privileges for her subjects in the event of the 

 acquisition of the territories of the Associa- 

 tion by France, in accordance with the con- 

 vention concluded between M. Ferry and Baron 

 Strauch, President of the International Asso- 

 ciation of the Congo. Another question to be 

 settled by the congress was the definition of 

 the formalities that are necessary, in order 

 that fresh annexations on the coast of Africa 

 may be effective. Invitations to the confer- 

 ence were issued October 6. All the powers 

 invited signified their acceptance ; England, 

 however, not without a preliminary discussion 

 and a reservation with reference to the navi- 

 gation of the Niger. 



German Recognition of the Association of the Con- 

 go. Articles were signed at Brussels by Baron 

 Strauch and Count Brandenburg, the German 

 Minister to Belgium, Oct. 8, by which Ger- 

 many recognized the flag of the Association as 

 that of a friendly state, and promised to rec- 

 ognize the frontier of the future Congo Free 

 State as indicated on a map appended to the 

 treaty. The Association engaged not to levy 

 any dues on merchandise, to afford to German 

 subjects complete protection, and rights of 

 navigation, commerce, industry, the right to 

 settle, establish houses of commerce, and buy 



