192 



CONGO, FREE STATE OF THE. 



francs a year. The flag of the Association, a 

 golden star on a blue ground, already recog- 

 nized by several governments, became the flag 

 of the Free Congo State. 



King Leopold, with the approval of the Bel- 

 gian legislature, assumed the title of Sovereign 

 of the Congo State, and appointed a Cabinet 

 for the new kingdom. Col. Strauch, previous- 

 ly President of the International African As- 

 sociation, was made Premier and Minister of 

 the Interior and of War. M. van Eetvelde, 

 late consul-general at Bombay, was appointed 

 Minister of Commerce. M. van Neuss, a high 

 Belgian official, became Minister of Finance. 

 Brussels was declared to be the seat of govern- 

 ment. Arrangements were made for the en- 

 trance of the Free State into the Universal 

 Postal Union on Jan. 1, 1886. 



The Settlements of the Congo. Stanley left the 

 Congo in October, 1884. His successor in the 

 chief command was Col. Sir F. de Winton. In 

 the summer of 1885 reports reached Europe of 

 the breaking down of the organization of the 

 Association on the Congo, of privations, sick- 

 ness, and death among the employes, of con- 

 flicts with the natives, of the falsity of official 

 reports of the climate and resources of the 

 country. The Congo State was represented as 

 a swindle, which was prevented from being, 

 exposed by the secrecy with which its affairs 

 were conducted. Mr. Tisdell, who ascended 

 to the middle Congo, made an unfavorable re- 

 port to the United States Government on the 

 productiveness and salubrity of the country. 

 The officers of the Association answered these 

 charges by admitting that the climate of the 

 lower Congo was unhealthful, and that of the 

 country about Stanley Pool was still more so, 

 but asserted that danger could be avoided by 

 sanitary precautions and a careful regimen. 

 The regions visited by Mr. Tisdell they ac- 

 knowledged to be only moderately productive. 

 The Upper Congo region was that from which 

 they expected most. This they declared to be 

 very salubrious and one of the richest regions 

 on the globe in natural wealth. The unfavor- 

 able reports of the working of the Association 

 came from discharged or dissatisfied employe's, 

 or from trading establishments in the Congo 

 regions that looked upon the Belgium enter- 

 prise as a rival concern. Mr. Stanley said 

 that 150 men had been discharged, and that a 

 large proportion of the European recruits were 

 found incapable or became dissatisfied. Up 

 to the middle of August 350 men had been 

 sent out, and, down to March, 24 had died from 

 sickness and five from accidents. There were 

 in the Free State 23 stations, with two or more 

 white men at each station. The great Dutch 

 trading corporation and the English firms and 

 those of other nationalities established on the 

 coast have viewed the development of the Free 

 State with hostile eyes, though when the ques- 

 tion arose between coming under its jurisdic- 

 tion, or that of Portugal or France, they pre- 

 ferred the former. If they could have had 



their way, the coast and interior would have 

 remained a no-man's-land over which their 

 own resources were sufficient for the protec- 

 tion of their interests. In financial means, 

 men, and munitions, and power and influence 

 over the natives, some of these great mer- 

 cantile houses were not inferior to the new 

 state, while their organization was more com- 

 pact and efficient. Besides the 150 white em- 

 ployes of the new state, it has in its service 

 2,200 blacks, including 800 Zanzibaris, 300 

 Kroomen, 800 Haussas, and 300 Kabindas. 

 There have been sent out to the Congo 5,000 

 rifles and a number of cannon and machine- 

 guns. The import of European fire-arms for 

 sale to the natives has been interdicted by the 

 new Government, but not that of flint-lock 

 guns, which are so common an article of trade 

 as to constitute the unit of account in barter- 

 ing with the natives in some places. In Au- 

 gust the death was reported of the Marchese 

 Bonfanti, a naturalized American citizen, and 

 M. Casman, a Belgian, two prominent officials 

 of the Congo State. 



The plan of establishing a line of stations be- 

 tween Lake Tanganyika and the upper Congo 

 was abandoned, and the expedition sent for 

 that purpose to Zanzibar was recalled in March. 

 The following stations have been established by 

 the Association in the valley of the Congo : 

 Mpozo, Banza, Manteka, Voondah, Lukungo, 

 South Manyanga, Lutete, Leopoldville, Kin- 

 chassa, Kimpoko, Msouta, Kouamout, Bolobo, 

 Loukolela, and Equator, situate on the south 

 bank of the river, and Boma, Ikungula, Vivi, 

 Issanghila, North Manyanga, Bangala, Aru- 

 wimi, and Falls station on the north bank. 

 Of these, Falls station and Aruwimi, the most 

 remote, were abandoned in 1885 on account of 

 the repeated attacks of Arabs and native trad- 

 ers. Bolobo was besieged for a long time by 

 several hundred natives. Preparations were 

 made for abandoning it and Kouamout, where 

 the hostility and thieving habits of the Amazon 

 tribes rendered the station dangerous and val- 

 ueless. All the stations on the Niadi Kwilu 

 and the Ogow6 were surrendered to the French 

 according to treaty. At Boma, Ikungula, 

 Vivi, Issanghila, and Leopoldville, the houses 

 are substantially constructed of wood. At 

 Vivi and Leopoldville there are from ten to 

 twenty white men, at the other stations two 

 or three. The chief of each station has a 

 guard of from ten to thirty Houssas, negroes 

 from the English Colony of Lagos. His duties 

 are to employ carriers, to protect caravans, and 

 to furnish couriers for mails and dispatches. 

 Whenever a station is attacked or a caravan 

 stopped, a force of Houssas is concentrated 

 rapidly and the natives are punished. The 

 natives have great dread of the Houssas, who 

 are excellent marksmen. From Mpozo to Stan- 

 ley Pool all goods are carried on the heads of 

 Loango or Kabinda carriers, each man's load 

 being seventy pounds. On the north shore 

 whaleboats are used for 84 of the 250 miles. 



