CONGO FHKK STATE. 



169 



hud coupled its ratification with a declaration 

 that the I'liilcd States intended to keep iilnof 

 from iiiiy participation in u Kuropean concert of 

 a political nature regarding Africa, and a mom- 

 orandiini to lliis ellVet. which had received the 

 a-scnt of all the signatory powers, was made a 

 part of the ratification of the State Department 

 at Washington piv.-ented hy .Mr. Terrell. 



The Imposition of Import Duties. A 

 decree was issued on April 9, 1892, fixing the 

 rates ,,f duty to be raised on imports in order to 

 enable the independent State of the Congo to 

 sup|M>rt the extraordinary charges entailed by 

 its active participation in the suppression of the 

 Aral) slave traffic. On h' rearms and powder the 

 duty is 10 per cent, ad valorem. On spirituous 

 liquors the duty is lixcd at 15 francs per hecto- 

 litre for proof spirits ; the importation and sale of 

 alcohol in districts east of the Inkissi is prohib- 

 ited. On other merchandise a duty of 6 per 

 cent, ad valorem is levied, with the exception of a 

 list (if articles that are declared to be free. This 

 includes vessels and parts and fittings of the 

 same, steam machinery, machines and imple- 

 ments for industrial and agricultural purposes, 

 which will enjoy exemption for the period of 

 four years. Kailroad running stock is not to 

 pay duties until it comes into actual use. Scien- 

 tific instruments, the effects of travelers and 

 settlers, educational books and apparatus, live 

 animals, and seeds, pay no duty. Importation 

 can only be through the customs stations. 



The part of the tariff law relating to the regu- 

 lation of the liquor traffic is in accordance with 

 the provision of the Congo act signed at Brussels, 

 which introduces a new principle and imposes 

 international obligations regarding the liquor 

 traffic in respect to the whole of Africa between 

 20 of north and 22 of south latitude, or from 

 Egypt and the Sahara to the Transvaal, embrac- 

 ing nearly one fifth of the land surface of the 

 globe. Wherever the trade has not yet pene- 

 trated, and where it has already a foothold in 

 countries in which the religion of the people en- 

 joins abstention from alcohol, the treaty inter- 

 dicts the sale of spirits, and in all other countries 

 the protecting powers are obliged to impose a 

 minimum tariff, which may be increased by mu- 

 tual agreement at the end of three years, and will 

 be revised again after a further period of three 

 years in the light of the- results. Within six 

 months of the ratification of the Brussels con- 

 vention, each power is bound to declare what 

 parts of its possessions are already infected with 

 the liquor traffic, and define the regions into 

 which it has not yet penetrated. They are also 

 bound to communicate to each other information 

 regarding the liquor trade in their territories. 



Boundary Dispute with France. In the 

 beginning of 1892 the French, taking umbrage 

 at the founding of stations by explorers of t ho 

 Congo State in the Ubangi region, had sent 

 agents to the same country for the purpose of 

 making treaties and securing annexations. The 

 Congo State had established a prior claim two 

 years and a half before, when Van Gele and 

 Roget took formal possession of this same dis- 

 trict, made treaties with the native chiefs, and 

 organized administrative services. Ignoring the 

 protests of the Congo Government, the French 

 organized an expedition under Liotard in Febru- 



ary. In order to put an end to the dispute the 



Congo State proposed that an international com- 

 mi.--ion should meet in I'ari* for the purpose of 

 adjusting the claims of the contending parties. 

 The French <io\erniucnt refused toagree to this, 

 and demanded the evacuation of the country. A 

 conflict between the posts of the Congo Stale 

 and the French expeditions was feared. In 

 April the Congo State's Minister for Foreign 

 Affairs, the Comte do (Jrelle Itogier, went to 

 I'aris to demand the arbitration of the dispute. 

 M. Itibot suggested a direct arrangement fi s 

 preferable to mediation, and M. de Grelle Kogier 

 met two official representatives of the French 

 Government, with whom he negotiated without 

 coming to an agreement. The French proposal 

 was that the boundary should follow the Thai- 

 weg of the Ubangi as far as Yakbina, situated 

 at the junction of the Welle and the Mbomu, 

 and then the lower course of this river, and the 

 watershed of the Bili up to the twenty-fifth degree 

 of longitude. King Leopold's representative 

 would have accepted this settlement had it not 

 been coupled with a demand for compensation 

 on the lower Congo, which it was impossible to 

 grant. Incidents occurred in the contested re- 

 gion that led France to increase her demands, 

 and on July 15 the delegates separated, though 

 not without hope of a final accord. Soon after 

 this a French explorer, M. de Poumayrac, was 

 shot and killed by a native at Kotto at the in- 

 stigation of agents of the Congo State, it was as- 

 sumed by the French Government which de- 

 manded a pecuniary indemnity and theimmed'ate 

 evacuation of the territorv that Lieut. Le Mari- 

 nel had occupied. King Leopold replied with a 

 demand that the whole matter should be sub- 

 mitted to an arbitrator in accordance with the 

 provisions of the Berlin general act. To this the 

 French Government finally agrei d. 



The French complained of the commercial 

 policy of the Congo State, contending that bar- 

 riers were being erected against the free ex- 

 change of commercial products in these regions. 

 The friction between French traders and the 

 companies chartered by the Free State was to a 

 great extent removed by the amalgamation of 

 Daumas et Cie., the chief French house, with the 

 Belgian Upper Congo Association, the capital 

 of which was raised from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 

 francs, 2.000,000 francs being the valuation of 

 the plant and business of the French firm. 



Katanga. After the English had st cured 

 N \as>aland by their treaty with Portugal the 

 Congo authorities became anxious to establish 

 their rights over Msiri's kingdom. a region famous 

 for copper and gold on the borders of the Brit- 

 ish sphere, accessible from the territory of the 

 African Lakes Company, and from that of the 

 British South African Company, and therefore 

 likely to fall under British influence. Msiri was 

 much the most powerful native ruler within the 

 limits of the Congo State. M>iri was the son of 

 a trader from Unyamyembo who had been made 

 the heir of an old chief whom he had helpvd to 

 overcome his enemies, and after the hitter's 

 death had extended his conquests from Katanga 

 over a groat part of the Mtiala Vanvo kingdom. 

 The industrious people over whom lie ruled 

 raised largo crops, and exported copper and ivory 

 and prospered until 18<JO, when his tyrannies, and 



