152 



CONGO FREE STATE. 



nations. The Brussels Conference of 1890 au- 

 thorized the Government to levy certain duties 

 on imports. King Leopold, by his testament, 

 made Aug. 2, 1889, bequeaths to Belgium his 

 sovereign rights. A convention, concluded July 

 3, 1890, between the Congo Independent State 

 and Belgium, and ratified by the Belgian Parlia- 

 ment July 25, 1890. secures to the latter the right 

 to annex the Congo dominions after a period of 

 ten years, with all the property, rights, advan- 

 tages, and obligations belonging to the sover- 

 eignty. By a codicil attached to the will on 

 July '21, 1890, the territories are declared in- 

 alienable. A right of pre-emption in case of the 

 alienation of the territories was granted to France 

 in 1884 by the International Association of the 

 Congo, which promised to give the French Gov- 

 ernment the first offer should it wish to sell its 

 possessions. 



The Central Government is at Brussels, con- 

 sisting, under the King, of Secretaries of State 

 for the Interior, Finance, and Foreign Affairs 

 and Justice. In the beginning of 1894 E. van 

 Eetvelde filled the first two posts and the Comte 

 de Grelle Rogier the last. The Governor-Gen- 

 eral, whose seat is at Boma, was Thomas Wallis. 



The area is estimated at 870,000 square miles, 

 and the population at 14,000,000. The white 

 population at the end of 1891 was 950, of whom 

 445 were Belgians. 



The revenue for 1893 was estimated at 5,440,- 

 681 francs, of which 2,000,000 francs were ad- 

 vanced by the Belgian treasury, 900,498 francs 

 were contributed by the sovereign, 722.315 francs 

 were obtained from duties on imports, 953,687 

 francs came from sales of land, 237,058 francs 

 were derived from domains, tributes, and imposts 

 paid in kind, and 427,123 francs were divers re- 

 ceipts. The expenses were 205,600 francs for 

 services in Europe, 899,485 francs for adminis- 

 tration in Africa, 2,126,479 francs for the public 

 force, 392,285 francs for marine, 509,853 francs 

 for public works, 606,590 francs for caravans, 

 and 700,389 francs for divers purposes; total, 

 5,440,681 francs. For 1894 the revenue collected 

 in the territory was not expected to exceed 

 2,000,000 francs, while military expenditures 

 alone absorbed 3,750,000 francs. 



The military force is recruited by voluntary 

 enlistment, and under the decree of July 30, 1891, 

 by an annual conscription among natives from 

 fourteen to thirty years of age, who are drawn 

 by lot. In case of danger, all workmen and em- 

 ployees can be called to the colors to form an 

 auxiliary force. The standing force consists of 

 4,520 natives, who serve five years, officered by 

 80 Europeans. A native contingent, recruited 

 for operations on the upper Congo, numbers 

 o..Vi() more. There is a fleet for transportation 

 and defense of 12 steamers on the upper and 7 

 on the lower Congo. 



The value of the general exports in 1892 was 

 7,529,980 francs ; of the special exports, 5,487,633 

 francs. The exports in the general commerce to 

 Belgium were 2,549,000 francs; to Holland, 

 8,602,000 francs; to the French Congo, 917,000 

 francs; to the Portuguese possessions, 852,000 

 francs ; to other countries, 310,000 francs. The 

 values exported of the leading articles were : 

 Ivory, 3.906,000 francs; caoutchouc, 1,842,000 

 francs; palrn nuts, 840,000 francs; palm oil, 



570,000 francs; coffee, 310,000 francs. During 

 1892 the number of vessels that visited the ports 

 of Boma and Banana was 775, of 199,297 tons. 



A company was organized in Belgium, with a 

 capital of 25^000,000 francs, to build and operate 

 a railroad connecting Matadi, on the lower Congo, 

 with Naolo, near Stanley Pool, and construction 

 was begun in 1890. The length of the line is 248 

 miles, of which 25 miles are completed and in 

 operation. The Belgian Government has grant ed 

 a subsidy of 10,000,000 francs, receiving 3| per 

 cent, interest during the construction, which, 

 according to revised estimates, will cost 62,500,-. 

 000 francs. The receipts, at the rate of 1,000 

 francs a ton and 500 francs a passenger, are not 

 expected to exceed 1,500,000 francs a year at the 

 start 300,000 francs less than the* estimated 

 running expenses. The Belgian Government 

 has reserved the right of purchasing the conces- 

 sion within ten years by redeeming the shares at 

 the price of 600 francs. The Congo State is a 

 member of the Universal Postal Union, and had 

 a postal traffic, in 1891 of 91,410 international 

 and 33,044 internal letters. 



Reoccupation of the Upper Congo Region. 

 By the operations against the insurgent Arabs 

 of the upper Congo the power of the slave 

 raiders was completely crushed and the Arab 

 danger removed. Capt. Dhanis had a desperate 

 battle with Rumaliza on the banks of the Luama 

 on Oct. 20, 1893, having formed a junction with 

 Capt. Ponthier, and in the engagement the lat- 

 ter was mortally wounded and 2 other officers 

 were killed. He did not resume the attack till 

 re-enforcements arrived with artillery. Gongo 

 Lutete, the native ally of the Belgians, had 

 previously been shot, having, like Sefu, proved 

 a traitor. A large force advanced upon the 

 position held by Sefu, and in the battle of Nov. 

 17 that Arab leader was killed, and on the Bel- 

 gian side Baron de Heusch. Capt. Dhanis, who 

 was made Inspector of the State, and ennobled by 

 the King, dispatched the forces of Capt. Lo- 

 thaire and the Chevalier de Wouter against 

 Rumaliza's position as soon as Lieut. Franken 

 arrived with 3 guns. The Belgian forces, num- 

 bering 700 men, had built 5 bomas around the 

 Arab position, where were assembled 20,000 men 

 in 3 bomas. The attack was delivered upon 

 the principal boma on Jan. 14, 1894, and soon 

 after the artillery began firing a shell exploded 

 Rumaliza's powder magazine and set fire to the 

 boma. The Arabs immediately fled in disorder. 

 The Belgians took the other bomas without 

 serious resistance, and continued their march to 

 the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Capt. Jacques 

 had already gained a victory over Muhina, Ru- 

 maliza's lieutenant, north of the Lukuga. After 

 the junction of the forces the shores of the lake 

 were cleared of the Arabs, who retreated north- 

 ward. Their last boma in the Tanganyika dis- 

 trict was occupied before April, and Rumaliza 

 and his allies took refuge in German territory. 



Anglo-Belgian Agreement. France, Great 

 Britain, the Congo State, and Germany have 

 severally schemed to extend their spheres of in- 

 fluence from the east or west coast of Africa 

 into the unclaimed central region of Africa 

 north of 4 of north latitude, the treaty limit of 

 the neutralized Congo Independent State. In 

 the Anglo-German treaty of 1890 the upper Nile 



