Press Opinions on the "Curse of Central Africa" — contd. 



some acquaintance with the country. When we recall the 

 stories that have so often reached England before, and the 

 scandals that have from time to time made a stir even in 

 Belgium, this additional and more definite information leaves 

 no room for doubt. The Free State Government, directly 

 responsible to King Leopold alone, must be regarded as a 

 stupendous trading company, owning what is virtually a 

 monopoly, and armed with the power of life and death over 

 its employees. The government is carried on by means of a 

 military force — La Force Publique — an army recruited by 

 compulsion, and serving a long term of years. This army is 

 mainly fed by supplies which the inhabitants of the surrounding 

 neighbourhood are compelled to bring in. The staple products 

 of the country are india-rubber and ivory ; and it is the duty of 

 the Government officials to extort from the natives the largest 

 supplies that can be obtained. A native chief is informed that 

 he must send in a certain quantity of rubber within a given 

 time (there may or may not be a nominal payment) ; if the 

 rubber does not arrive a punitive expedition is undertaken, and 

 a village may be burnt, the men killed, and the women taken 

 away to do the work of slaves. ' In the days of Tippoo Tib 

 and the Arab dominion,' says Captain Burrows, ' thousands of 

 natives were killed or carried off into slavery ; but I venture to 

 say that no Arab chief ever managed the business on so vast a 

 scale as some of the officials of the Free State.' The employ- 

 ment of forced labour, slavery in all but name, and that under 

 the most degrading circumstances, is part of the system of the 

 country. Captain Burrows's book reproduces photographs 

 showing native chiefs in the act of being tortured, and Belgian 

 officers looking on approvingly. A certain proportion ot the 

 rubber and ivory exacted from the natives is part of a District 

 Commissioner's income. ' Considering that the very duties of 

 the men involve the perpetration of acts of cruelty, and that 

 they are daily familiarised with deeds which are unspeakable 

 and indescribable, it will be agreed that it is not the man but 

 the system which is deserving of censure.' The State is one 

 ' whose very conditions of service include the incitation to 

 commit what must be morally called a crime.' Notorious 

 ofifences against life and property are winked at by officials, 

 and disregarded at headquarters. The whole State, the 

 Executive at Boma, the Government in Brussels, cannot be 

 acquitted of participation in a system which is rapidly organis- 

 ing corruption and degrading the natives, and has long since 

 stultified the magnificent promises of King Leopold and 

 Bismark. 



" This is the account which Captain Burrows gives from hi§ 



24 



