Press Opinions on the ** Curse of Central Mrizsi" —contd. 



own personal experience of the Congo. And we must con- 

 gratulate him on coming forward to say what others — including, 

 we fear, the Baptist Missionary Society — have shrunk from 

 saying. Captain Burrows is entirely free from the accusation 

 of sensation-mongering. His book is a cold, clear exposition 

 of hard facts. It reveals a terrible state of affairs ; and it does 

 so without any appeal to emotion. We see a system of govern- 

 ment which would have been a scandal in the worst days of 

 Republican Rome. We see the Government of a neighbouring 

 civilised Power, to which the Congo was given in trust by the 

 combined action of the Powers, directly responsible for that 

 scandal. If nothing else can be done immediately, the facts 

 should be made known ; the Belgians must be made to under- 

 stand what is going on in the name of their Sovereign ; 

 Englishmen must be enlightened, because they, with the other 

 Powers, agreed to hand over the Congo to King Leopold. As 

 it is, everything has been done to conceal the facts. The 

 Belgian Press has been gagged, and, through the medium of 

 English Courts, attempts have been made to secure an injunc- 

 tion against the publication of Captain Burrows's book. It is 

 surely curious that, whilst we are at liberty to criticise the direct 

 representatives of the King in England, a foreign Government, 

 to hide its own shame, should be able to threaten the freedom 

 of the English Press. Yet we must not only insist — it is an 

 important point — on the right to ventilate such questions as 

 this, but also point out that, as long as the present Government 

 remains in power, it is the only way of securing reform in the 

 Congo. After all, it is the Belgians who are, in the first place, 

 responsible for enormities which are being committed by 

 Belgian citizens. We do not believe the moral sense of 

 Belgium is at such a low ebb that, if it were fully aware of the 

 horrors of the Congo, it would really tolerate their continuance. 

 But meantime the responsibility of England remains : she was 

 a member of the Conference of Berlin ; her trading interests in 

 West Africa are at stake ; and the condition of free rights of 

 trade to all countries has not been kept. The atrocities com- 

 mitted in the name of civilisation are even worse than those in 

 Macedonia ; whilst the responsibility of England is greater. 

 And though the victims in one case are barbarians, and in the 

 other case are Christians and Europeans, the facts make no 

 dilTerence to a question, not of faith, but of humanity. But to 

 influence public opinion in Belgium should not be the only 

 remedy. Our own Government should formulate questions on 

 the subject. Captain Burrows suggests another Conference of 

 Berlin, which should divide up the Congo country between 

 Germany, France, and England. VVe scarcely think this is 



25 



