264 THE CONGO FREE STATE 



since the coming of the white man the flow of blood 

 in Africa has steadily diminished and is almost 

 staunched, and since the coming of the white man 

 there has been no longer a paradise for the negro, 

 who has been made to pay taxes and work for the 

 white man, and can no longer pursue his ideal exist- 

 ence of endless idleness. 



No one, who has taken the trouble to study the 

 question, can remain in doubt for a moment of the 

 wholly indefensible position which the Congo 

 Government has assumed with regard to the Act of 

 Berlin. The signatory Powers have been openly 

 defied, every article of the Act has been set at 

 naught, and the freedom of trade for all nations, 

 which (it was supposed) was ensured by the Act, is 

 a dead letter. When they endeavour to secure the 

 re-establishment of free trade, the Congo reformers 

 can be sure of the sympathy of all thinking people. 

 But the real issue, which is this question of the 

 freedom of trade, has been obscured by the popular 

 cry of oppression and 'atrocities.' Very few of us 

 are likely to profit materially from the opening of 

 the commercial door in the Congo, and a crusade 

 with that object would not find many enthusiastic 

 supporters ; but when there are direct accusations of 

 robbery and murder, we are honestly shocked at the 

 criminal behaviour of our neighbours, and secretly 

 glad of the chance of attending another execution. 

 Clergymen and ministers of every denomination (all 

 honour to them) inveigh against the iniquities of the 



