266 THE CONGO FREE STATE 



but still moderately rich in men, in spite of having 

 been squeezed for generations by the Portuguese. 

 It is not worth anybody's while to start an agitation 

 for the suppression of the present state of slavery 

 which exists there ; in fact, it is better to leave it 

 alone, as the end of ' indentured labour ' in S, Thom^ 

 would mean an immediate rise in the price of cocoa. 

 The Congo, on the other hand, is in natural pro- 

 ducts by far the richest part of tropical Africa, and 

 it was only to be expected that our merchants should 

 bitterly resent being excluded from it, particularly 

 when they have a legal right of entrance. Small 

 wonder that they are annoyed, and are prepared to 

 provoke an European conflagration in order to secure 

 their undoubted rights. 



It was hardly likely that an agitation, which aimed 

 only at the rights of traders in a remote country, 

 would find any great measure of popular favour ; 

 but when it appeared that the wealth of the Congo 

 was being exploited under a system of the most 

 diabolic cruelty, and that our neighbours were 

 growing rich at the price of the last drops of the 

 natives' blood, we lost sight of the real question 

 at issue, and were filled with a righteous indignation. 

 A chorus of protest went up against the iniquities 

 of the dragon, and sermons were preached and 

 meetings held from one end of the country to the 

 other. 



It is far from my intention to insinuate that the 

 organizers of this agitation have been actuated by 



