THE CONGO FREE STATE 267 



any than the highest motives in conducting their 

 campaign. I am sure that in their own hearts they 

 have been honestly satisfied of the truth of the 

 charges which have been brought against the Congo 

 State, and so long as the multitude was determined 

 to redress this crying evil and to remove this blot 

 from the face of the earth, there was no reason why 

 they should be more properly instructed in the 

 foundations of the question. 



Nor will I deny that numerous cases of atrocities 

 and oppression have occurred in the Congo Free 

 State. It is a deplorable fact, but a fact none 

 the less, that such things have accompanied the 

 early stages of the occupation of a savage country 

 by white men in nearly every instance. One has 

 only to study the present condition of the German 

 African colonies and of Angola (though it can 

 hardly be said that Angola is in the early stages 

 of occupation), to know that this is true. 



To look the question broadly in the face, what 

 does this charge of 'atrocities' involve? It means 

 that we are prepared to believe that a civilized 

 European nation, many of whose citizens are near 

 akin to ourselves in blood and in language, supports 

 some 2,000 villains and murderers in the Congo, 

 where they commit the most barbaric atrocities for 

 the purpose of filling the pockets of a monarch, 

 who happens to be a relation of the King of 

 England. It will be objected that I am wrong 

 when I charge the Belgian nation with the re- 



