Washington sentinel., 1899-03-04

he failure Of the frs
Ia; an India upon tht
.. ,ng time be publicly
Leopold H., who
some OF the Coburg
IL. really able man.
IC ence in his own great
incurable continental
can make money in
the tropics 4. =. is only hard erSugh,
undertook an enterprise wholly beyond
his resources, and by making revenue
instead OF good government his end,
spoiled the whole effect OF his first sue
cesses, The Congo Free State, cover
ing million square miles, that is, as
large as India, and containing popula'
ton supposed to exceed AZ millions,
was committed by Europe to his charge
in absolute sovereignty, and at first there
1 appeared to be no resistance. Steamers
and telegraphs and stations are trifies to
a millionaire. and there was any number
Of Jelgian engineers and young officers
Z ger for employment, The weak point
Of the undertaking, inadequate resour-
ces, soon, however, became patent to
the world. The King had the disposal
of a few white troops, but they
were only Belgians, who suffer greatly
in tropical warfare, and his agents had
to form an acciimatized army ION the
cheap" They engaged, therefore, the
fiercest blacks 'ey could find, most OF
them cannibals, laid them by tolerating
license, and then eudeavored to maintain
their own authority by savage discipline.
The result was that the men, as events
have proved, and as the King seems in
his explanation to admit, we're always
on the verge of mutiny and that the
native tribes, with their advantages OF |
position, numbers and knowledge of the /
forest and the swamps, proved at least
as good fighters as most of the forces Of
the Congo State.
So great, however, is the intellectual
superiority Of white men, so immeasur-
able the advantage involved in any tine
ture of science, that the Belgians might
still have prevailed but tor the absolute
necessity OF obtaining money. They |
could not wait for the growth OF resour
ces under scientific taxation such as will |
follow Mr.. Mitchell Innes's financial |
reforms in Siam, but attempted to obtain |
them from direct taxation and monop-
olies, especially that ot rubber. Resist
ance was punished with savage cruelty,
which we are quite ready to believe was
not the original intention of the Belgians
but which could not be avoided when
the only mode OF Furnishing a village
was to let loose black cannibals on it to
work their will, and which gradually
hard sned even the Europeans, and the
consequence was universal dslOYalty
The Drawer types fought with despera-
tiQn, the black troops were at once
cowed and attracted by their opponents
the black porters and agriculturists
became secret enemies. all were kept in
order by terror a. he, and we all see the
result. The Belgians are beaten; their
chiefs, Baron Dhauis and Mai. Lothaire.
are believed to be prisoners; and the
vast territories ofthe far interior, whence
alone rubber can now be obtained, are
already lost. Black soldiers have mutt
MED in the field, and it is doubtful, it the
rebels press on, whether all signs
OF Belgian sovereignty will not dis.
appear. The King, with a GOODNESS
which will be called courage or obstIn-
acY according to the critics view of his
declares that he shall go on
and that all will be recovered bat we
believe he deceives himself. The ad-
on the spot is tainted by the
history of ITS cruelties and its failures,
and there are not the mes ms in Bruss Is
Of replacing it by competent officials,
or Of supplying them with the consider.
able means required for what must now
be a deliberate reconquest. limo change
is made, the internal never ending war
will go on, all progt ess will be brought
to a final end, and the mere necessity OF
getting money out Of the limited area
it is now possible to reach will make
taxation so severe that we shall hear
either OF the depopulation OF whole dis
iricts, or of a murderous popular insur-
-ection on the St. Domingo scale ard
plan. The greatest experiment ever
made in Africa has in fact failed, and
aIled dIscredilably.
Under these circumstances it seems
clear that the only reasonable course is
o allow a Great Power to step forward,
1uy out the Belgians, and recommence
he experiment from the beginning
The best Power for the purpose would
De the British because we could enter
he vast derelict territory from both
iides, because we could employ both
and Indians in the work OF
without relaxing their dis
,ipline, and because we understand how
o levy taxes without oppression, and
Without destroying all the springs OF in.
lustry. Even negroes will grow rich
inder our rule, aud we alone of the peo.
,les have the art--it is a very strange
,ne-of restraining despotIsm within
me precise limits beyond which il pro.
iuces instructive popular resistance. We
nave never so irritated a people, not
even tn Matabele, that they would not
accept our pay. 1t is, however, better
hat we should not accept the Congo.