Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-13
What Secretary Morel Says
On the Subject.
THE BELGIAN MINISTER
HIS UTTERANCES THOSE OF A
PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL.
Not the British People Who Are Ar
raigned, but King Leopold
Himself.

Statements that have been printed in va
fious papers during the past several days
that President Roosevelt has declined to
take action on the memorial of the Congo
Reform Association which l had the honor
of presenting to him some days ago. are,
according TO my Information, not based on
fact"
So said Mr. E. D. Morel, secretary of the
Congo Reform Association to a reporter for
The Evening Star, at the New Willard to-
day. ION the other hand we have never
had the slightest idea that he would take
any immediate action in the matter. know
ing as we do that he is very busy and will
be so until after the opening of Congress.
/ have an appointment with Secretary Hay
for 10 o'clock tomorrow morning to talk
over the situation with him.
MI Morel has just returned from Bos-
ton, where he attended the sessions OF the
peace congress and his attention was
called to statements attributed to Baron
Moncheur the Belgian minister, in connec-
ton with affairs in the Congo and the work
of the Congo Reform Association
Baron Moncheur's Utterances.
1.-The first point to make clear in connec-
ton with Baron Moncheur," said Mr.. Morel,
SIS that his utterances In connection with
the Congo Free State are the utterances not
of the Belgian minister. but are the utter
ances of a private Individual. The govern
ment to which Baron Moncheur Is accredit-
ed has twice declared that the Congo Free
State is, so far Belgium is concerned, a
foreign state for whose actions Belgium
cannot be held responsible. Those state
ments are on record in the files of the Bel
gian house, official records of debates King
ge thn xryhn dinlO nm al q n
consular machinery. which he possesses as
monarch of Belgium. to defend his African
rule as sovereign absolute Of the Congo
Free State.
1.-THE course pursued by King Leopold Is
obvious He wishes the American public
to think that the British government and
the British people are arragned. when as
a matter of fact 1t Is he personally who Is
arraigned The whole position In the Congo
is anomalous and It was to draw the atten-
ton to that anomaly that / drafted the
resolution which was passed unanimously
by the peace congress which recently adj
journed in Boston. You see, therefore, that
in adding his quota to the attempts to mis-
lead the American public on the Congo
question, Baron MOncheur must be regard
ed not as the Belgian minister. but as
private individual defending the private af-
fairs of the governor. who is King Leopold
of the Congo Free State. for which Belgium
declares she is not responsible.
The Investigating Commission.
Mr. Morel explained at some length the
commission that has been selected for the
investigation and settlement of Congo at
fairs.
THAT is a matter easily made clear"
said Mr.. Morel. Shortly before leaving
England 1 sent In the name of the Congo
Reform Association official communica-
ton to Lord Lansdowne, on the subject
of which the following is the pith:
THE commission is. In the view Of this
association, vitiated at its core from the
bers nominated, appointed and remunerated
by the Congo government-itself primarily
involved. No commission of such a char
acter can, In the present circumstances,
command the respect and the confidence of
those whose primary contention it Is that
the situation demands not an inquiry by
the Congo government into the acts of its
own subordinates in Africa, but an inter-
national inquiry into the system of African
control which the executive has itself In
itiated and caused to be applied. The case
against the Congo government Is that, by
claiming the land and the produce Of the
land and enforcing the collection of that
produce by native soldiery. system has
been inaugurated which is Itself an abuse
and infringement of every condition
which led to the recognition of the Interna-
tional Association of the Congo a SOW
ereign state by civilization"
"Of course, no one imagines that a COM
any possibility give verdict other than
favorable to King Leopold and his inter-
ests. The fact that the commissioners be-
long to three nationalities does not make
II an international commission. An inter-
national commission would have to be Sc
lected by the various powers that brought
the Congo Free State into existence Two
of the members of the so-called commits
sion are subjects of King Leopold and are
therefore, under his influence
Not for British Material Interests.
Mr.. Morel said that in discussing the
question he had frequently been met with
the charge that the work of the Congo
Reform Association was purely for the ma
terial benefit of the British empire and of
the English people generally. This idea he
taboOes. 1T is an old chestnut" centin-
ued Mr.. Morel revived to confuse the
American public. The only person of any
Importance in England that derives any
benefit from the Congo Free State is Sir
Alfred Jones, consul of the Congo govern
ment at Liverpool, who has a monopoly
of the steamboat traffic between Congo
and Belgium. 1t appears 10 me that in
trying TO make the American people be-
lieve this movement is the outcome of ma
terial motives the friends of King Leopold
are giving the American people credit for
very little intelligence. Do you imagine
II is TO help England that the public bodies
of Germany have made appeals in the mat
about another conference of the powers i?
Do you suppose that II was to help Eng
land that there was three days debate
In the Belgium house in which King
Leopold was severely scored? Do YOU
think that 1t was to help England that
the American missionaries in the Congo
have made every possible sacrifice in de-
nouncing the denominations to which
Ieopolds rule gives rise? Is there any
thing In the records of the great philan-
thropic societies of the world like the
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society,
and the International Arbitration and
Peace Association. to suggest helping Brit
lsh material ends? Is II likely that the
international peace congress- which recent
~ adjourned at Boston and which was
composed OF delegates from all over the
world, should have unanimously passed nv
resolution If II was to further British ma
terial ends? Is 1t not an insult to the
American Intelligence to bring forward
such absurdities? The whole scheme of
King Leopold and those connected with
him Is to confuse the issue. We maintain
that in declaring himself owner of every
thlng OF value in the Congo that he has
made possible atrocities In the Congo that
make those In Bulgaria appear as child s
play II Is to stop these denominations that
we are agftating the matter That Is the
beginning and the end OF the matter"
Fined $40 FOR Ass,r,4