Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-10
UNDER BELGIAN KING
REVIEW OF CONDITIONS I'M
CONGO FREE STATE.
Address by Rev. Herbert s. johnson
at Howard University YES
per Service.

With King Leopold and Reform" as his
subject. Rev. Herbert S. Johnson. pastor
of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church.
Boston, gave scathing review of existing
conditions in the Congo Free State under
the regime of the King of Belgium at the
Vesper service at Howard University yes
terday afternoon at 4:3o O'Clock
We are now in the third stage of the
Congo movement. said he. The first was
doubt as to the existence of the atrocities
Inc second was assurance as to their ex-
istence and great Indignation thereat The
third is delusion as to the certainty of re-
FORM The people of the Congo have not
been saved. This third stage is I'm MANY
respects the most hopeless and dangerous
OF all. Let humanitarians remember that.
me deiusion of many Americans that
Deen attained is due partially to the fact
mat King Leopold has recently issued
ed1cts for the reform of the abuses.
a aga these edcts 1t might be fairly
SAID, even II we believed the king to be
sincere, that they are totally inadequate But
Leopolds whole past attitude toward reform
makes II impossible to repose the slighte9-
coincidence in his intention to carry out
the partial ameliorations proposed His
hypocracy is plainly indicated by his treat
ment OF the report of his own commission
OF inquiry. He held 1t back from publica-
uon Tor eight months, meanwhile doing
nothlng u reform the abuses When at
last he published the report, he suppressed
tne evidence which ought to have accom-
panied it.
Waited a Year.
Again. the commission of inquiry urged
upon the king the immediate creation of a
commission of reform. The king waited
for year. When at last the names of the
new commissioners appeared. humanita-
rians were astonished to find that ten of the
49,,
partners in the past exploitation of the
wretched people of the Congo.
The commission of reform consisted of
the very men who had been implicated in the
murders. Again, the commission of inquiry
urged upon the king the immediate pun
lshfnent of the officers of administration in
the Congo Free State who had been direct
~ responsible for the crimes against the
people Nearly two years have passed
away, but so far We can ascertain the
king has not brought a single officer to
punishment On the contrary, he has
warmly commended the guilty men and
many of them have been promoted in Of
flee.
For instance, Commandant Hasstrom
mas been advanced to be chief representa-
tive of the government in the great A. B.
l. X. rubber concession as a reward for
ms FAITHFUL services to the king in the in
timidatfon of the people. BY the testi-
mony of unimpeachable witnesses Hae-
strom personally led his cannibal sentries
In attacks upon villages that were slow in
uilHSiHs IN ruDDer. he permitted these
soldiers to roast and eat the bodies of
scores of people whom they had murdered.
He permitted them also to scatter the en-
trails OF their victims around the village.
He suffered them to cut little children into
halves and to impale the parts on upright
stakes In the presence Of the surviving VIII
layers.
Classed as a Monster.
"Yet the king has placed the destinies
of thousands of natives and missionaries
in a principal rubber district in the hands
Leopold's promises of reform?
The only man whom the king has brought
to punishment, the contrary, is the he
roic missionary Stannard, who dared to
give evidence In behalf of the people be-
fore the commission of inquiry. Stannard
was arrested nearly thousand miles
from his mission station. where ii was i'm
possible to secure the presence of his wit
nesses. He was put through the farce OF
a, trial and today he stands before his
friends a convicted perjurer.
The king has further shown his real
attitude toward reform in the new law
sons who shall hereafter complain of the
abuses. Whoever in the future makes
charges to the officers of administration
or to the judges which cannot be substan-
tiated by witnesses in open court will be
sentenced to five years in a tropical prison.
This punishment, of course, is equivalent
to death. When we remember the expe-
rience of the missionary Stannard il is easy
to understand that the reporting of abuses
and atrocities will not hereafter be popu-
lar To talk is to diei'