The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-26

OF the International African Association
as the flag OF a friendly G~overnmsnt,'
BY an act Of July 7. 1884. Congress made
an appropriation for IAN agent to the States
Of the Congo. said agent to be charged
with introducing n extending the COM
merce Of the United States In the Congo
Valley Germany, by q convention con-
oluded November 8. 1884. recognized the
association as a friendly State while
Great Britain In December Of the same
year, by an exchange OF declarations, after
the manner Of the United States. recog-
nized it's flag as hat Of q friendly Govern
eminent. Within the next two months
Italy. the Netherlands. Spain, France.
Russia and Portugal had recognized the
association as u Government: Austria.
Sweden and Norway and Denmark had
acknowledged 1t to be q State. and Belgium
had placed "its flag on an equality with that
OF q friendly State On February 20, 1885.
lin conference. which had been sitting
during the winter. to adhere by a formal
declaration, as an independent State, to
the general act concluded by the conference
on that day. When King Leopold I'll,
acting under the authority afterward
given him by the Belgian Chambers. an
nounced the formation Of the Independent
State OF the Congo. and his assumption
Of the place Of sovereign over the new
State, the President Of the United States
formally recognized him in that character.
In his annual message. dated December
8. 1885. President Cleveland summed up the
purport Of these proceedings 30 far as they
affected the United States. He recalled
that the independent State Of the Congo
had been organized as a government under
the sovereignty Of his Majesty the King
Of the Belgians. who assumed it's chief
magistracy in his personal capacity only.
without making the new State a dependency
Of Belgium. The action taken by the WASH
ington Government in 1884. when 1t was
the first to recognize the flag Of the Inter-
national Association Of the Congo. had been
followed by formal recognition OF the new
nationality which succeeded to that asso-
cations sovereign power. Mr.. Cleveland
vent on to mention that q conference OF
delegates from the principal commercial
nations had been held at Berlin in the win
ter Of 16Sl-s5 TO discuss methods whereby
the Congo basin might be kept open to the
worlds trade. Delegates attended on be-
half OF the United States on the under b.
standing that their function should &c
merely deliberative and should. pot''im-
part TO the results any binding quality 90
far "a the United Stated should be oon-
oerned. Notwithstanding Che reservation
under which the delegates Of the United
States attended. the'Y signatures were at
tached to the gs,neral act Of the Berlin
Conference In the same manner as were
those OF tho pl~enipotentiaries OF other Gov
ernments, thus making the United States
appear without reserve or qualification as
sigyiatories to a Joint international en-
.EaRement imposing on the signers the
conservation Of the territorial integrity
OF distant regions where We have no e.
tablished interests or control. MIR. Cieve-
land added. however. that our Government
did not regard it's reservation OF liberty OF
action in the premises as at all impaired;
and holding that an engagement to share in
the obligation OF enforcing neutrality In the
remote valley Of the Congo would be an
alliance whose responsibilities We were not
in a position to assume. MIR. Cleveland as
Chief MAGISTRATE declared his intention Of
abstaining from asking the sanction Of the
Senate to that, general act Of the Berlin
Conference.
Other diplomatic and treaty relations, Of
the United States with the Congo will be
found cot forth on pages bss-e7 OF Mr..
Moore's fifth volume. With reference TO a
letter OF Mr.. q. 8. Sanford. in which a hope
was expressed that Commodore Shufeldt
would be instructed not to admit In any
form Tin any action he might take with
regard to American commerce through, or
at the mouth Of. the Congo River) the
doctrine. which might be insisted upon by
Portugal and perhaps by other Powers.
OF q right Of exclusive control in that neigh
borhood alleged to inhere in the fact OF
first discovery, Mr.. Evarts, then Secretary
OF State, said In o letter to the Secretary
OF the Navy. under date Of February 8.
1879. that q rigorous insistenoe upon the
exclusive control referred to. as based
on the fact OF hrst discovery. might with
out great difficulty be shown to contain
the element Of impracticability as applied
10 tbs case OF African territory in particu-
lar. Setting aside ther rights OF the natives
OF the Dark Continent az not under special
consideration, IL was only necessary. Mr..
Eyarts thought. for him to advert to the
circumstance that the recent original dis
coveriea there, made by travellers repre-
senting various nations. had been OF such
a nature, and related to each other In 80
complicated a manner, az to show that the
application of the doctrine OF control in
herring in the fact OF first discovery would
be demenstrably inadmissible by the COM
meroial world In general. 1t appeared,
then, to Mr.. Evarts that the representatives
of the worlds could admit the
existence OF no title (of no title asserted by
any foreign country at LEAST to territory
10 Africa, which should be made offensive
to the general and peaceful pursuits OF
that commerce. without the closest scrutiny
and investigation al to its fundamental
merits.
Some four years later President Arthur
referred in an annual message to the In
ternational African Association. He d.
rected attention to the fact that the rich
and ~populous valley OF the Congo was then
December. 1889 being opened to COM
MERGE by a society called the International
African Association. OF which the King Of
the Belgians was the president. and a citizen
OF the United States (Mr. Henry s. Sanford)
tho chief executive officer. President