The Irish standard., 1909-11-20
The CONGO FREE STATE.

ton and he has drawn upon it to paint
King Leopold in lurid colors. 1T is
upon the King, always the King, that
the guilt must lie," exclains the An
glicized Celt in new book just pub
lished under the name of THE Crime
in the Congo The titled novelist
saw crime in South Africa on the part
of the Beers and wrote a book de-
nouncing Dom Paul for refusing cit
izenship to English subjects who
would not become naturalized. But
he has never written a word about the
atrocities perpetrated upon the natives
of Hindostan by British officials of the
past or present. 1t was only the other
day that the Governor General of In
dia and his wife had narrow escape
from bombs-an evidence Of the dis
content of the half-starved subjects
of England in a country once famous
for it's wealth. One would suppose
that the English, of all people .,n
CebA III, "oo1u OS SIC IdoI " uIlO AoulI
with other nations on the ground Of
disagreement after their own record
in India and Ireland. The idea of John
Bull appearing in the role of a philan-
thropist and lover of oppressed races
Is enough to make Satan laugh. What
is his motive for charging Belgium
and it's King with cruelty to the blacks
of the Congo? The answer is not far
to seek.
The Congo is rich country in min
erals, having iron and copper in album
dance. 1t covers 4n area of 100000
square miles, ana exports rubber,
ivory, palm oil, and other valuable
products. 1t contains one of the larg-
est tree-clad areas in the world. The
inhabitants, estimated at fourteen
millions, comprise over hundred diff
ferent tribes, most of them of the
Bantu race of cannibals, and each
tribe Is governed by chief whose
power Is absolute, and most of them
practice fetch worship 1t is the So
called ill treatment of these savages
that moves John Bull to tears and
rouses the indignation of Sir Conan
Doyle, who has never penned a word
of protest against the atrocities COM
mitted by England in the land of his
own kith and kin. The sole object
of the British, it is needless to say,
is to grab the Congo from King Leo
pold. The titled novelist in his book
says:
Let there be general European
congress to consider the Congo State.
Great Britain could rightfully call this
congress and Great Britain could also
play the self-sacrifcing part of refus-
ing to take any share Of partitioned
Congo.i In other words, he would
like the European powers to take the
Congo from Belgium and divide it
among themselves after the fashion
of Poland by Russia, Austria AMI
Prussia when freedom shrieked as
Kosciusko FELL OF course, Great
Britain would generously refuse to
take amy share of partitioned Con-
co. That robber nation would try to
gobble up the whole of it.
What Conan Doyle says in his book
is based upon the stories told by Prot
estant missionaries and British con-
suls and traders from the West Coast
and Central Africa, who at one time
or another have testified before COM
missions of inquiry or have themselves
written pamphlets decrying the prac-
tees Of the Belgians, who are Cath
olics. He himself has never been Ii,
the Congo and he gets all his infor-
nation from prejudiced sources. Tre
quotes an American missionary, named
Murphy, who says that the rubber
question is accountable for most of the
horrors perpetrated upon the Congo
csc. Yes, there is the rub! If there
was no rubber or other product for
export. we would hear nothing from
Conan Doyle on the Congo question
The Congo has free trade with the
world; there is an open door" for
commerce.: and the territory was
placed under the sovereignty of the
King of the Belgians by international
conference in 1885. No Europeans
outside the British ARE finding fault
with Leopold's rule in the Congo. The
missionary societies have partially
succeeded in enlisting the sympath:es
OF Americans, but those who know
the tactics of Great Britain are slow
to believe that 1t Il actuated by lofty