Widnes Examiner. — 1907-11-30 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

LORD MONKWELL'S STRONG WORDS.  Lord MONKSWELL said they were met not as belonging to any particular creed or party, but as men and women who were determined to show that they bad all the old English hatred of inhumanity and injustice. (Applause.) England, he was glad to think, was at last giving forth on this. question no uncertain sound. They had long been trying to teach the people of England what the issue was and they had sometimes been bitterly disappointed at the reception of their observations. They bad found themselves face to face , with the densest ignorance on the question and he thought that ignorance wns not entirely dispelled or  .„ For Bronchial Coughs take Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. 1/11, 2/9.—Advt.  they would see an uprising even greater than they were now witnessing. The Congo system of Government was an organized system of robbery, torture and murder. It was fully shown that there had been no improvement up to that moment. England had an enormous responsibility in the matter—a greater responsibility than any of the other signatory powers of the Berlin Act which handed over the Congo to King Leopold. We made a grim and ghastly mistake 1 twenty-two years ago and we ought to rectify it—we 1 were bound in honour to rectify it—at the earliest 1 possible moment. We made the mistake with the best intentions, but they knew- where good intentions led to. (Laughter.) Good intentions in this case had led to the Congo hell. Lord Monkswell dealt with some of the apologies made for King Leopold. Continuing be said they had deliberately stayed their hands in the matter to find out what Belgium was going to do and whether there was anything in the plea that Belgium was going to annex the Congo. They entirely denied that King Leopold had the right to hand over the Congo to anybody except subject to the terms and restrictions imposed upon him, but not enforced, under the Berlin Act. A nominal annexation by Belgium that would leave King Leopold practically in absolute possession would be a mere mockery and something to which we could never set our hands. (Applause.) There was absolutely no provision made at present to safeguard any of the interests of the natives, supposing that Belguin did annex. "It is perfectly intolerable ' continued his lordship "that King Leopold, whose crimes are as colossal as his vices are mean, odious and contemptible, from whose nature no pitiful meanness is alien, who has cheated his own subjects and given to his illegitimate son the gold that he has coined from the Congo natives and which he promised to Belguim, surely it is intolerable that such a man should be allowed to continue to dispose of the lives and liberties of 15 millions of people as the trustee of Europe and the champion of - civilization and Christianity." (Applause.) The groat question now was supposing we were unable to arouse the conscience of Europe and other people would not do their duty, should we do our's single-handed, whatever happened ? (Applause.) The Prime Minister in a recent speech contrasted the hopes we had of King Leopold when we gave him the Congo with his performances, and said that the present position was absolutely intolerable and a menace to civilization. He added that the Government was deeply impressed with the sense of England's responsibility. Now, he (Lord Nlonkswell) took it that if those words meant anything they me int that in the last resort England would and must act alone. (Applause.) Sometimes the boldest course was the best course to adopt. (Applause.)