The Story
of the
Congo Free State
Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the
Belgian System of Government in
Central Africa
By
Henry Wellington Wack, F.R.G.S.
(Member of the New York Bar)
With 125 Illustrations and Maps
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1905
Copyright, 1905
BY
HENRY WELLINGTON WACK
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
[Pg iii]
PREFACE
As a student of Mid-African affairs for the pastseven years, and a close observer of the rapidprogress toward complete civilisation nowbeing made in that part of the world, I have felt itmy duty to lay before my countrymen the true andcomplete story of the conception, formation, anddevelopment of the Congo Free State.
At a period of such bitter controversy concerningthe government of the Congo Free State as thepresent, it is necessary that I should explain the circumstancesunder which I add this volume to theliterature of that subject.
During a residence of several years in the UnitedKingdom, I could not fail to observe the growththere of an organised campaign against the CongoFree State. That a small section of the Britishpublic, interested in the rubber trade, should bysubtle means seek to delude or should even succeedin deluding, the great British nation so completelyas to obtain general credence for its stories ofcruelty and oppression alleged against King Leopold’sgovernment failed to move me. It was not myconcern, while enjoying the hospitality of England,to criticise the way in which her religious organisationswere being used to further the selfish aims of a[Pg iv]small clique of Liverpool merchants. But when,within the past year, I perceived that the campaignof calumny against the Congo Free State was beingextended to the United States, I could not longerregard the phenomenon with a merely passive interest.It occurred to me that my knowledge ofMid-African affairs might enable me to place beforethe American people a complete statement of theactual facts of the Congo Free State, and that myself-imposed task could not fail to be of value at atime when interested partisans were endeavouringto deceive them.
Having obtained an introduction to the King ofthe Belgians, I informed his Majesty that I believedthe American people would much esteem the truehistory of the affairs of the Congo written by anAmerican, and that