SINCE the termination of the West African Conference and the drawing up of the "General Act" on February 26 last, the public interest in the Congo State has naturally somewhat subsided. While the Conference was in preparation and while it was in session no one knew what surprises might be in store for Europe, what intrigues of this or that State might be unfolded, or what combinations might be in process of being directed against England. The Conference ended far more satisfactorily then many people had feared.
No attempt was made to interfere with the British control of the Niger, and the British principle of complete free trade was asserted and accepted over an area which should satisfy the wildest aspirations of Lancashire. Moreover, the Free State, that novel but most promising experiment, was not strangled in its birth by being shut off from the sea. Portugal gained the southern bank of the Congo mouth, but the other was conceded to the Free State. Nothing, then, remains but for the State to develop its own resources. What the Powers can do for it has been done. The organisation has been fairly started; Belgium has saluted King Leopold as "Sovereign of the Congo;" and all that remains is for merchants and missionaries, colonists and natives, to work together for the development of the vast resources of the country. How far they will do so is just the question which nothing but time will answer. We may freely concede that an immense work has already been achieved by the genius and energy of one man, the "Bula Matari," or Rock-breaker, as the natives, in their picturesque phrase, have dubbed Mr. Stanley. In a few short years he has done more to open up communications, to break down prejudices, to show the natives that the white man is not necessarily their enemy, then has ever been done before. He has also done not a little to show to English people, on the ground of commercial advantage alone, what an opening there is for enterprise in this part of Africa, with its great natural wealth and its vast population. The Congo valley, according to Mr. Stanley, is much more promising in point of productiveness than was the Mississippi valley "when De Soto navigated the Father of Waters." The tribes are rude enough, but he has shown that they can be treated with, and that when free from fear of enslavement or robbery they are inclined to confide in strangers. At the same time, it can hardly be expected that a man who has given his life to the accomplishment of a great work should see its difficulties quite as other people see them. Mr. Stanley hardly allows enough, for personal imperfections on the part of his future immigrants, and certainly not enough for the political difficulties which, in spite of "General Acts," may yet interfere with the full development of the infant State. Life is uncertain, and what would happen to the Congo if either King Leopold or Mr. Stanley were to disappear? What if, when the problems that are for the moment occupying the Powers of Europe have been solved or set aside, restless spirits among the French should excite their countrymen to believe that France had been unfairly treated in the Conference? Perhaps, however, it is ungracious to "hint a fault" in so dazzling, so new, so attractive a scheme. Certainly our doing so does not in the least imply that we wish it anything but well. If human nature can by any possibility be kept at the high level postulated by Mr. Stanley and his State until the infant prodigy has reached maturity, we shall be as ready as any one else to admit and rejoice in the success of the experiment.
Times, May 29, 1885
The Congo Valley
The Congo Valley
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
