The Belgian Congo and the Berlin

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/belgiancongoberlOOkeitrich THE BELGIAN CONGO AND THE BERLIN ACT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVEBSITY THE BELGIAN CONGO AND THE BERLIN ACT BY ARTHUR BERRIEDALE KEITH D.C.L., D.LITT. OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW REGIUS PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH FORMERLY OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE AUTHOR OF ' RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN THE DOMINIONS,' ETC. OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1919 y PREFACE It is the aim of this work to examine in the crucial instance of the history of the Independent State of the Congo the defects of the Berlin Act, and to indicate the amendments which must be made in that international compact if it is to serve the high purposes for which it was destined, the extension to central Africa of the benefits of civilization and freedom of trade. This limitation of purpose has involved the omission in the historical sketch of the vivid detail of indi- vidual heroism and achievement in which the record of the Congo State abounds, but it has also justified the decision not to enter into particulars of the acts of cruelty committed upon natives under the State regime. The exposure of these crimes was a public duty, honourably fulfilled in England, during the period of the agitation to secure the reform of the administration, but since Belgium, under King Albert, has accepted in principle all the reforms urged by Viscount Grey, it is permissible to refrain from enter- ing minutely into the investigation of these deplorable events. In the account of the constitution and administration of the Colony the dislocation produced by the usurpation of authority in Belgium by Germany has been wholly ignored, and the relations between the Congo and the metropolis have been described as they *-» /'. r-\ S^ 6 PREFACE exist in law, and as they will revive when the infamy of that occupation has been terminated. The controversial part of this work rests, of course, on the original authorities, to which I have given full references throughout. In the historical portions I would make special acknowledgement to Dr. Scott Keltie's Partition of Africa and to that storehouse of invaluable information on the Congo, Sir Harry John- ston's George Grenfell and the Congo, Of Belgian writers on the Congo I have selected for citation M. Fritz Masoin's Histoire cle VEtat independa/nt du Congo, for, uncritical as it is, the author's deep devo- tion to the Roman Catholic Church and his ardent admiration for Leopold II render his statements as to the administration free from all suspicion of bias against the State. The constitutional history of the Congo has had the good fortune to be illumined by the writings of MM. F. Cattier and Charles de Lannoy, and we owe to the care of Dr. Camille Janssen, the first Governor-General of the Congo and Secretary- General of the Institut colonial international, an admirable selection of the reform legislation of the period 1908-13, inserted in the three volumes of the Becueil international de Legislation coloniale* The recommendations made in Chapter XIX ap- peared in a summary form in the July number of the Journal of the African Society. The work has been read in manuscript by my wife, to whom* I am much indebted for criticism and other help. A. BERRIEDALE KEITH. Edinburgh, September, 1918. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction . .9 CHAPTER I. The Early History of the Congo . .18 II. Leopold II and Stanley . - . 31 III. International Rivalry and the Berlin Conference 42 IV. The Berlin Act and the Foundation of the Congo State 57 V. The Organization of the Congo State and the Brussels Conference . 66 VI. The Conquest of the Katanga ... 83 VII. The Fall of the Slave Traders and the Military Revolts 92 VIII. The Advance to the Nile .... 101 IX. The Maladministration of the State . 116 X. The Annexation of the Congo to Belgium 137 XI. The British Case against the Congo and the Belgian Reforms . , . 145 1. The British Case against the Congo 145 2. The Belgian Reforms 152 XII. The Development of the Katanga and the German Menace . 159 1. The Development of the Katanga . 159 2. The German Menace 162 XIII. The Reorganization of the Administration 175 1. The Constitutional Division of Powers 175 2. The Rights of the Subject . 178 3. Administrative Organization 183 XIV. The Judiciary and the Finances 191 1. The Judiciary 191 2. The Finances 196 CONTENTS XV. The Land Regime .201 1. Native Land Eights 201 2. The Domain Lands . 204 3. Registered Lands 209 XVI. Social Progress 213 1. Social Conditions . 213 2. Religion . 217 3. Education 227 4. Public Health .... 230 5. The Protection of the Natives 232 XVII. Economic Development 236 1. Communications .... 236 2. Industry . ... 243 3. Commerce . 250 4. Labour ...... 254 5. The Economic Future of the Congo . 260 XVIII. The Civil and Penal Codes . 265 1. Civil Law and Procedure . 265 2. Criminal Law and Procedure . 269 XIX. The Peace Settlement and the Berlin Act 273 APPENDIX I. General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed February 26, 1885 302 II. General Act of the Brussels Conference, signed July 2, 1890, Chapter VI . 317 III. Declaration annexed to the General Act of the Brussels Conference, signed July 2, 1890 318 IV. Convention respecting Liquors in Africa, signed at Brussels, November 3, 1906 320 V. Declaration modifying Paragraph 5 of the Declaration annexed to the General Act signed at Brussels, July 2, 1890, signed at Brussels, June 15, 1910 322 INDEX 323 : INTRODUCTION Whatever be the final verdict of history on the part played by the question of colonial expansion among the causes of the European War, two features have emerged in the course of the conflict which render the problem of the future of Central Africa of vital importance to the United Kingdom and its allies. It is true that the submarine has failed to satisfy the high hopes reposed in its efficacy by Germany, but it has achieved remarkable results, and is undeniably a dangerous weapon, greatly diminishing the advantages which else would be derived from British sea- power. Happily for the allies, the German fleet during this war has not possessed oversea bases, strong enough to resist attack by sea or land, and equipped to repair and pro- duce submarines to prey on ocean-borne commerce, but it would be idle folly to ignore the grave menace to the liberties of the world, should Germany emerge from the war with the power to create such bases in preparation for a war of revenge, and neglect worse than criminal to fail to consider the provision of whatever measures may be possible to avert this calamity. The aims of Germany in regard to Africa are notorious ' Without colonies ', Marshal von Hindenburg is reported to have said, there can be no industry, and without industry there can be no adequate prosperity. Therefore we must have colonies ', and General Ludendorff has given his im- primatur to the views of his titular chief by the declaration that ' Colonies are inseparably connected with Germany's future, for which we must fight and conquer \* To the German claim for colonial possessions full sympathy was extended in the past by successive British governments, as 1 Cf. the views of Dr. Solf and Professor Delbriick cited in J. A. S. xvi. 336-8, and A. Bernard's article, ibid. 306-13. : 10 INTBODUCTION Pi-ir-.ee Liehnowsky has frankly admitted in his record of his dealings with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1 and the events of the war have still left not a few 2 who admit the justice of the claim and regard as necessary the recovery by Germany of the territories which she held before August, 1914. To the colonial party in Germany, however, such a prospect seems meagre and unsatisfactory, and the demand is made that not only shall the former territories be restored, but that they shall be increased at the expense of France, Portugal, and Belgium so that all Central Africa from sea to sea shall be in the hands of Germany, which then by means of submarine bases on either coast will effectively menace the ocean trade of the allies. 3 The demand for so large accessions of territory, though justified also on commercial grounds, rests essentially on the second factor which has emerged in the course of the war, the realization of the military potentialities in the training under modern conditions of the natives of Africa. Though France has long made effective use of Senegalese, and though her native troops have rendered admirable service in Europe, the British in Africa have ever made but re- stricted use of native forces. The causes of this are complex reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny, confirmed by the unhappy rising in Uganda in 1897, have rendered governments reluctant to raise more troops than were actually necessary for local defence ; there have been difficulties in supplying the necessary instructors and in finding officers with the taste and ability to command native Africans, but the chief cause why so little use has been made of African forces in the present war is doubtless that a policy of con- ciliation and peace seemed to render African armies needless and superfluous. The outbreak of hostilities, therefore, 1 My Mission to London (Cassell & Co.), pp. 14-19. 2 e.g., the Independent Labour Party's manifesto in The Times, August 29, 1917.

Load more