Author: H. R. Fox Bourne

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-26

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 9781330220146

Excerpt from Civilisation in Congoland: A Story of International Wrong-Doing The Congo State, misnamed "Free" in memory of its promise, accepted by Europe, as to the elevation of the native and the encouragement of the foreigner, though founded in the name of Almighty God for international purposes, has been and is the home of appalling misgovernment and oppression. Many of us who were concerned in arranging with Portugal - on the basis of freedom of navigation, trade, and missionary enterprise, and measures directed against slavery - a treaty the execution of which we should have been allowed to watch, can now unite with those who, when the treaty was ultimately signed in February, 1884, denounced it on the ground that Portugal, even under the strictest guarantees, could never be as satisfactory an occupant of the Lower Congo as would be the so-called International Committee which became the Congo State. The Aborigines Protection Society and the merchants of Liverpool and Manchester are now able to join together in a final condemnation of the Congolese authorities. It will not now be denied outside of Belgium that Europe set up in the vast Congo district a State far worse than the Portuguese, even as the Portuguese then were, without allowance for the improvements which would have been introduced under the treaty. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.