nd the ways of Pharaoh. And the most remarkable feature of
it is, that the man who makes this claim is the man who was placed
over the Congo as a guardian, to keep it open to the trade of the
world, to suppress slavery. That, in the Congo, he has killed trade
and made the products of the land his own, that of the natives he
did not kill he has made slaves, is what to-day gives the Congo its
chief interest. It is well to emphasize how this one man stole a
march on fourteen Powers, including the United States, and stole
also an empire of one million square miles.

Twenty-five years ago all of Africa was divided into many parts. The
part which still remained to be distributed among the Powers was
that which was watered by the Congo River and its tributaries.

Along the north bank of the Congo River ran the French Congo; the
Portuguese owned the lands to the south, and on the east it was shut
in by protectorates and colonies of Germany and England. It was, and
is, a territory as large, were Spain and Russia omitted, as Europe.
Were a map of the Congo laid upon a map of Europe, with the mouth of
the Congo River where France and Spain meet at Biarritz, the
boundaries of the Congo would reach south to the heel of Italy, to
Greece, to Smyrna; east to Constantinople and Odessa; northeast to
St. Petersburg and Finland, and northwest to the extreme limits of
Scotland. Distances in this country are so enormous, the means of
progress so primitive, that many of the Belgian officers with whom I
came south and who already had travelled nineteen days from Antwerp,
had still, before they reached their posts, to steam, paddle, and
walk for three months.

In 1844 to dispose amicably of this great territory, which was much
desired by several of the Powers, a conference was held at Berlin.
There it was decided to make of the Congo Basin an Independent
State, a "free-for-all" country, where every flag could trade with
equal right, and with no special tariff or restriction.

The General Act of this conference agreed: "The trade of ALL nations
shall enjoy complete freedom." "No Power which exercises or shall
exercise Sovereign rights in the above-mentioned regions shall be
allowed to _grant therein a monopoly or favor of any kind in matters
of trade_." "ALL the Powers exercising Sovereign rights or influence
in the afore-said territories bind themselves to watch over the
preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement
of