Conference passed a stringent
declaration against the slave-trade:--". . . these regions shall not be
used as markets or routes of transit for the trade in slaves, no matter
of what race. Each of these Powers binds itself to use all the means at
its disposal to put an end to this trade, and to punish those engaged
in it."

The month of February saw the settlement of the boundary claims with
France and Portugal, on bases nearly the same as those still existing.
The Congo Association gained the northern bank of the river at its
mouth, but ceded to Portugal a small strip of coast line a little
further north around Kabinda. These arrangements were, on the whole,
satisfactory to the three parties. France now definitively gained by
treaty right her vast Congo territory of some 257,000 square miles in
area, while Portugal retained on the south of the river a coast nearly
1000 miles in length and a dominion estimated at 351,000 square miles.
The Association, though handing over to these Powers respectively 60,000
and 45,000 square miles of land which its pioneers hoped to obtain,
nevertheless secured for itself an immense territory of some 870,000
square miles.

The General Act of the Berlin Conference was signed on February 26,
1885. Its terms and those of the Protocols prove conclusively that the
governing powers assigned to the Congo Association were assigned to a
neutral and international State, responsible to the Powers which gave it
its existence. In particular, Articles IV. and V. of the General Act ran
as follows:--

Merchandise imported into these regions shall remain free
from import and transit dues. The Powers reserve to
themselves to determine, after the lapse of twenty years,
whether this freedom of import shall be retained or not.

No Power which exercises, or shall exercise, sovereign rights
in the above mentioned regions shall be allowed to grant
therein a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade.
Foreigners, without distinction, shall enjoy protection of
their persons and property, as well as the right of acquiring
and transferring movable and immovable possessions, and
national rights and treatment in the exercise of their
professions.

Before describing the growth of the Congo State, it is needful to refer
to two preliminary considerations. Firstly, it should be noted that the
Berlin Conference committed the mistake of failing to d