it was
desirable to annul the clause in the Berlin Act prohibiting the
imposition of import duties for, at least, twenty years from that date
(that is, up to the year 1905). The proposal seemed so plausible as to
disarm the opposition of all the Powers, except Holland, which strongly
protested against the change. Lord Salisbury's Government neglected to
safeguard British interests in this matter; and, despite the
unremitting opposition of the Dutch Government, the obnoxious change was
finally registered on January 2, 1892, it being understood that the
duties were not to exceed 10 per cent _ad valorem_ except in the case of
spirituous liquors, and that no differential treatment would be accorded
to the imports of any nation or nations.

Thus the European Powers, yielding to the specious plea that they must
grant the Congo Free State the power of levying customs dues in order to
further its philanthropic aims, gave up one of the fundamentals agreed
on at the Berlin Conference. The _raison d'etre_ of the Congo Free State
was, that it stood for freedom of trade in that great area; and to sign
away one of the birthrights of modern civilisation, owing to the plea of
a temporary want of cash in Congoland, can only be described as the act
of a political Esau. The General Act of the Brussels Conference received
a provisional sanction (the clause respecting customs dues not yet being
definitively settled) on July 2, 1890[466].

[Footnote 466: On August 1, 1890, the Sultan of Zanzibar declared that
no sale of slaves should thenceforth take place in his dominions. He
also granted to slaves the right of appeal to him in case they were
cruelly treated. See Parl. Papers, Africa, No. 1 (1890-91).]

On the next day the Congo Free State entered into a financial
arrangement with the Belgian Government which marked one more step in
the reversal of the policy agreed on at Berlin five years previously. In
this connection we must note that King Leopold by his will, dated August
2, 1889, bequeathed to Belgium after his death all his sovereign rights
over that State, "together with all the benefits, rights and advantages
appertaining to that sovereignty." Apparently, the occasion that called
forth the will was the urgent need of a loan of 10,000,000 francs which
the Congo State pressed the Belgian Government to make on behalf of the
Congo railway. Thus, on the very eve of the summoning of the European
Conference at Brussels, the Congo Governm