No. 10.
Mr. Tree to
Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Brussels
,
February 5, 1886.
(Received February 23.)
No. 48.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have
transmitted to you by this day’s mail, under separate cover, as printed
matter, the first three numbers of the Bulletin Officiel of the Independent
State of the Congo.
The first number of the first year is devoted entirely to the general act of
the Conference of Berlin.
The first number of the second year publishes the royal decree, organizing a
judicial system for the State. It institutes local tribunals “de première instance” in localities to be determined
by the sovereign, and a court of appeal at Boma.
Each tribunal is composed of one judge, a clerk, and a sheriff’s officer. The
sessions are public, and the judgments of the court are rendered
publicly.
Offenses committed by natives to the prejudice of non-natives are punished
conformably to the provisions of the code established by the royal decree;
offenses committed by natives between themselves are adjudged according to
the local customs of the country.
Those condemned to death suffer by hanging.
Those condemned to penal servitude are employed at the interior stations and
on the public works. Fines are provided for in certain cases, ranging from
not less than 1 franc to not more than 5,000 francs. Fines may be paid in
silver, or its equivalent in kind.
Homicide committed with premeditation is punishable with death.
Robbery attended with violence is punished very severely—from five to twenty
years’ penal servitude.
The second number of the first year published a decree organizing the
Government of the Congo into three departments, to wit:
- (1)
- The department of foreign affairs, which embraces, besides matters
ordinarily incident to that department, also justice, commerce, and
postal and telegraphic affairs.
- (2)
- The department of finances, which embraces imposts, the regulation
of lands, with reference to sales and acquiring of private title,
recording of deeds, &c., the general accounts of the State, the
public debt, and financial matters generally.
- (3)
- The department of the interior, which embraces public instruction,
police, roads, health, transport service by land and water, public
works, industries, and agriculture.
The last-named bulletin also publishes an ordinance of the State requiring
all non-natives who are in the actual occupancy of lands situated on
territory of the State, to make an official declaration indicating these
lands, and submitting to the examination and approval of the Government the
contracts and titles by virtue of which they occupy them.
From and after the publication of this ordinance no contract or agreement
with natives for the occupation of, or title to, land will be recognized by
the Government or protected by it, unless done through the, intervention of
a public officer charged by the State with this duty, and in accordance with
the methods prescribed by the State.
It is declared that no right exists to occupy vacant lands, nor shall natives
be dispossessed of lands which they occupy. Vacant lands are considered as
belonging to the State. The same number also publishes [Page 16] a decree organizing the postal service. From the
1st of January last; post-offices are established at Boma, Banana, and
Vivi.
Another decree in the same number organizes an “Êtat
Civil,” for the legal authentication of the births and deaths which
take place among the population of European origin in the Congo.
I simply call your attention to the leading features of these decrees. There
is much detail in each of them which I will not undertake to give.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure in No. 48.—Official Bulletin of
the Independent State of the Congo.—First year, No.
1.—Extract.—Translation.]
The Belgian Legislative Chambers, by a resolution adopted in the Chamber
of Representatives on the 28th of April, 1885, and in the Senate on the
30th of April, 1885, authorized His Majesty Leopold II, King of the
Belgians, to become the head of another state, in conformity with
article 62 of the Belgian constitution: “His Majesty, Leopold II, King
of the Belgians, is authorized to be the head of the state founded in
Africa by the International Association of the Congo. The union between
Belgium and the new state shall be exclusively personal.”
On the 1st of August, 1885, and at subsequent dates, His Majesty, Leopold
II, King of the Belgians, notified the Powers that the posessions of the
International Association of the Congo formed henceforth the Independent
State of the Congo; that His Majesty had, with the consent of the
association, assumed the title of Sovereign of the Independent State of
the Congo, and that the union between Belgium and this state was
exclusively personal.
On the same dates, the Independent State of the Congo declared itself
perpetually neutral, upon the bases set forth in Chapter III of the
general act of the Berlin Conference.
The Sovereign-King received in due succession, in response to the
notification of his accession as Sovereign of the Independent State of
the Congo, letters:
- On the 22d of August, 1885, from Her Majesty the Queen of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of
India.
- On the 23d of August, 1885, from His Majesty the King of the
Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
- On the 24th of August, 1885, from his Majesty the Emperor of
Germany, King of Prussia.
- On the 26th of August, 1885, from His Excellency the President of
the French Republic.
- On the 26th of August, 1885, from His Majesty, the King of
Italy.
- On the 14th of September, 1885, from His Excellency the President
of the Swiss Confederation.
- On the 15th of September, 1885, from His Majesty the King of
Sweden and Norway.
- On the 16th of September, 1885, from His Majesty the King of
Denmark.
- On the 23d of September, 1885, from His Majesty the Emperor of all
the Russias.
- On the 27th of September, 1885, from His Majesty the King of
Portugal and of the Algarves.
- On the 3d of October, 1885, from His Majesty the Emperor of
Austria, King of Bohemia, and Apostolic King of Hungary.
- On the 26th of October, 1885, from the President of the United
States.
- On the 26th of October, 1885, from His Holiness Pope Leo
XIII.
- On the 3d of November, 1885, from His Majesty the King of
Roumania.
- On the 10th of November, 1885, from His Majesty the King of
Spain.
- On the 26th of November, 1885, from His Excellency the President
of the United States of Mexico.
[Official Bulletin of the Independent State
of the Congo. First year, No.
2.—Extract.—Translation.]
organization of the government.
Nominations by decree of the Sovereign King: Administrator-General of the
Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr. E. van Eetvelde;
Administrator-General of the Department [Page 17] of Finance, Mr. H. Van Neuss; Administrator-General
of the Department of the Interior, Mr. M. Strauch.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of
the Congo.
To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
Whereas it is necessary to organize the central Government of the
Independent State of the Congo,
On the proposition of our council of administrators-general, we have
decreed and do hereby decree:
Article 1.
The central Government comprises three departments, namely: The
Department of Foreign Affairs, comprising that of Justice; the
Department of Finance; the Department of the Interior.
Article 2.
Each department is directed by an administrator-general appointed by the
Sovereign-King.
Article 3.
The administrators-general, in council, deliberate on all measures which
it may be useful to inaugurate in the interest of the state; they submit
these measures to the approbation of the Sovereign-King.
Article 4.
The administrators-general are charged, each as regards the affairs of
his own department, with the execution of the measures decreed by the
Sovereign-King.
Article 5.
The functions of each department are defined as follows:
department of foreign affairs,
comprising that of justice.
- (A)
-
Foreign Affairs.—Relations with foreign
countries; treaties and other international acts; diplomatic and
consular services; extraditions; civil status, successions, &c.,
of foreigners.
- (B)
-
Commerce and posts.—Internal and foreign
commerce; commercial navigation; ports and harbors; commercial
associations; immigration; affairs connected with the posts and
telegraphs.
- (C)
-
Justice.—Organization of the judiciary;
civil and commercial legislation; penal legislation; prisons;
charity; worship; official bulletin.
department of finance.
- (A)
-
Imposts.—Levy and collection of imposts of
every kind.
- (B)
-
Regulations respecting real property.—Real
estate occupied by natives and by foreigners; acquirement of real
estate by private persons; registration of real estate; land
register; state domain.
- (C)
-
General accounts and treasury.—General
accounts of the receipts and expenses of the state; accounts of
accounting officers; general budget of the state; public debt;
treasury service.
- (D)
-
Monetary system.—Money and questions
relating to money.
department of the interior.
- (A)
- Administrative division of the territory; administration of the
provinces and communes; public instruction; scientific collections;
public health; roads; police.
- (B)
- Means of communication; land and water carriage; construction,
maintenance, and furniture of public buildings.
- (C)
- National forces; artillery material; arms; munitions; purchase of
goods for exchange; industry and agriculture.
Given at Laeken
October 30,
1885.
LEOPOLD.
By the Sovereign King.
The administrators-general,
- EDM. VAN EETVELDE.
- HUB. VAN NEUSS.
- STRAUCH.
department of finance.
Regulations respecting realty.
Ordinance of the administrator-general of the Congo.
A decree of the sovereign will shortly summon all foreigners now
possessing or occupying, under whatever title, lands lying in the
territory of the Independent State of the Congo to make an official
declaration describing these lands, and to submit to the examination and
approbation of the Government the contracts and titles by virtue of
which they occupy them.
The decree is intended to assure, under the forms to be prescribed, the
recognition of acquired rights, and to permit the regular establishment,
in the near, future, of the landed property in the said State.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid conflict and abuses, the
administrator-general, authorized for that purpose by the sovereign,
enacts the following provisions:
Article 1.
From the date of publication of the present proclamation, no contract nor
agreement made with natives for the occupation, under any title
whatever, of portions of the territory will be recognized by the
Government, nor protected by it, unless the contract or agreement is
made through the intermediation of the public officer commissioned by
the administrator-general, and in accordance with the regulations which
the latter shall prescribe in each particular case.
Article 2.
No one has the right to occupy without title vacant lands nor to
dispossess the natives of the lands which they occupy; vacant lands are
to be considered as belonging to the State.
FR. de WINTON.
Vivi, July 1,
1885.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of
the Congo.
To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
Whereas there is ground for taking measures for the recognition of the
private rights which foreigners have acquired prior to the publication
of the present decree relative to lands lying, in the territory of the
Independent State of the Congo, upon the proposal of our council of
administrators-general, we have decreed and do hereby decree:
Article 1.
Foreigners who have rights to be established to lands lying within the
Independent State of the Congo can effect the proof and registration of
these rights by presenting a petition for registration in the form
prescribed by the provisions hereinafter set forth.
This petition shall be presented, in duplicate, before the 1st of April,
1886, to the public officer who shall be charged with the duties of
registrar of titles to real estate.
Our administrator-general of the Congo shall have the power to authorize
the receipt, subsequently to that date, of petitions for registration
which could not, owing to exceptional reasons, be presented within the
term prescribed.
[Page 19]
Article 2.
A separate petition shall he presented for each distinct parcel of
ground.
Distinct parcels shall be considered all those which do not directly
adjoin other parcels of the same petitioner, as well as all those
portions of ground which are separated from another portion by a creek
or water-course, or by a permanent public road or path.
Article 3.
The petition for registration shall express the name, surnames,
profession, nationality, and domicil of the petitioner.
If the latter requests the registration in the name of another person,
whose attorney he is, he shall further set forth the name, surnames,
profession, nationality, and domicil of this person.
Article 4.
The petition shall set forth, as precisely as possible, the situation of
the parcel of ground; it shall describe the boundary lines, mentioning
the adjacent lands; it shall recite the approximate area of the parcel,
the buildings erected on it, as well as its present use, or the intended
use of the ground for commercial, agricultural, or other purposes yet to
be determined.
Article 5.
The petitioner shall set forth in his petition the rights he possesses,
and the titles he has to establish. If these rights are proved by a
contract in writing, the original of this contract shall be produced,
and a copy certified as exact by the petitioner shall be annexed to the
petition for registration.
Article 6.
If the occupation or the enjoyment of the land is incumbered for the
benefit of natives or for the benefit of foreigners, by rents, fines,
servitudes, conditions or obligations of any kind whatsoever, detailed
description of the same shall be made in the petition.
Article 7.
The registrar of titles to real estate shall give a receipt for the
petitions for registration which shall be presented to him; he shall
return to the petitioner, having stamped them with a ne varietur, the original contracts of which profert has been
made in conformity with article 5.
Article 8.
Proof of the petitions for registration shall be made in such manner as
our administrator-general of the Congo shall prescribe.
For those lands to which the rights of foreigners shall have been duly
established, the registrar of titles to real estate shall deliver to the
parties entitled certificates of registration, which shall constitute
legal titles of occupancy until the system of laws respecting landed
property in the Independent State of the Congo shall have been finally
established.
A fixed price of 25 francs shall be collected on the delivery of each
certificate of registration.
Article 9.
An official survey of the lands, for which the petitions for registration
have been presented, may be made if our administrator-general of the
Congo shall consider it necessary or useful.
This survey may be made either before or after the delivery of the
certificate of registration.
Before the proper officers shall proceed to the survey, the interested
parties shall be required to mark out, either by means of posts,
boundary stones, ditches or fences, or in some other self-evident
manner, those portions of the boundary line of each piece of ground
which are not fixed by natural limits.
The expenses of the survey shall be borne by the interested parties, and
shall be paid according to a schedule to be established by our
administrator-general of the Congo.
[Page 20]
Article 10.
Oar administrator-general of the department of finance is charged with
the execution of the present decree.
Given at Ostend,
August 21,
1885.
LEOPOLD.
By the Sovereign King.
The administrator-general of the department of finance,
On the 17th of September, 1885, the Independent State of the Congo gave
notice of its adhesion to the Universal Postal Convention concluded art
Paris June 1, 1878, this adhesion to take effect from January 1,
1886.
By decree of the administrator-general for foreign affairs, dated 18th
September, 1885, post-offices were established on and after January 1,
1886, at Banana, Boma, and Vivi.
rates of postage.
Domestic.
|
Centimes. |
| Single letrer, per 15 grammes |
25 |
| Postal card |
15 |
| Business papers, printed matter, and merchandise samples, per
50 grammes. |
5 |
Foreign.
|
Centimes. |
| Single letter, per 15 grammes |
50 |
| Postal card |
15 |
| Business papers, printed matter, and merchandise samples, per
50 grammes (with a minimum of 25 centimes for business
papers) |
10 |
Charge for registry.
|
Centimes. |
| Domestic |
25 |
| Foreign |
50 |
| Notice of receipt |
25 |
N. B.—Correspondence intended for neighboring colonies, as far as and
including Libreville on the north and Mossamédès in the south, pays the
same rate of postage as domestic correspondence.
[Inclosure in No. 48.—Official Bulletin of
the Independent State of the Congo, second year, No.
1.—Extracts.—Translation.]
The Sovereign King received, in reply to the notification of his
accession as Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, letters on
the 22d of December, 1885, from His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil; on
the 2d of January, 1886, from His Excellency the President of the
Argentine Republic.
By royal decree of January 7, 1886, a penal code was enacted, and courts
of first instance and a court of appeals were established.
The court of appeals was to sit at Boma; the courts of first instance at
points to be fixed.
