No. 13.
Mr. Tree to
Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Brussels, March 16, 1886.
(Received March 29.)
No. 57.]Sir: I have the honor, in acknowledging the receipt
of your instruction No. 28, of the 24th ultimo, to inform you that I have,
in accordance with your request, sent to you by this mail, under separate
cover, as printed matter, two additional copies of the Official Bulletin No.
2 of the Independent State of the Congo. I have also placed under the same
cover two copies each of the Official Bulletins 1 and 2, of 1886, which have
been just issued by the Government.
- No. 1 seems to be a republication of the decree organizing the
judicial system of the State, and announcing the appointment of the
judges of the court.
- No. 2 publishes decrees regulating the mode of the publication of
official acts, the further organization of the postal service, the
legalization of certain documents, the protection of the port of Banana,
and the establishment of an export duty on certain products of the
country, which are named in a schedule attached to the decree.
I also desire to call your attention to a decree published on page 32 et seq. of this number, which determines the
condition on which sea-going vessels may acquire a Congolaise
nationality.
It may not be irrelevant, in this dispatch, also to say that it is announced
here that the Pope has employed himself in regulating the
[Page 23]
ecclesiastical situation of the Independent
State of the Congo. It is said that, conformably to the views of the King of
Belgium, Leo XIII has accorded to the Archbishop of Malines supreme
ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the Congo State, and has designated him as
the chief of all the future clergy of that territory.
The new African Seminary of Louvain will prepare the ecclesiastics intended
to occupy the parishes to be formed in the Congo.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure in No. 57.—Official Bulletin of
the Independent State of the Congo.—Second year.—No.
2.—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 14th of January, 1886, from His Majesty the King of the
Hellenes.
On the 16th of February, 1886, from His Excellency the President of the
Dominican Republic.
On the 25th of February, 1886, from His Excellency the President of the
Republic of Hayti.
On the 1st of March, 1886, from His Excellency the President of the
Republic of Venezuela.
By a royal decree of the 7th of February, 1886, it was declared that no
sea-going ship, except those belonging to the State, should be permitted
to navigate under the flag of the State, unless it was provided with a
commission delivered according to the provisions of the said decree.
These commissions can be issued, under the decree, to ships which belong
more than half: (a) To subjects; (b) to commercial associations whose legal
personality the law recognizes, and which have a place of business or a
branch house in the Congo; (c) to foreigners who
have resided a year in the territory of the State, and who continue to
reside there.
The commission expires: (a) After four years’
duration; (b) by the change of name of the ship;
(c) by the employment of the ship as a
corsair, pirate, or in the slave trade; (d) when
the ship no longer fulfills the conditions mentioned above as to
ownership; (e) in case of the capture or
destruction of the ship.
By a royal decree of December 15, 1885, an export duty was laid on
certain products exported to foreign countries, whether by way of the
Congo or by sea.
Schedule of export duties.
| Merchandise. |
Rate per
100 kilog. |
Merchandise. |
Rate per 100
kilog. |
|
Francs. |
|
Francs. |
| Groundnuts |
1.30 |
Palm oil |
2.50 |
| Coffee |
1.00 |
Ivory |
50.00 |
| Caoutchone |
20.00 |
Palm nuts |
1.20 |
| Copal |
8.00 |
Sesame |
1.70 |
For quantities less than 100 kilograms the duty is to be collected
proportionally to the above rate.
