Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State.
Brussels, April 24, 1906.
Sir: The department has been advised in my No. 70 of the agitation in Belgium against the present administration of the Kongo, of the debates in Parliament precipitated by the interpellation of Socialist and Liberal members, and of the rapidly growing sentiment in favor of the annexation of the Kongo to Belgium.
Soon after the publication of Mr. Cattier’s book on the Kongo, and the debates and agitation following, Senator Wiener, the King’s “avocet” and his special and most trusted adviser, was summoned to the Riviera, where the King has been passing the last four months, [Page 99] for consultation and review of the existing situation. Senator Wiener returned to Brussels yesterday, and to-day paid me a visit for the purpose of discussing some method of allaying the severe and apparently unjust criticisms made by a certain portion of the American press of the administration of the Kongo.
As the opposition in Parliament are almost unitedly in favor of annexation, and as the Government will naturally throw its influence in favor of a policy agreeable to the King, it may be assumed that we are upon the eve of a definite and authoritative movement by all the Belgian political forces looking to the solution of the existing difficulties in the administration of the Kongo by its annexation and political incorporation with the Kingdom.
I have, etc.,