Ambassador Reid to the Secretary of State.
London, December 5, 1907.
Referring to your confidential instructions concerning the Kongo, of November 4, 1907, and to my statement of a conversation with Sir [Page 825] Edward Grey on the subject November 19, I have to report that Sir Edward Grey to-day showed me a copy of an instruction he is just sending to Sir A. Hardinge, the British minister in Belgium. It repeated the view that a public utterance at the present moment as to the terms on which the annexation of the Kongo State by Belgium would be recognized might prevent a discussion of this question in the Belgian Parliament on its merits. This objection, however, does not, in his opinion, apply to a private representation. It approves the suggestion by Sir A. Hardinge that he and his American colleague, Mr. Wilson, might advantageously give a private hint as to the attitude which our two Governments might in certain contingencies be compelled to adopt, and concludes as follows:
I request, therefore, that you will concert with Mr. Wilson with a view to acting as you suggest on a favorable opportunity. You might point out that great anxiety has been shown in both countries to see the administration of the Kongo State complying with the spirit of the Berlin act and effecting serious and immediate reforms; that the two Governments, notwithstanding the pressure brought to bear upon them at home, have refrained hitherto from taking any steps which might be embarrassing to the Belgian Government in a critical period of transition, but that they attach the greatest possible importance to the question.
I said to Sir Edward Grey that you should be advised at once of this letter, and that, if you approved its policy, you would doubtless instruct Mr. Wilson to inform Sir A. Hardinge and act in concert.