I have called attention to the objects to which, in the opinion of our
Government, reforms should be directed, but have carefully avoided the
suggestion of the modus operandi for carrying these reforms into
execution.
In delivering the memorandum to M. Davignon I said to him that it was not
to be understood as a new expression of our views, but rather as an
ampler and clearer statement of those which I had the honor to verbally
make known to him upon the occasion of the interview which he had
accorded me in company with the British minister.
[Inclosure.]
Memorandum.
The nota pro memoria, re the attitude of Belgium in the event of the
annexation of the Kongo, handed this legation on January 29 by His
Excellency M. Davignon, was duly transmitted to Washington, and the
assurances therein contained of the earnest purpose of the Belgian
Government, in the event that the government and administration of
the Kongo should be transferred to it, to fully carry out the
stipulations and beneficent prescriptions of the acts of Berlin and
Brussels, were noted with lively satisfaction.
In the entirely amicable and unofficial representation preceding, and
which gave occasion to the note pro memoria, it was not the
indention of the Government of the United States to in any way call
into question the high and disinterested purposes which, it is
satisfied, govern Belgium in the consideration of the question of
the annexation of the Kongo territories. On the contrary, the
Government of the United States, finding that much is left to be
desired in the present administration of the Kongo from the
standpoint of the acts of Brussels and Berlin, gladly welcomes
annexation, and is firmly convinced that the assumption of the
government of these regions by Belgium will be followed by
improvement in the condition of the native races, by the development
and civilization of the country, and by the liberation of trade and
commerce from harmful restrictions.
The Government of the United States, however, feels that as a
signatory to the Brussels act it has assumed certain well-defined
obligations, which may not be lightly evaded and which at this
moment of transition, when the government of the Kongo territories
is about to be transferred from one power to another, make
imperative a clear, though brief, expression of its views.
The dissatisfaction with the present administration of the Kongo has
grown very largely out of its policy toward the native races—a
policy which was doubtless not intentionally cruel nor purposely at
variance with the acts of Brussels and Berlin, but which, in the
opinion of competent investigators, is enslaving, degrading, and
decimating the native population. It may be admitted that there has
been much exaggeration of the true condition of affairs and that
many charges have been refuted, but the fact nevertheless remains
that conditions prevail which were neither contemplated nor
anticipated when the Independent Kongo State was called into
existence by the powers.
The Government of the United States believes that whatsoever power
assumes dominion over the Kongo should address itself with
reasonable dispatch to carrying into practical execution, in letter
and in spirit, the prescriptions of the Brussels and Berlin
acts.
In the opinion of the Government of the United States the reforms to
be accomplished in the Kongo should have for their object:
- 1.
- The exemption of the native population from excessive
taxation.
- 2.
- The inhibition of forced labor.
- 3.
- The possibility of the natives becoming holders, in
permanent tenancy, of tracts of land sufficiently large to
afford sustenance.
- 4.
- To make it possible for traders and settlers of all
nationalities to secure unoccupied tracts of land, needed
for the prosecution and development of peaceful commerce, at
reasonable prices, in any part of the Kongo.
- 5.
- The procurement and guaranty of equal and exact justice to
all inhabitants of the Kongo through the establishment and
maintenance of an independent judiciary.
In calling attention to what, in its opinion, should be the objects
of reform in the Kongo, the Government of the United States may be
permitted to add, on its own account, that, relying on the
stipulations of articles 2 and 4 of the treaty of 1891, it would be
especially pleased to see the right accorded to American Christian
missionaries to secure reasonable sized tracts of land, when not
occupied by the State, in permanent holding, to be used for
missionary sites and schools.
The Government of the United States confines itself in this
memorandum to pointing out the direction in which, in its judgment,
radical reforms and changes are needed. It does not believe that it
is incumbent upon it to indicate or suggest to the Belgian
Government the modus operandi for carrying these reforms into
execution, well knowing the difficulties that must be surmounted and
being fully cognizant of the unselfish purposes of the annexing
power. Its representations are conceived and made in an entirely
friendly spirit and it is hoped that they will receive that measure
of consideration from the Belgian Government to which they are
entitled by their disinterestedness and by the long and traditional
friendship which has existed between the two countries.
