Office of the Historian

Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Brussels, November 27, 1908.
No. 429.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith three copies of No. 2 of the Official Bulletin of the Belgian Kongo, which contains the decree1 organizing the colonial council of Belgium.

The principal points of this decree are as follows:

  • First. Provision is made that the minister for colonies shall be president of the council; if the latter is absent or unable to preside, his duties shall be discharged by the secretary general or by a director general designated for that purpose.
  • Second. A secretary appointed by the King is attached to the council as a consulting member. He shall make the procès-verbal of the meetings and sign the same after their approval by the council.
  • The secretary and the members of the council are to be paid a monetary compensation with free transportation on the railways to and from the place of meeting.
  • Third. The department of colonies must transmit to the office of the secretary all proposed decrees and, in general, all questions which the King may desire to submit to the examination of the council. It shall also transmit within 10 days following their issuance the decrees issued in cases of urgency.
  • Fourth. The council must make its report within one month from the day on which its first sitting occurs.
  • Fifth. The council has the right to take definite decisions when a majority of its members is present, but such decision shall be valid only when a majority of the regular members is present.

I have, etc.,

Henry Lane Wilson.
  1. Not printed.↩