possible for the officials of the nation in whose territory
he had taken refuge to seize him and hand him back to
his pursuers. It would also be possible to allow the
pursuers to follow him up over the frontier. This, however,
would -be a very strong measure, and would almost
certainly lead to grave difficulties ; while the handing over
of fugitive chiefs might even appear in the light of
abetting oppression, and would be almost as objectionable.
The true remedy for difficulties of this kind lies, I think,
in the rectification of frontiers. This is a lengthy and
laborious business, and it involves a complete and
detailed knowledge of the local conditions in each
several case; but I think it offers the only satisfactory
settlement. .
But the want of union between the civilized Powers
may lead to even more disastrous consequences. The
perplexities of annexation and divided allegiance are
bad enough, but when it comes to white men fighting
among themselves, or murdering, one another in cold
blood, the result is lowering to white. reputation for
hundreds of miles around. To -the native there is nd
such thing as distinction between nationalities of white
men, and indeed the distinction is apt to become a very
slight one in the eyes of European travellers themselves.
There is only room in Africa for one line of partition-
black and white. If white men fight among themselves,
one side must be beaten. The native then sees that
white men are not invincible, and he is encouraged to
see if. he cannot beat them himself.
But far worse than any fighting between white men
in Africa is such an appalling blunder, to say nothing
of its criminality, as the recent murder of Mr. Stokes.
I have already given a few examples which came under
my notice of the way in which the officers of the Congo
State go about their business. Thanks to the detestable
system of giving them a commission on the ivory and
rubber they bring in, the expeditions of these officers
528
are little better than the worst raids of the'slave-dealiiig
Arabs. The Congo State is a vast irresponsible commercial
company, with the King of the Belgians as its
managing director, and the business of the company;
pursued through its agents—these officers—is systematic
loot. The result is bad enough even from the point of
view of the Congo State itself, for it means - the rapid
exhaustion of the country. The elephant is being
exterminated to satisfy the greed of the officer, who
wants his commission. This same legalised blackmailer
will appear in a village and demand so much rubber in
such a time, on pain of execution for the chief and
destruction for the village. The chief sends out his
men in a hurry to get the rubber. Instead of making
incisions in the creeper, they cut down a whole plant
and bring in the whole of its gum. The Belgian takes
his commission for a plant which has taken hundreds of
years to grow, and which is destroyed for ever. So with
the coffee plantations. The officer receives a premium on
the number of bushes he plants and rears'. He gets his
money at the end of three or. four years, and then clears
out. His successor is not going to waste his time looking
after the old plants when he can get a premium by
planting new ones. So he leaves the established plants
to run wild, and there is so much timé and labour
wasted.
All this is bad enough, but it concerns only the Congo
State itself. But when it comes to such outrages -as'
the murder of Mr. Stokes, and when it is quite impossible'
to bring the perpetrator of such a murder to justice, then
the State becomes a menace to the authority, and even
the existence, of white men throughout the whole of
Africa. Very few people realize who Mr. Stokes was,:
and what a prodigious' stir his murder must have
produced through an enormous tract of country. • From
Tabora to the Victoria Nyanza, throughout the whole
of Unyamwezi and Usikuma, there never wasi, and never
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