In the House of Lords on Tuesday Lord Reay called
atten- tion to the recent decrees issued by the Congo Free State Government, and insisted that Britain had a right to supervise the reforms promised. Lord Fitzmaurice replied with a trenchant criticism of the whole policy of King Leopold. Many of the recommendations of the Commission bad not been given effect to, and there was no security that the few accepted would be properly acted upon. There was no guarantee for the proper administration of justice, and Britain must insist upon her right to establish Consular Courts. What began as an avowedly philanthropic enterprise must not be allowed to set philanthropy and common decency at defiance. Lord Lansdowne in an admirable speech showed that on this question there was no division of opinion among British statesmen. They bad a Treaty right of intervention, and, above all, a moral right. He drew a sharp distinction between the Belgian and the Congo Governments, and suggested a Conference of the signatory Powers to investigate the whole matter, adding that he would welcome the trans- ference of the Congo State to Belgium. He emphasised also the importance of the financial side, and the necessity of seeing
that., the country was not treated as a milch-cow, and that a due ',it:portion of the profits were allotted to the purposes of administration.
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