THE KING OF THE BELGIANS.
I% ING LEOPOLD is absolutely insusceptible to public opinion. His latest move in his tenacious struggle to keep for himself the inglorious profits of the Royal preserves of forced labour in the Congo make that quite clear. No one can estimate precisely the pressure exerted by public opinion in procuring a solution of all political questions which are ethical in character, yet public opinion is always an invisible party to their discussion. When A meets B to discuss a problem and come to terms, the issue is not simply the result of A's desires modified by concessions to B's, or vice-versa ; it is the result of A's desires fired or restrained by x (the unknown quantity of public opinion) acting on B's desires which are influenced in the same way. Very often x is far more powerful than the total sum of A's and B's wishes or convictions, although in a report of the negotiations x is not mentioned as having been present. The opinion of his own countrymen is naturally a more powerful incentive or restraint to a statesman than the opinion of foreigners. The opinion of foreigners may act as a challenge to him to do all the more what he is being condemned for doing,—their hostility is so often only the reverse side of the applause of his friends. But in whatever way it acts, public opinion is an invisible member of every Cabinet,—the unavowed consultant of most politicians. Where the progress of events is not guided definitely by Acts and Treaties, and men depend simply on the humane instincts of civilisation, publio opinion is often supreme. Men say : " That cannot happen because public opinion would not stand it." In such a difficult case as the Powers find themselves in in acknowledging and acting upon their responsibility for the Congo Free State, they look for the beneficent opera- tion of public opinion above all things. They say to them- selves :—" It is doubtful how we ought to act if pressure becomes necessary. But we cannot believe that it really will be necessary. The Belgians are an enlightened, gifted, and highly civilised people. Surely they have only to know the facts for public opinion to do its work. The terrible wrongs of the Congo natives will assuredly be set right. Belgium will not be willing to rest under the stigma of all Europe. Foreign opinion alone will cause her to do her duty, even if she does not see for herself, as we are sure she does, what that duty is." Is this a misrepresentation of the attitude of the Great Powers, and particularly of Britain, towards Belgium ? Ie it an exaggeration of what is hoped of public opinion ? We think not.
Unhappily the Administration of the Congo Free State is for all effectual purposes the King of the Belgians himself. And the King of the Belgians is, as we have said, absolutely insusceptible to public opinion. It is one of the greatest ironies of fate that in the very circumstances where so much depends upon the effect of civilised opinion on one man, that man should be one of the rare people who are uninfluenced by it We did not know how utterly impregnable the King was to the opinion of others till his last act a few days ago brazenly flouted what we may assume to be the good intentions of his Government. We confess that what he has done has greatly increased the complexity of the already complex problem of annexation. If it does not make annexation impossible, it at least makes it much less likely to be beneficial. It is difficult to say what ought to be done next to counteract the King's cynical stroke.
But we must describe briefly what the King's move is. He has just announced in the Journal Officiel that within four months from July 21st a company will be formed to develop for an unlimited time the Crown " Domain " in the Congo. Two things are to be observed here. First, that the Convention by which the company is authorised has been kept secret since July 21st, and must have been made behind the back of the Government while Parlia- ment was trying to solve the financial difficulties of annexation. Second, that the company is to exist for an unlimited time, and is therefore intended to survive annexation. If there were any doubt about this, it would be removed by the existence of the stipulation that the persons to whom concessions are granted—mostly intimate . friends of the King—have a right to transfer them to third persons. Mr. E. D. Morel, in a penetrating article on the subject in the Manchester Guardian, mentions the curious coincidence that the King's decree follows close on the announcement in a financial paper of the formation of another Congo company with a, large capital, presided over by the late Premier, M. de Smet. de Naeyer. In the new company invented by the King, the King himself is said to be the .chief shareholder. This is quite probable; indeed, it is almost certain. The "Domaine" is virtually the King's private property, and as nothing we know of the King would make us suppose that be would give away a rich property, the logical conclusion is that he is simply making over his property as King to himself under another name. He also reserves the.right to pass it on to himself under yet a third alias. If this means that he wishes to hide himself, it may perhaps be taken as a sign of some small responsiveness to public opinion, and hence as a sign of grace. We hope so, but are not sanguine. The King, so far as one can judge, means to say, when the Congo is about to be annexed to Belgium : " Certainly you can annex the whole Congo without exception, but you must respect vested interests, and what used to be the 'Domaine do la. Couroune '—my own property—now belongs to a company, and it must be taken over under the company's conditions." It is as well to be clear as to what the " Domain " really is. It is a territory which includes the basin of Lake Leopold II., and is ten times as large as Belgium. The richest rubber region is here. Till 1902 it was not known publicly that this territory was treated in any special way ; even the title " Domain de la Couronne" was not known. It was stated and repeated that all the revenues of the Congo without exception were paid into the Treasury and spent on administration and on the interests of the natives. Mr. Morel's assertion that a large part of the revenue of the " Domain " was disposed of mysteriously outside the Congo was called a calumny. But it was eventually admitted that the King's " Domaine " had existed since 1896, that its revenues were controlled by three persons in close touch with the King, and that they were not accounted for in any way. Some of the revenue was spent, apparently, in buying properties in the Riviera, some ou decorating the Luken Palace, some ou the construction of a triumphal arch in Brussels, and so forth. This is the negation of governing in the interests of the governed with a vengeance ! King Leopold is indifferent alike to the opinion of foreigners and to that of his own people. The Belgian papers speak in very plain terms of the King's conduct. Even a triumphal arch and the advancement of " the arts and sciences' do not dazzle people so far as to make them blind to the fact that, great as the cruelty has been in most parts of the Congo, it has been greatest in the Royal " Domain." When the Belgian Parliament meets in the autumn the King's cynical action, of course, will be dis- cussed. We shall be surprised if public opinion does not make itself heard then. But what effect will it have on the King ? After this can one hope that it will have any ? In any case, it is only right to wait and see. The signatories to the Berlin Act cannot consent to a con- tinuance of the irresponsible control of the ' Domaine " by whatever new name it be called. Au alias does not make a new Adam.
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