For this work the Arab Governor is to receive five hundred stands of arms, five thousand kegs of powder, and 20,000 sterling, to he paid in several instalments. This was definitely a letter that I would like to use when teaching hopefully 1950s (London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1969). November 11, 2017. Every charge which I am about to bring against your Majestys personal Government in the Congo has been carefully investigated; a list of competent and veracious witnesses, documents, letters, official records and data has been faithfully prepared, which will be deposited with Her Britannic Majestys Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, until such time as an International Commission can be created with power to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and attest the truth or falsity of these charges. I love children but they have no place in my life, None of my colleagues at work knows that Im a transgender Read Montoyas Story, Gay, but married to a woman Read Jims story. Other officers have served the State faithfully, and deserve well of their Royal Master. There is not a single chaplain in the employ of your Majestys Government to console the sick or bury the dead. More than just the people of the HIS233: World Civilization 2 And all this upon the word of honour of a gentleman, I subscribe myself your Majestys humble and obedient servant. Against the deceit, fraud, robberies, arson, murder, slave-raiding, and general policy of cruelty of your Majestys Government to the natives, stands their record of unexampled patience, long-suffering and forgiving spirit, which put the boasted civilisation and professed religion of your Majestys Government to the blush. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. But the only thing they found in the wake of his march was misery. This is a fake. Overall this letter held a lot of information. AT THE BEGINNING of August 1890, several weeks after he wrote his furious Open Letter to King Leopold II, George Washington Williams finished the long return journey down the Congo River to the station of Kinshasa, on Stanley Pool. One copy is held with the Guy Carlton Papers in The National Archives of Great Britain in Read More(1783) The Book of Negroes, General Act of the Conference of Berlin Berlin, Germany Signed February 26, 1885 CHAPTER I DECLARATION RELATIVE TO FREEDOM OF TRADE IN THE BASIN OF THE CONGO, ITS MOUTHS AND CIRCUMJACENT REGIONS, WITH OTHER PROVISIONS CONNECTED THEREWITH Article I The trade of all nations shall Read More(1885) General Act of the Conference of Berlin, George Washington Williams, An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo By Colonel, The Honorable Geo. No white man commanded his rear column, and his troops were allowed to straggle, sicken and die; and their bones were scattered over more than two hundred miles of territory. In the Lower Congo River there is but One post, in the cataract region one. Under Leopold II's administration, the Congo Free State became one of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century. SEVENTH.Your Majestys Government is engaged in trade and commerce, competing with the organised trade companies of Belgium, England, France, Portugal and Holland. Not long ago a Belgian trader had a child by a slave-woman of the State, and he tried to secure possession of it that he might educate it, but the Chief of the Station where he resided, refused to be moved by his entreaties. All Rights Reserved. I now appeal to the Powers which committed this infant State to your Majestys charge, and to the great States which gave it international being; and whose majestic law you have scorned and trampled upon, to call and create an International Commission to investigate the charges herein preferred in the name of Humanity, Commerce, Constitutional Government and Christian Civilisation. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window). They have estranged the natives from your Majestys Government, have sown the seed of discord between tribes and villages, and some of them have stained the uniform of the Belgian officer with murder, arson and robbery. FIFTHYour Majestys Government is excessively cruel to its prisoners, condemning them, for the slightest offences, to the chain gang, the like of which can not be seen in any other Government in the civilized or uncivilized world. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours. I have the honour to submit for your Majestys consideration some reflections respecting the Independent State of Congo, based upon a careful study and inspection of the country and character of the personal Government you have established upon the African Continent. . The original source came from blackpast. But of all the awful crimes they committed, Belgiums King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all. These poor creatures are frequently beaten with a dried piece of hippopotamus skin, called a chicote, and usually the blood flows at every stroke when well laid on. He claimed he was doing it to protect the natives from Arab slavers, and to open the heart of Africa to Christian missionaries, and Western capitalists. The propensity for violence is . Search the history of over 806 billion 1890, s.n. I have the honour to submit for your Majestys consideration some reflections respecting the Independent State of Congo, based upon a careful study and inspection of the country and character of the personal Government you have established upon the African Continent. Not one out of every twenty State-officials know the language of the natives, although they are constantly issuing laws, difficult even for Europeans, and expect the natives to comprehend and obey them. African American history in one place that will provide me with a resource to use once I From Leopoldville to NGombe, a distance of more than 300 miles, there is not a single soldier or civilian. In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa. They are ignorant and cruel, because they do not comprehend the natives; they are imposed upon them by the State. Your email address will not be published. You will find many other books, which will be given to you at the end of this conference. Passerino Editore Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a05f34588bb8ca64686b0d8f5df0e3d8" );document.getElementById("i421ca229f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He describes the atrocities in detail Between 800 and 1,000 slaves are sold to be eaten by the natives of the Congo State annually; and slave raids, accomplished by the most cruel and murderous agencies, are carried on within the territorial limits of your Majestys Government which is impotent. And, of course, many die. Stanley Falls, Central Africa, ELEVENTH.Your Majestys Government has concluded a contract with the Arab Governor at this place for the establishment of a line of military posts from the Seventh Cataract to Lake Tanganyika territory to which your Majesty has no more legal claim, than I have to be Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian army. like to look more into the subject to research how long this lasted and how they brought it There are only 2,300 soldiers in the Congo. Under Leopold IIs administration, the Congo Free State became one of the greatest international scandals of the early 20th century. 6 Ibid, page 6 The Book of Negroes is a series of documents listing persons of African ancestry who were evacuated from the United States at the end of the American Revolution. Ferguson the aftermath: Why voting and voter registration is a non-solution! These recruits are transported under circumstances more cruel than cattle in European countries. writing. British government sent the Casement Report to the Belgian government. He let the King know The third act was the gun trick. They are the greatest curse the country suffers now. They are enemies, not patriots. 1 had never been able to conceive of Europeans, establishing a government in a tropical country, without building a hospital; and yet from the mouth of the Congo River to its head-waters, here at the seventh cataract, a distance of 1,448 miles, there is not a solitary hospital for Europeans, and only three sheds for sick Africans in the service of the State, not fit to be occupied by a horse. Microform in English. WhatsApp Only +2347014043648. Mr. H. M. STANLEY, the man who was your chief agent in setting up your authority in this country, has grossly misrepresented the character of the country. Have courage to admit it; you are not going to teach them what they know already. ELEVENTH.Your Majestys Government has concluded a contract with the Arab Governor at this place for the establishment of a line of military posts from the Seventh Cataract to Lake Tanganyika territory to which your Majesty has no more legal claim, than I have to be Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian army. In 1935, while working in the Congo, Muikwani Bukoko bought a second-hand Bible from a Belgian priest who forgot the speech in the Bible. The issues addressed in his writings are varied and the major theme is the He allows his personal feelings on the subject the shine through in his Not long ago such a recaptured slave was given one hundred chikote each day until he died. Evangelize the niggers so that they stay forever in submission to the white colonialists, so they never revolt against the restraints they are undergoing. When Leopold was 65, he took the 16-year-old prostitute Caroline Lacroix as his mistress. There is a feeling of deep discontent among the Arabs here, and they seem to feel that they are being trifled with. Well tried though, but were not ALL dumb. He witnessed the porters enslaved in chains, the brutal . They eat their rice twice a day by the use of their fingers; they often thirst for water when the season is dry; they are exposed to the heat and rain, and sleep upon the damp and filthy decks of the vessels often so closely crowded as to lie in human ordure. EIGHTH.Your Majestys Government has violated the General Act of the Conference of Berlin by firing upon native canoes; by confiscating the property of natives; by intimidating native traders, and preventing them from trading with white trading companies; by quartering troops in native villages when there is no war; by causing vessels bound from Stanley-Pool to Stanley-Falls, to break their journey and leave the Congo, ascend the Aruhwimi river to Basoko, to be visited and show their papers; by forbidding a mission steamer to fly its national flag without permission from a local Government; by permitting the natives to carry on the slave- trade, and by engaging in the wholesale and retail slave-trade itself. They thought it meant complete subjugation, and they fled in confusion. or the care for the sick that was needed. After much begging the black brother aims the gun at his white brother, pulls the trigger, the gun is discharged, the white man stoops . Instead of it being fertile and productive it is sterile and unproductive. In 1884 he said:. TENTH.Your Majestys Government is engaged in the slave-trade, wholesale and retail. TWELFTHThe agents of your Majestys Government have misrepresented the Congo country and the Congo railway. Not one out of every twenty State-officials know the language of the natives, although they are constantly issuing laws, difficult even for Europeans, and expect the natives to comprehend and obey them. King Leopold II and the CongoThe European colonization of Africa was one of the greatest and swiftest conquests in human history. We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us! They make no report as to the number of robberies they commit, or the number of lives they take; they are only required to subsist upon the natives and thus relieve your Majestys Government of the cost of feeding them. George Washington Williams, 1889. Follow us @kineticslive, Milestone: BMORENEWS.coms 10th Anniversary: 12/12/12 :: EARLY REGISTRATION, Kimpa Vita (Dona Beatriz) (16841706) Saint of Congo. With few exceptions, the surgeons of your Majestys Government have been gentlemen of professional ability, devoted to duty, but usually left with few medical stores and no quarters in which to treat their patients. After reading through this letter it is clear that Williams had a strong stance on There is no white commissioned officer at these posts; they are in charge of the black Zanzibar soldiers, and the State expects them not only to sustain themselves, but to raid enough to feed the garrisons where the white men are stationed. Between 800 and 1,000 slaves are sold to be eaten by the natives of the Congo State annually; and slave raids, accomplished by the most cruel and murderous agencies, are carried on within the territorial limits of your Majestys Government which is impotent. With few exceptions, the surgeons of your Majestys Government have been gentlemen of professional ability, devoted to duty, but usually left with few medical stores and no quarters in which to treat their patients. I cannot deal with the dimensions of these prisons in this letter, but will do so in my report to my Government. Cruelties of the most astounding character are practised by the natives, such as burying slaves alive in the grave of a dead chief, cutting off the heads of captured warriors in native combats, and no effort is put forth by your Majestys Government to prevent them. Your knowledge of the gospel will allow you to find texts ordering, and encouraging your followers to love poverty, like Happier are the poor because they will inherit the heaven and, Its very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.. The natives can scarcely subsist upon the vegetable life produced in some parts of the country. history of African Americans in the United States and people of No white man commanded his rear column, and his troops were allowed to straggle, sicken and die; and their bones were scattered over more than two hundred miles of territory. Major Barttelot was shot by a Zanzibar soldier, and the captain of a Belgian trading-boat was the victim of his own rash and unjust treatment of a native chief. on November 22, 2021. The cruel and unjust treatment to which these people are subjected breaks the spirits of many of them, makes them distrust and despise your Majestys Government. Some of the charges I have personally witnessed and examined their clumsy operations. am teaching history. He was not a combatant and was ignorant of the conflict in progress upon the shore, some distance away. But Williams went anyways. 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