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and brought them under the enervating influence of
alcohol; here the race has degenerated. In Upper
Congo the Arab influence has introduced by violence
both slavery and habits of industry. The pernicious
practice of inhaling the fumes of hemp has come also
with Arab domination. In the centre of the country
the race remains more pure.
Political Organization. — Present native customs Bhow traces of a former supremacy of one chief over the others. There are unmistakable signs both of vassalage and of suzerainty. The tribes are ruled by a chief {mjumu) whose authority, however, is checked by the presence of a council of elders. The succession to the chieftaincy is hereditary, but not in the direct line of male descent. While only males can occupy the throne, the succession passes not to the son, but in the collateral line to the brother and then to the son of the daughter. Other information on ethno- graphical questions is given under VIII. Missions IN THE Congo.
Commerce. — .Some figures with regard to the com- merce of the Congo may be given here. In 1887 when a total of the exportations of the Independent State was first made, the figure was about $396,088. This we may compare w'ith the figures of subsequent years: —1890, $1,648,439; 1S95, $2,188,603; 1900, $9,475,- 480; 1905, $10,000,432; 1906, $11,655,566. Caout- chouc represents the greater part of this output. Its value was, in 1905, $8,751,180 (10,938,975 lbs.). The value of ivory (473,260 lbs.) for the same vcar was $967,554; palm nuts (11,355,529 lbs.), $302,817; palm-oil (4,335,229 lbs.), $220,678. Import statistics date only from the establishment of import duties in the second quarter of 1892. We append some dates and figures:— 1893, $1,835,020; 1895, $2,137,169; 1900, $4,944,821; 1905, $4,015,072; 1906, $4,295,517. These figures represent largely Belgian commerce. In 1906 the Congo's exports to Belgitmi reached $10,860,- 939; the imports from Belgimn were $3,057,058. Im- ports from the United States do not exceed $6,000.
IV. When and by what Right the Congo State WAS Created. — How did the Congo State arise? The question is not an easy one to answer. Certain au- thors, the mouthpieces of the State, regard the Inde- pendent State as the natural heir of the petty chiefs who governed the various Congolese tribes. They maintain that through the treaties made with these chiefs the supreme power passed from native to Eiu-o- pean hands. This is a thesis easy to formulate, but impossible to defend. For in fact an international treaty supposes the existence of two nations. Now it may be admitted that the Congolese had, at the period in question, a political organization — though this point has been doubted by some; at any rate the In- ternational Association was at the time surely nothing more than a private company. Again, when the na- tive chiefs agreed to put their mark at the bottom of a treaty in exchange for a few pieces of cloth, did they realize what they were doing? Did they realize that they were veritably abdicating, and not simply au- thorizing some European to settle on their land? A recent defender of the position stated above has gone so far as to imagine that Stanley improvised on the Congo coast a course of international law for the use of the native chiefs. For this Stanley had neither time nor means at his disposal, and he would have found it difficvilt to do so through an interpreter. Further, even if the chiefs did wish to transfer their authority, could they have done so without the con- sent of their tribes? Lastly, the treaties in question were nearly all made with chiefs who inhabited the present French Congo; they affected only a very small part of the present Congo State.
Others say that the Independent State was created by the Berlin ("onfcrence. This hypothesis is also un- acceptable. What right had this Conference over the Congo Basin? The plenipotentiaries claimed none;
what they wished to do was not to create new States,
but to make the Powers, present and future, holding
interests in Central Africa, accept a regime of free
trade. As a matter of fact it was during the inter-
vals between the meetings of the Conference that the
Independent State had its flag recognized by the dif-
ferent Powers one after another. The Conference, as
such, only congratulated the State. It supplied the
means of existence, but it did not create. M. Cattier
(Droit et administration de I'Etat Ind^pendant, p.
43) is rightly of opinion that the Independent State
owes its origin to an act of occupation. But was this
lawful? Doubtless it was. First the land was a
prey to the most revolting savage cruelties, even to
cannibalism; second, it was ravaged by ceaseless in-
testine wars and by the slave trade; third, it denied
strangers the protection of the jus gentium, or law of
nations. In such a case the common good of man-
kind sanctioned the imposition of a state of order and
security, and hence the creation of a civilizing power.
The Powers represented at the Berlin Conference gave
the king-sovereign a free hand in the political occupa-
tion of the Congo Basin, while the treaties made with
the native chiefs and the ^^ctories won over the Arabs
likewise contributed to this end. But it was only
when this occupation grew sufficiently effective (about
1895) that the embryonic polity of 1885 became in a
true sense the Independent State. It is carefully to
be noted that the occupation above referred to did
nothing more than transfer the political authority; it
did not modify or affect any private rights, e. g. prop-
erty rights.
V. Interior Organization. — Legislative and Ad- ministrative Power. — Leopold II exercises over his Congolese subjects a sovereignty which makes him the most absolute monarch in the world: he governs them by his sole and uncontrolled wiU. He gives all important orders, constitutes the w-hole administra- tion, and is the source of all authority in his African kingdom. He has established the Congo Central Government at Brussels. While reserving to himself the supreme legislative power, he has, since 1 Sept., 1894, confided to a secretary of state the direction of the Central Government. This official can enact measures (Amies du Secretaire d'Etat) which have the force of laws. When he is absent his place is taken by three secretaries-general, who, acting in concert, pos- sess his power; as a matter of fact, since the period >>! office of Baron Van Eetvelde there has been no secre- tary of state. Further, the sovereign-king instituttil (16 April, 1889) at Brussels a Conseil Superieur, whiclv acts as a high court of justice and gives advice on such questions as the king submits for consideration. His Majesty names the members of this council. In the Congo territory itself a governor-general is at the head of the administration. He possesses a restricted legislative power and can make police regulations aii>i the like. The State capital is at Boma. The country is divided into fourteen districts, governed by the commissaires, and these are subdivided into zones and sccteurs which are under the authority of the chefs de zone, chefs de secteur.
Judicial Power. — For the administration of civil and criminal cases there are five lower courts, each composed of a judge, an ofjicier du ministere public (procurcur d'Etat) to represent the people, and a gref- fier; there is also a court of appeal composed of a president, two judges, an ofjicier <lu ministire public (procurcur gryirral), and a grefjier. In places where there is no regular coiu-t the ofjicier du ministire public (who must be a doctor in law) can, within certain limits, exercise a summary jurisdiction. Finally, the native chiefs (mfumu) have certain judicial powers over their own peoples. The repression of crimes, or, in the terminology of Congo law, infractions, which in- clude even such offences as that of muriler (see Code PcSnal de I'Etat Ind<^p.), is further confided to local
