tended the Congo Free State for Germany and he cynically
made vain and foolish Leopold temporary custodian; and even
after Bismarck's fall, Germany dreamed of an Africa which
should include Congo, half the Portuguese territory and all
the French, making Germany the great and dominant African
power. For this she fought the Great War.
Meantime, and slowly, Belgium became dazzled by the dream of empire. Africa is but a small part of Britain; Africa is but a half of larger France. But the Congo is eighty-two times the size of little Belgium, and at Tervuren, wily Leopold laid a magic mirror—an intriguing flash of light, a museum set in rare beauty and approached by magnificent vistas—a flash of revealing knowledge such as no other modern land possesses of its colonial possessions. The rank and file of the Belgians were impressed. They dreamed of wealth and glory. They received the Congo from Leopold as a royal gift—shyly, but with secret pride. What nation of the world had so wonderful a colony! and Belgium started to plan its development.
Meantime the same power that exploited the Congo and made red rubber under Leopold—these same great merchants and bankers-----still ruled and guided the vast territory. Moreover, Belgium, impoverished by war and conquest, needed revenue as never before. The only difference then between the new Congo and the old was that a Belgian liberal public opinion had a right to ask questions and must be informed. Propaganda intimating that this criticism of Belgium was mainly international jealousy and that the exploitation of black Belgium would eventually lower taxes for the whites,--this was nearly enough to leave the old taskmasters and methods in control in spite of wide plans for eventual education and reform.
I remember my interview with the socialist Minister for Colonies. He hesitated to talk with me. He knew what socialism had promised the worker and what it was unable to do for the African worker, but he told me his plans for education and uplift. They were fine plans, but they remain plans even to-day, and the Belgian Congo is still a land of silence and ignorance, with few schools, with forced industry, with all
