542
THE CONGO.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
Graves;
64
[December 24, 1909.
The
But on the other
it is the Congo Free Graveyard.mittee has considered this matter and It is a majestic thought that this, the expressed the opinion that the site is ex- ghastliest episode in all human history, is the cellently adapted for the purpose and is (Daily Press, December 20th.)
by far the best which could be got,” Perhaps no monarch of a civilised State work of one man alone: one solitary man ;
just a single individual-LEOPOLD, King of reasons for this opinion are stated in the has in recent times
held been
up
the Belgians. He is personally and solely minutes but will bear further elaboration. the late to such public execration as
responsible for all the myriad crimes that The only alternative site we have heard King LEOPOLD, not as the Sovereign have blackened the history of the Congo suggested has been one "somewhere on the
as the Governor of Belgium, but
State. He could have prevented the Kowloon side"-where large grounds för of the Congo Territory in the heart
He the University are obtainable and where crimes by his n mere, command of Africa. King LEOPOLD himself had withholds the word-for his pocket's sake." the students would be able to pursue been the real and sole. Governor
Few books have made a greater sensation their studies free from the distractions close 1885.
are associated with the of the Congo territory since "For absolutism incarnate," wrote the in the world in recent times than did this which Secretary of the Congo Reform Association mordant and bitter satire on the Congo proximity of the University to the noisiest
Administration. It is satisfactory to know part of the City. in the preface to MARK TWAIN's scathing that Belgium is making an effort to put a hand, as is pointed out in the minutes, satire on the King's administration, "the Congo Free State which is neither stop to such ghastly atrocities as have in it will be a great advantage for the medical mortuary, and it is equally important to State nor Dependency, but Slave farm-offers the past been charged against the adminis- students to be near the large hospitals and no parallel. Yet the King ever posed as a
bear in mind that the central position will. lecturers on medical the local philanthropist. He was a great benefactor to the Church and a generous supporter of
enable the Arts and Sciences. He regarded and proclaimed his African enterprise as govern- the moral and ed by a desire to promote material regeneration
of the natives of the Congo, and in Belgium this view of the enterprise was widely accepted until, at any rate, the Commission of Inquiry was held and revealed a state of affairs which cried aloud for amelioration. Ten years ago Mr. DEMETRIUS BOULGER, who will
be known
"
tration.
and other subjects to attend with no great inconvenience or loss of time. That seems to us a most important consideration. Busy be found willing medical practitioners and other professional men will doubtless
The Independent State of Congo was annexed to Belgium last year, but Great Britain has withheld her recognition of the new Colonial administration pending the receipt of satisfactory assurances on the points on which the public opinion of the civilised world has been so deeply moved. The Belgian Colonial Minister has promised the eventual abolition of the forced collection of rubber and freedom of trade between the natives and foreign traders. A guarded reference was made to the subject in Mr. to many readers in this ASQUITH's speech at the Lord Mayor's hour lecture involved two or three hours?
"The
part of the world as the author of a "History of China," published a work on Congo State, or the Growth of Civilisation in Central Africa," in which King LEOPOLD's administration is lauded to
the skies.
"The founding of the Congo State, the territories to all the opening of its beneficient enterprises of civilisation, the moral and material improvement of the native races, marked out by King LEOPOLD," he wrote, "represent an achievement very similar to that accomplished by his illustrious father and predecessor-
converted the cockpit of Europe' into the most prosperous State of the Continent; the other has founded in Central Africa a vast dominion where the only serious and promising attempt has yet been systematically made to redeem the curse of ages." negro race from the When Mr. BOULGER refers what
the
one
"some
to
banquet last month, in which he indicated that very careful examination would be required of the conditions and reservations accompanying the Belgian declaration on the subject. We judge from a recent telegram that the German Government is satisfied, and we infer therefore that the guarantees are so far satisfactory as at least to prevent the Congo being officially regarded by Great Britain as an outlaw State."
"HE HONGKONG UNIVERSITY
PROJECT.
way
to lecture at the University enough when it involves no great sacrifice of time to reach the building, but if, as would necessarily be the case if the University were established on the Kowloon side, each half- travelling they could not be expected to make this heavy sacrifice. As the Sub- Committee who have re-considered the question of the site are satised that with proper supervision of the students, the Chinese restaurants and other houses of public entertainment in the near neighbour- hood will be no danger to the University, we may accept their conclusion and rest assured that when the University is opened the governing body will ensure such supervi sion over the students as is indicated in the sub-Committee's report. The announcement that the Committee have in so short a time been placed in a position to accept Mr. MODY's most generous offer, and to start on the work of building the University will give (Daily Press, December 21st.) The Minutes of the seventh meeting of the the greatest pleasure to all who have in any lent encouragement to the scheme. Hongkong University Committee which we It was only at the beginning of the present publish this morning contain the very year that H.E. THE GOVERNOR issued his satisfactory information that the minimum appeal for funds. The sum which it was amount originally deemed to be necessary estimated would be required for the necess
ary endowment was £110,000 equivalent to as an Endowment Fund may now be said to have been obtained and work on the build-about a million and a quarter dollars. In ing is to be commenced forthwith. It will less than twelve months the Committee have be seen that Mr. Mony, who very generously
a fund in sight amounting to $1,218,840-a promised to erect the necessary buildings, result on which all concerned, and especially has, accepted plans which involve the H.E. THE GOVERNOR, is most cordially to expenditure of more than a lakh of dollars be congratulated. No doubt that fund will in excess of the original estimate. The be largely increased in course of time when Committee considered the accommodation the University is opened. More money is still provided in the original design inadequate, needed for students' residences and for an and the conclusion reached is that the anatomical laboratory. . We note that His buildings to be now erected should be de- EXCELLENCY in the course of his speech at signed to contain sufficient accommodation St. Stephen's College yesterday anticipated to give 500 students a full course in Arts, the opening of the University in about Medicine and Engineering, and to house twelve months from now. from 15 to 180 students," and that the time is to be lost now that the Endowment educational buildings should be capable of Fund has been raised. The way in which expansion so as to provide room eventually the Chinese not only in Hongkong but on for 1,000 students, and residential quarters the mainland and in distant colonies have come forward with financial assistance for 500. Mr. MODY has accepted the new plans and designs and engaged to erect the has served to strengthen the belief that the main building, the Principal's and the Pro-establishment of a University here, in the fessors' houses and to lay out the grounds. In words of the Governor's memorandum, will promote “ a closer understanding and good the words of HE. the GOVERNOR, "by this generous undertaking Mr. MoDy has in effent feeling between ourselves and the hinese, nearly doubled his original gift." Since the that it will stimulate commerce, and that site for the University was selected doubts it will in particular benefit the Colony have been freely expressed regarding not only in indirec ways but by bringing us into close relations with the gentry of China whose sons are being educated in Hongkong and who will, no doubt, occasionally visit them here."
K
unmerited censure he terms on the part of a few English critics, he dis- misses the criticism with the observation that "it would be impossible to expect that in a work carried out under the conditions prevalent in this part of the world, a mere handful of whites among millions of blacks, sunk, for the most part, in the lowest stages of barbarism, superstition and can- nibalism-there should not be some re- grettable occurrences, some acts of high- handed authority, some arbitrary, measures of militarism like LOTHAIRE's execution of STOKES. The marvel is only that they have been so few.” In marked contrast to this statement of the matter we have the publi- cations of the Congo Reform Association, giving us a vastly different picture of the conditions prevailing in the Congo, and MARK TWAIN, a couple of years ago, under the influence of these records, astonished the world with one of the most scathing indictments against a monarch ever publish- ed. It was entitled King LEOPOLD'S Soliloquy." The King is represented reading the mournful catalogue of charges brought against him and the little book is illustrated with photographs of mutilated natives. It will suffice to make this one quotation :
His awful shadow lies across the Congo
Chinese restaurants and Free State, and under it an unoffending nation of 15,000,000 is. withering away other houses of public entertainment.” and swiftly succumbing to their miseries. It will be seen from the minutes published
sub-Com It is a land of graves; it is The Land of in another column that a
**
its suitability, mainly on proximity to
"L
account of its
Evidently no