England And The Congo. TO THE EDITOR OF THE. TIMEs. Sir,-We live in the presence of the greatest crime which has ever been comnitted in the history of the world, and yet we who not only could stop. It .but who are bound by our sworn oath to stop it do nothing. The thing has been going on for 20 years. What are we' waiting for ? Our guilt of national acquiescence is only second to that of the gang of cosmopolitan scoundrels who have been vctiely concerned in turing all Central Africa into a huge slave State, with such attendant horrors as even the dark story of the *lave trade has never shown. In the slave trade the victim was of market value, and to. that extent was protected from death or mutilation. In this case the State Is the owner of all, so that if one be dismembered or shot another is always available. The Congo }Free State (the very name is typical of the smug hypocrisy which deceived the Great Powers into. allowing the monster to be born) was created by the Berlin Congress of 1885. One of the articles of that treaty, to whicb " in the name of Almighty God " we and other Powers have bound ourselves, was that we would undertake " to watch over the preservation of the native races, and the amelioration of the moral snd material conditions of their exist- ence." Did those solemn words mean anything ? Are they compatible with our standing by year after year seeing these same native races done to death, and never raJiing an effective hand to help them ? Three million of them at a moderate. computation have already been ameliorated out of this world. How long more are we to wait? As I write,, my study table Is covered with photo- graphs of these unhappy people. They bear the marks, of the. tortures they have endured. Some have their feet lopped off, some their hands. One is a child, surprisingly.beautiful and intelligent even by European standards. His arm has been hack-ed off. Another with his right foot and left hand missing stares before hun with a strange, thoughtful puzzled face. These we the people whom "in the name of Almighty God " we guaranteed. Utnder each of.the mutilated frames might, in all truth, be printed, " I was guaranteed by you." The dreadful story is a commonplace now. It is Impossible to deny any part of it. Its authenticity comes.from many sources, from missionary reports, Swedshh, Belgian, and American, as well as British, from official Consuar despatches, from the report of the Blgian.Commission of 1905, from the memois of returned offlicers, above all from the incorruptible eviden,ce of the kodak. The story, I say, is a common- place, ,but it has been a commonplace for at least 14 yeasa for.those who chose to read the evidence. When Is something going to be done F Every day,that passes fresh crimes are committed. The rubber has been eoming faster than ever to Europe thIs year, and the rubber can only come through the system, and the system can only be enforced by terror. Consul Thesiger, in his report pub- hshed this year, shows that the screw is ever tightening, that new tribes are being drawn Into the slavery, that they are worked in such a fashion that they have no time to plant their crops, and that a great famine is threatened in the fature. That is the last official published report of our repre- sentative. And we do nothing. LaIt yeare business wa takenovfer by Belgium. There'were hopes that methods would be changed. But they have not'been changed. MI. 1enkin, the Colonial Minister of Belgium,. bas frankly said that they would not be changed. . Be has gone out to the Congo to report. But he is himself an ex-conces- sionaire who has been a fervent defender of the system in the Parliament. As well send Rockefeller to report on the LStandard Oil abuses I Are we children to be, duded by such devices as these? Do we not know the course which events will take ? M. Renkin, will return about Christmas. Six more months will have been gained for rquoezing the Country. Then he must not be hurried in his report -six more months for that. Then there is the legislation. Time must be allowed for that. Then legislation must be. gradually enforced; and so on and on through the time-honoured round. And aU the,time,more mutilati.ons, more murders, more extortious, in,order that a rich Eing may be richer and a few companies pay 3C0 per cent. If we wait for any practical result from M. Reukin's visit then we wait, with our eyes. open, for at least three more years of this orgle of blood, lust, and greed. What should be done? The.flrst thing is in a siDgle comprehensive State paper to lay before every civilized Power the evidence which calls for action, and to ask them to convene a European confer- ence for the purpose of taking from Belgium a trust which has been so dreadfully abused,.and makling such fresh arrangements, either by an internationa.l government or by a partition of. the State amongst its neighbour., as may give some assurance of just and honest treatment to these unhappy natives. We are told in vague language by Sir Edward Grey that peril lies in the question. Where can that peril lie? Who is . going to champion the perpetrators of these horrible deeds ? Is it Germany, with her traditions of kindly home life? Isitthose who are so justly proud of the public and private life of William the Second who wil take up the sword for Leopold? Or is it France, the historical home of chivalry ? Or the-United States, who abhor eruelty and injustice as' much as we do ourselves ? Where can this bogey lie? lf it eisted,it.would be our dutyahundred- fold to,face it. But does it really exist? Would not a frank and self-denying treatment of thcase banish it for ever ? That must be the goal of the future-that the Congo' passes 'into more worthy hands. But what about the past ? Is there to be no redress for these poor victims? Three milions of them are beyond redress.' But what of the butchers and what of their surviving victims ? Is there no possible international Court 'before' which these men who have betrayed religion' and' civilization can be arraigned? The public 'conscience cannot be at rest until every one of them, from' the schemer at Brussels to the red- handed agent' at the spot, has had his deserts. And this same tribunal could surely out of the gorged money- bags of the concessionaires forcea pension for the thousands and thousands who have been maimed by their representatives and through their deliberate system.. Only then, when ,the victims have been avenged, the survivors compensated, and the land placed under safe permanent rule, can the conscience of Europe- be at rest. Yours faithfully, '-_ * * ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex. ENGLAND AND THE CONGO.