The British Case in French Congo. By Edmund D. Morel.
(W. Heinemann. 6s.)—The Spectator, in reviewing Mr. Fox Bourne's book about the Congo Free State, pointed out as one of the evils caused by Belgian misgovernment the demoralisation of the French Congo. This book amply justifies the remark. The treatment to which British merchants have been subjected is nothing less than Shameful, while as to the natives the system followed is bound to have similar consequences to those seen in the Free State. The country has been parcelled out into huge "concessions." It is claimed that in these the natural products of the soil belong to the concessionnaires ; the natives are bound to collect them for these and for no one else, at such rates as the privileged parties may choose to pay. Here is a sentence from the judgment by which a British appeal was rejected:—" The rubber belongs to the Concession- %care Company, and not to the native who gathers it. The latter, in bringing produce to the Company, does not sell that produce, because he does not own it, but receives a price or salary, which is the remuneration of his services." Unhappily, M. Decrais, the French Colonial Minister, has literally adopted this monstrous proposition. The injury to British trade is great, but the scandalous wrong to the natives of the Congo region is ten times worse. Slavery is simply re-established. If the civilised world is not going to allow the work of centuries to be undone, it must act.
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