The Powers recognized his new title.
The fact that Leopold, King of Belgium, was king also of the Etat
Independant du Congo confused many into thinking that the Free State
was a colony, or under the protection, of Belgium. As we have seen,
it is not. A Belgian may serve in the army of the Free State, or in
a civil capacity, as may a man of any nation, but, although with few
exceptions only Belgians are employed in the Free State, and
although to help the King in the Congo, the Belgian Government has
loaned him great sums of money, politically and constitutionally the
two governments are as independent of each other as France and
Spain.
And so, in 1885, Leopold, by the grace of fourteen governments, was
appointed their steward over a great estate in which each of the
governments still holds an equal right; a trustee and keeper over
twenty millions of "black brothers" whose "moral and material
welfare" each government had promised to protect.
There is only one thing more remarkable than the fact that Leopold
was able to turn this public market into a private park, and that
is, that he has been permitted to do so. It is true he is a man of
wonderful ability. For his own ends he is a magnificent organizer.
But in the fourteen governments that created him there have been,
and to-day there are, men, if less unscrupulous, of quite as great
ability; statesmen, jealous and quick to guard the rights of the
people they represent, people who since the twelfth century have
been traders, who since 1808 have declared slavery abolished.
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