Literary Views & Reviews A KING AND THE CONGO

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 3

Literary Views & Reviews A KING AND THE CONGO

(Reviewed by H.AJI.I.J ; The King Incorporated. By Neal Ascherson. Allen < and Unwin. 310 pp. In- 1 dex. When Leopold II (1835-1910* I] racceeded his father to the . throne of Belgium in 1865. ' he sincerely wished to serve' ] his people as completely as;, possible. But he soon learnt ; that restrictions of the Con-!. stitution bound him hand and ' foot. Though as King her found himself commander-in-chief of the Army < in fact as well as in name* and in sole charge of the direction of his country’s international rela- , tions. his executive powers in , domestic affairs were tightly limited. By 1865. with a population of five millions. Belgium had become the workshop of* continental Europe, a highly i industrialised country placed, in a strategic position. But] wages of the workers were! tragically low and the Iran-1 chise was limited to fewer than 100.000 people. Leopold* saw the need for political and ; social reform and foresaw! also the growth of democratic* politics. The young King was; anxious to use his influence] for good, but found himself f baulked on every side, even] in the matter of defence. which he judged to be synonymous with the very survival! of his country. He wanted! Ills dynasty to remain constitutional. but he finally de-! cided to develop his authority i as a national leader by mak-i ing himself financially independent of the Civil List and | the favour of penny-con-i scious politicians. To extend his influence, he! therefore decided to amass! a huge private fortune, and! in tills he succeeded. The nineteenth century was an i age cf tremendous worldwide economic growth. Itl was an age of capitalist de-, velopment and saw the estab-? lishment and expansion of international trusts, trading companies and combines of] all kinds. Leopold studied, carefully, mastered and used, with unique skill these tech-i niques of colonial exploits-1 tion and trust capitalism. He! invested as a private indi-j vidual, and in an age of greatl capitalists—Krupp. Rhodes, Carnegie, Rockefeller—Leopold in due course amassed a vast personal fortune over which the Belgian Parliament had no control whatsoever. ] In 1879, he formed the International- African Associa-I tion, allegedly for the de--elopment of Central Africa,! but in reality for his own| private profit. By conceding trading monopolies in the Congo (in which incognito he held large shares), with profound astuteness, and for over a quarter of a century •with Unrelenting perseverence. he secured absolute control over the resources of a large slice of Central Africa, end exploited these resources, unscrupulously. In 1884 the territories exploited by the various companies were erected into the Congo Free State, with (1885) Leopold as sovereign. He cloaked his private shem.es with sham benevolence, and on one occasion even approached the Belgian Parliament for financial help to ward off an inexorable and mysterious creditor. Moved by compassion, the government paid him a huge sum. and it was not until years later that it leaked out that the King himself had been that ruthless creditor, and that he had in fact secretly pocketed the proceeds for his own use.

Leopold’s greatest crime,'; however, was his heartless,! exploitation of the Congolese;! people. These unhappy Afri-i 1 cans were robbed, tortured i < and murdered by his tradingi 1 companies’ agents without 1 pity. Nothing was done to I ] develop the Congo Free State i’ in any real manner. The sole' object was to win wild rub-' i ber and ivory, and this was i achieved by means of unpaid! < forced labour and extortion.l i Failure by the natives to de-! liver was punished by cor-1; poral punishment, collective ! fines in kind, imprisonment.; < mutilation, and by punitive ;! expeditions which to teach; other natives a lesson burned • villages to the ground and on: occasions massacred their in-| habitants (p. 203). This is a; revolting story of merciless; and complete evil, redeemed ■ only by the protests and ex- j posures of the Liverpool l shipping clerk, Edmund D.j Morel, certain missionaries, I and (surprisingly* the notori-[ , ous Roger Casement, later | ; condemned to death for high! i treason by the British, and I hanged. Apart from a high bill for ! rifle ammunition, the costs | were insignificant; yet the profits were enormous. Leo--1 paid often held half the stock ■ jin the major “trading'’ com-1 ; panies, and during one six-1 jyear period Morel calculated; ! that Leopold made a personal! I profit of over £2 million. At! j first Leopold sincerely be-1 I lieved that he was accumu-I ;lating this fortune for tire | jsake of his dynasty, but before long, like all financial! ' magnates, he came to enjoy! the hunt for wealth for its | own sake. In this he had al I unique advantage over his' rivals. The empire of the! I Congo was his own private j possession, initiated by him. I i financed by him, ruled solely j ■ by him until a year or so! ■ before his death. Whilst his' ! rivals had to seek concessions j : from their governments, Leo-1 ■ pold. as monarch answerable I 'to no parliament, could and I did grant concessions to himjself. The Belgian people at i no time ever desired to become involved in the “grab" I for African possessions, and I Leopold clandestinely used this attitude to his own ad-; vantage. He spent a small proportion i of his plunder in Belgium on! statues, basilicas, boulevards, I land triumphal arches; but I after the death of his only; Ison, his attitude to his “dynasty"—his wife and three 'daughters— turned to one of cynicism, contempt and hate. The author of this book devotes two chapters to the story of his relations with members of his family, tells of their unhappy marriages land of Leopold’s schemes for* their disinheritance. At the] same time his own sexual! appetites grew shockingly,: even in an age of the grossest !sexuality. His mistresses were! I legion, he prowled the streets) ; of Paris and filled his Riviera: establishments with girls. Hisi last mistress . presented him with two children when he! was over 70 years old. In the end, in the opening ■ years of the twentieth cen- ; tury, Leopold had suddenly ■ to give up. Revelations of the ■ ruthless exploitation of the ; Congo Free State and of the bloody oppression and ex- ! tortion of the helpless black ; population shocked opinion ; the world over, and simply ■ forced the Belgian govem- ! ment to annex the country i as the most practical solution. * This action was taken slowly enough for Leopold to be

able to transfer his share] holdings, and to conceal them! behind complications which I to this day have never been completely unravelled. By the time that the government; took over in 1907, the pro-! longed raid for plunder had' vastly diminished the! Congo's resources of wild! rubber and ivory, and the, African population had sol dwindled through migration,! massacre, epidemic and star-! vation that there was an! acute shortage of labour.! Profits ceased, and from the day of the annexation the Belgian people found thej acquisition of the gigantic territory merely a continual drain on resources which they! j felt should be spent on wel-1 ; fare at home. l In recording all this, Mr] ; Ascherson has attempted to I idraw no moral. He does not] 'condemn, but leaves the] '.reader to arrive at his own! conclusions. Not all Leopold's; ; life was entirely discredit-! able. He held Belgium to-, gether through many difficult; times and did his best to secure Belgian neutrality by building up her military; strength. He was industri- i ous. intelligent, far-seeing—| indeed the author names him! as “the greatest King of the j | Belgians.’’ Mr Ascherson’s; i grip of the vicissitudes of j ; Belgian politics during Leo-' Ipold’s time is tenacious and) I his explanations are clear, i This is a lively book and a | valuable historical record. | Besides being an illuminating I character study, this bio- ! graphy helps the reader to I understand the reasons for I the hasty manner in which I the Belgian government I washed its hands of affairs j in the Congo at the time of the liberation in 1960. Leo- | pold II was indeed the evil | paragon of capitalist empire- ’ builders.