Page:Morel-The Black Mans Burden.djvu/161

 agente of the Concessionaire Companies were charged with "torturing natives to death," or "raiding villages, carrying off their inhabitants and demanding ransom," or "inflicting acts of such bestiality upon the natives that it is difficult to narrate them"; or, again, importing large quantities of guns, raising levies, arming them and letting them loose upon the native villages. They showed the declension in the morality of the whole official hierarchy in the Congo, from the Governor-General, who had at first resisted the pressure brought to bear upon him by the Concessionaire Companies, and had even written to the Colonial Minister of the day: "They are relying upon me to organise the production of 'red' rubber in the French Congo. I have no intention of justifying such hopes": to officials of the lowest rank who could not be punished for their crimes without involving the whole Administration.

They brought forward an "Order of the Day" (Resolution) stating that the honour of France demanded the production of the whole of the De Brazza evidence, the whole of the official reports, and the report of the Committee of Inquiry. The chief sensation of the debates occurred when the President of that Committee, M. de Lanessan, formerly Governor of Indo-China, rose in his seat and urged the Government to accede to the request. The Minister persisted in his refusal, and the Chamber divided, 167 voting for the resolution, and 345 against.

This was the one serious effort made by the French Parliament to drag the full truth into light. Its defeat ensured immunity for the Concessionaire Companies and the prolongation of the "System." Everything went on as before. Not a single Concessionaire Company's charter was annulled. All that was done was to appoint a number of Government inspectors to travel about the French Congo. All their reports were suppressed as they were received, and it is only through the brave handful of French reformers that the contents of some of them have become known. In 1910 the French Government, finding that despite its efforts the nature of these reports was leaking out, and urged thereto by the Concessionaire Boards, suppressed the inspectors. All these things were