KING LEOPOLD’S SOLILOQUY “IT IS I” “Leopold II is the absolute Master of the whole of the in- ternal and external activity of the Independent State of the Congo. The organization of justice, the army, the industrial and commercial regimes are established freely by himself. He would say, and with greater accuracy than did Louis XIV., ‘The State, it is I.’” _Prof. F. Cattier, Brussels University._ “Let us repeat after so many others what has become a platitude, the success of the African work is the work of a sole directing will, without being hampered by the hesita- tion of timorous politicians, carried out under his sole respon- sibility,—intelligent, thought- ful, conscious of the perils and the advantages, dis- counting with an admirable prescience the great results of a near future.” _M. Alfred Pos- kine in “Bilans Congolais.”_ [Illustration: “A memorial for the perpetuation of my name.”—_Page 27._ ] KING LEOPOLD’S SOLILOQUY A DEFENSE OF HIS CONGO RULE BY MARK TWAIN SECOND EDITION THE P. R. WARREN CO. BOSTON, MASS. 1905 COPYRIGHT, 1905 BY SAMUEL L. CLEMENS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ King Leopold’s Soliloquy [_Throws down pamphlets which he has been reading. Excitedly combs his flowing spread of whiskers with his fingers; pounds the table with his fists; lets off brisk volleys of unsanctified language at brief intervals, repentantly drooping his head, between volleys, and kissing the Louis XI crucifix hanging from his neck, accompanying the kisses with mumbled apologies; presently rises, flushed and perspiring, and walks the floor, gesticulating_] —— ——!! —— ——!! If I had them by the throat! [_Hastily kisses the crucifix, and mumbles_] In these twenty years I have spent millions to keep the press of the two hemispheres quiet, and still these leaks keep on occurring. I have spent other millions on religion and art, and what do I get for it? Nothing. Not a compliment. These generosities are studiedly ignored, in print. In print I get nothing but slanders—and slanders again—and still slanders, and slanders on top of slanders! Grant them true, what of it? They are slanders all the same, when uttered against a king.