their bony hands at once, the grisly crash would be heard at a distance of—” Damnation, it makes me tired! And they do similar miracles with the money I have distilled from that blood and put into my pocket. They pile it into Egyptian pyramids; they carpet Saharas with it; they spread it across the sky, and the shadow it casts makes twilight in the earth. And the tears I have caused, the hearts I have broken—oh, nothing can persuade them to let _them_ alone! [_Meditative pause_] Well ... no matter, I _did_ beat the Yankees, anyway! there’s comfort in that. [_Reads with mocking smile, the President’s Order of Recognition of April 22, 1884_] “... the government of the United States announces its sympathy with and approval of the humane and benevolent purposes of (my Congo scheme), and will order the officers of the United States, both on land and sea, to recognize its flag as the flag of a friendly government.” Possibly the Yankees would like to take that back, now, but they will find that my agents are not over there in America for nothing. But there is no danger; neither nations nor governments can afford to confess a blunder. [_With a contented smile, begins to read from “Report by Rev. W. M. Morrison, American missionary in the Congo Free State”_] “I furnish herewith some of the many atrocious incidents which have come under my own personal observation; they reveal the _organized system_ of plunder and outrage which has been perpetrated and is now being carried on in that unfortunate country by King Leopold of Belgium. I say King Leopold, because he and he _alone_ is now responsible, since he is the _absolute sovereign_. _He styles himself such._ When our government in 1884 laid the foundation of the Congo Free State, by recognizing its flag, little did it know that this concern, parading under the guise of philanthropy, was really King Leopold of Belgium, one of the shrewdest, most heartless and most conscienceless rulers that ever sat on a throne. This is apart from his known corrupt morals, which have made his name and his family a byword in two continents. Our government would most certainly not have recognized that flag had it known that it was really King Leopold individually who was asking for recognition; had it known that it was setting up in the heart of Africa an _absolute monarchy_; had it known that, having put down African slavery in our own country at great cost of blood and money, it was _establishing a worse form of slavery right in Africa_.”