Having read this, no really right-minded person can deny that the King
speaks of the Congo as private property which he surrenders voluntarily
to Belgium, which he was quite at liberty to do, and which Belgium was
equally at liberty to accept as a Royal gift.
But there is no right without duty.
I ask whether it was right of the Belgian Government to ruin me, an
exile and a prisoner, calumniated and mistrusted; to deny me my Belgian
nationality, and to sequestrate the little money left me in Belgium?
This, I have said before, was, I believe, the fatal result of a general
measure, misinterpreted perhaps by an inexpert official.
But let it go!!
I only ask whether the Belgian Government can assert to-day that it has
fulfilled the conditions imposed on it by its benefactor, and especially
"the obligation to respect the integrity of the revenues of the various
institutions" established by the King in favour of the Congo.
I await an answer. I now come to the question of the Will.
Will of the King. (Document No. 42.)
"This is my will.
"I inherited from my parents fifteen millions. These fifteen
millions I have scrupulously kept intact, in spite of many
vicissitudes.
"I possess nothing else.
"After my death these fifteen millions become the property of my
heirs and must be made over to them by the executor of my will, to
be divided between them.
"I die in the Catholic religion, to which I belong; I wish no
post-mortem to be made; I wish to be buried without pomp in the
early morning.
"Except my nephew Albert and the members of my household, no person
is to follow my remains.
"May God protect Belgium, and may He in His goodness be merciful to
me.
"(Sgd.) Leopold.
"_Brussels, November 20, 1907._"
A great deal has been written about this Will. The statement "I possess
nothing" except the declared fifteen millions caused the ink to flow.
The statement itself was proved untrue on the death of the King, since
in the abundance of wealth of all sorts which was found, the Belgian
Government was obliged to specify as "litigious" certain shares and
moneys which it could not take over, and which it left to my sisters
and to myself. These shares and moneys have nearly doubled the fortune
bequeathed us by our father.
Let no one say: "The fortune was considerable." As a statement it is
true. But it must not be forgotten that everything is comparative, and
that if I explain a point of succession which is unique in history it is
not because I am avaricious. It is because I must insist, as a question
of principle, to defend what I consider right, and to enlighten the
public on a hitherto entangled and obscure discussion.
The second Will, reproduced below, merely states precisely the intention
of the first:
The Other Will of the King. (Document No. 49.)
"I have inherited from my mother and my father fifteen millions.
"I leave those to be divided amongst my children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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