But let no one suppose that it followed, as a necessary consequence of all this, that the future government of Central Africa was to be as plain sailing in smooth water. A new State had been created, it is true, and it had had as its sponsors the great Powers of the world, who had recognised Leopold II., King of the Belgians, as its Sovereign ruler. But it is beyond the ability of States, just as it is beyond the ability of individuals, to exist without money, and to be entrusted with the government of a territory nearly a million square miles in extent—about a fifth the size of Europe, or a third of the United States—inhabited by twenty millions or so of semi-barbarous tribes, was no light task. The “African Exploration Fund” of the Geographical Society of London contributed £250, and the Belgian Committee collected among their countrymen 500,000 francs—a generous gift, but utterly inadequate for such a colossal task as the civilisation of Central Africa. Belgians, _as a people_, were in no degree liable for the expense of the philanthropic colonial enterprise entered upon by Leopold, their King, _as an individual_. The magnitude of that expense will be apparent to anybody who gives the subject a moment’s thought. The payment of explorers,—men of the first rank in intellectual attainment, such as Stanley,—the cost of their equipment (stores, carriers, lake steamers, etc.), the carving out of routes, establishment of stations, purchases of land from native chiefs, conciliatory gifts, and so forth, had seriously depleted the large private fortune of King Leopold.