There remains in our country a small section of the press obedient to the will of anti-Congolese campaigners and their merchant support, and the eloquent sophistries of Messrs. Morrison and Barbour. But these forces are surely inadequate to cause the Government of the United States to forget all of our political traditions, and to so abate our natural shrewdness, as to become a catspaw for an avaricious foreign commercial clique. FOOTNOTES: [46] The scene of the Rev. Mr. W. M. Morrison’s mission. CHAPTER XXXII. TESTIMONY OF TRAVELLERS AND THINKERS SIR HENRY M. STANLEY [Sidenote: Knowledge and Truth.] It will ever be esteemed a fortunate circumstance by all who have regard for historical accuracy, that the late Sir Henry M. Stanley, discoverer of the course of the Congo, who assisted so materially in the creation of the Congo Free State, did not pass away without recording his opinion of the campaign of calumny against the Congo Administration. Incomparably the greatest authority of his time upon this subject, what Stanley had to say about it must be given here in full. It took the form of an interview with a representative of the press, and was first published in the _Petit Bleu_ (Brussels), 13th November, 1903: I do not believe [said Sir Henry Stanley] in the charges brought against the Congo, and I do not share the opinions that inspire them. I do not think that any State will be inclined to step in, and to spend the money that Belgium and the King of the Belgians spend to adapt the darkest part of Darkest Africa to the interests of commerce. King Leopold lately assigned £120,000 a year to the Congo administration. He thereafter gave £40,000 and Belgium £80,000. Tell me, what other country would be ready to do as much? When I consider the limited number of years which have elapsed since the Congo became a State, I hold that the work which has been accomplished there does great honour to Belgium, and I am certain that not one of the countries who are invited by the newspapers to put itself in its place would have been able to do better. You can feel certain that the King of the Belgians interests himself personally in the smallest detail of the administration. I do not pretend that he can superintend the acts of each individual, but what Government, what State could do that? But the recitals of atrocities, and of bad administration which have of late been spread about are almost all, if not all, pure reports. Naturally, if it is question of seeking cause for a quarrel there is no difficulty in finding it; but if the Congo of 1885 is compared with the Congo of to-day, it must be allowed that its progress has been remarkable.