One of the great achievements of the Congo State has been the suppression of the Arab slave-traders, who were in the habit of invading Central Africa, carrying off slaves to the eastern markets, and laying waste the country through which they passed. It is estimated that 100,000 natives were killed each year in these slave raids. I recently saw an erroneous statement to the effect that the slave raids are still carried on, and that they are encouraged by King Leopold and his agents as a means of revenue. It is difficult to see how the King or his Government could reap any profit by encouraging the slave-raiders to destroy the villages, and kill off a hundred thousand or so of the inhabitants. Such lack of logic is damaging to the case of the gentlemen who put it forward as a serious argument. As Lord Westbury once said to a young English barrister: “Never make a mistake in your logic; the facts are always at your disposal.” [Illustration: Melting Latex of Rubber in Forest of Lusambo (Lusambo-Kassai).] In this case, however, the anti-Congo critics have availed themselves of both false logic and false “facts.” The facts are that the slave-raiders were finally vanquished and driven out by the Congo forces in the early nineties, after a severe struggle and at the cost of much Belgian blood. As the present Viceroy of India said some years ago: “The Congo Free State has done a great work and by its administration the cruel raids of the Arab slave-dealers have ceased to exist over many thousand square miles.” Another prevalent error about the Congo Government is in regard to the treatment of the natives by the officials. An impression has got abroad that there are many atrocities committed. There have been cases in which the natives have been maltreated by minor officials, but these are isolated cases, and are severely punished by the authorities. Such cases have occurred in all public services where an attempt has been made to govern inferior races. Such things have happened in the Philippines, in British Africa, and in India. No colonising nation can cast a stone at King Leopold on that score. Among a large number of officials scattered over a vast territory there will often be one or two wicked stewards who despitefully use the natives. All that any State can do is to keep vigilant watch and to punish the wrongdoers, and this the Congo State has done. It has even established a Commission for the protection of the natives. By the decree of 1896, this Commission consisted of seven members, three being Catholic priests and four Protestant missionaries.