It has been said, among other things, that the State practically enslaves the natives by forcing them to pay a tax in labour. The tax is light. According to a statement made the other day by Baron de Favereau, it consists of 40 hours’ work per month, and for this work they are paid at the regular rate of wages obtained in the district. It is a tax which helps the State and also helps the native, for it teaches him to work. It is one of the most civilising influences in African colonisation, for it is only by teaching habits of industry to the natives that civilisation can make any progress in the Dark Continent. The detractors of the Congo administration make a great outcry, but as Burke said in one of his celebrated speeches: “You must not think because the crickets make a great noise that they are the only inhabitants of the field. The cattle browsing in the shade make less stir, but they are infinitely more important.” Those who cry out against the Congo are a small band, and generally of small importance. Their evidence is light in comparison with the testimony of such men as the Count de Smet de Naeyer, the Baron van Eetvelde, Baron Wahis, the Chevalier Descamps, and Mr. Nys, but if these witnesses be considered as in any way prejudiced on account of their official positions, you have only to look at the evidence of Sir Harry Johnston, late British Commissioner to Uganda, as well as the evidence of such men as Cardinal Lavigerie, Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, the great authority on political economy, Mr. Pickersgill, the British Consul, besides the missionaries, such as the Rev. G. Grenfell, of the British Baptist Missionary Society, Mgr. Augouard, Rev. Holman Bentley, Father van Hencxthoven, Rev. Herbert S. Smith, Mgr. Streicher, Rev. Lawson Forfeit, Father Gabriel, and Rev. W. Verner of the American Presbyterian Mission. The Congo State furnishes a model for civilisation in new countries. A great work has been accomplished in Equatorial Africa, and, as a distinguished missionary said, “Posterity will place the name of Leopold at the head of human benefactors for the princely enterprise, perseverance, and sacrifices contributed by him in such a cause.” THE REV. W. H. LESLIE