The first provided for the progressive organisation of administrative, judicial, religious, and military services—in fact, the whole machinery of government. The second remedy was to be the gradual establishment in the interior of strong protective and repressive stations. The third clause provided for the construction of roads and railroads, so that human porterage might be ended. The fourth, for the placing of steamers on the lakes and inland waters. The fifth, for the laying down of telegraph lines. And the sixth, for the organisation of expeditions by movable columns. While these clauses were of an active character, the seventh came under the head of prohibition. It provided for restriction in the import of firearms, and especially of modern rifles and ammunition, within the whole extent of the territory affected by the slave trade. The General Act only provided for the _restriction_ in the import of firearms; but the King, in the administrative decree, applying its provisions to the Congo State, interdicted the importation, traffic, and transport of all rifles, as well as of powder, bullets, and cartridges. The same decree imposed severe penalties on those who in any way violated these regulations. The second article of the Act laid down that “the stations and the interior cruisers shall have for their object the prevention of the capture of slaves, and the interception of the routes of transit. They shall extend their efficacious protection over all the dependent populations within the range of their authority, by prohibiting intestine war, and by initiating them into agricultural labour. They will assist commerce, verifying labour contracts; they will aid the missions, and they will organise a sanitary service.”[13] The second article, recognising the duty of the Powers to prevent slave-raiding in the territory under their control, adopted, amongst others, the following prescription: To support and, if necessary, to serve as a refuge for the native populations; to place those under their sovereignty in a position to co-operate for their own defence; to diminish intertribal wars by means of arbitration; to initiate the natives in agricultural pursuits and industrial arts, so as to increase their welfare; to raise them by civilisation and bring about the extinction of barbarous customs, such as cannibalism and human sacrifices; and, in giving aid to commercial enterprises, to watch over their legality, controlling especially the contracts for service entered into with natives.