The moment has now come when the marvellous progress made by the infant State is creating fresh needs, when it would be only in accordance with wisdom and foresight to revise an economic system primarily adapted to a creative and transitional period. _Can we blame the infant State for a progress which, in its rapidity, has surpassed the most optimistic forecasts? Can we hinder and arrest this progress in refusing her the means necessary for her development? Can we condemn the Sovereign who has already made such great sacrifices to support for an indefinite period a burden which daily becomes heavier, and at the same time impose upon him new and heavy expenses necessitated by the suppression of the slave trade?_ _We are convinced that there will be but one answer to these questions._ [Illustration: Camp on Line of Cataracts Railroad, Songololo.] Following the British representative in support of the proposal, Count von Alvensleben, the German Minister, expressed himself as follows: The Imperial Government will be glad to have such an opportunity of showing its sentiments of sympathy for the Congo Free State, which, under the wise direction of its august Sovereign, has given such striking proofs of vitality. The German Government will willingly lend its help in placing the Congo Free State in a position to acquire the means which may seem necessary to assist its development and to enable it to continue its valuable services to the cause of civilisation and humanity. [Sidenote: France and the Slave Trade.] Indeed, the expressions of appreciation of the Belgian work in the Congo were unanimous and enthusiastic. The Declaration was adopted, and became part of the General Act of the Brussels Conference by the ratification of all the Powers—the Dutch Chambers sanctioning the ratification on the intervention of the Queen Regent, mother of the present Queen, Wilhelmina. In giving her adhesion France did so with the reservation that she “would not recognise the articles relating to the zone of maritime search, jurisprudence, arrest, seizure, and condemnation of suspected ships.” This has always been regarded as a flaw in the effort of the Powers to suppress the slave traffic with unity of force and aim. France’s remarkable reservation has had the effect of affording to slave-dealers the only existing protection of a civilised Government on the East African Coast. The motive for this is revealed in the fact that slave-dealers are still employed in the French possessions of the Indian Ocean.[15] It is to be regretted that republican France should stand out from that solid phalanx of the Powers by which alone the abominable institution of slavery can be stricken from the calendar of modern crime. [Illustration: Baluba Chiefs.] [Illustration: Return from the Hunt at Bumba (Bangala).] FOOTNOTES: [13] Boulger, _The Congo State_, 1898. [14] See Appendix for full text. [15] Boulger. CHAPTER XII