THE CONGO BEQUEATHED TO BELGIUM The Declaration supplemental to the General Act of the Brussels Conference, referred to in the previous chapter, assured an income to the Congo Free State, which, however inadequate for its needs at that time, served, in a degree, to clear its future of the doubt which had caused Belgium, as a nation, to shrink from incurring financial responsibility in support of it. The cost of the early undertakings, from the day in 1876 when Stanley took leave of King Leopold in Brussels and set out upon his expedition up the Congo River, and the expenses of the entire enterprise, including those of the International African Association, had been borne by the King and his immediate adherents. The amounts so expended each year now aggregated a sum approximating 100,000,000 francs. On 29th April, 1887, the Belgian nation had authorised the Congo State to raise a loan of 150,000,000 francs, which, however, it did not guarantee. These funds were largely employed to found the chartered companies provided for in the Decree of 27th February, 1887. The time had now again come when the Belgian Chamber should consider the reasonableness of asking the assistance of the Belgian nation, especially as the King’s African enterprise had been undertaken for the benefit of civilisation and the expansion of Belgian markets. On the 3rd July, 1890, the day after the General Act of the Conference had been signed, a Convention was concluded between M. Beernaert, the Finance Minister, on the part of Belgium, and Baron Van Eetvelde, on the part of the Congo Free State, by which Belgium engaged to lend the Congo State 5,000,000 francs at once, and 2,000,000 francs a year for the next ten years—25,000,000 francs in all, on condition that Belgium should have the option, six months after the expiration of the ten years, of annexing the Congo Free State “with all the rights and advantages attached to the sovereignty of the State ...” provided it also assumed the obligations of the State to third parties, “_the King-Sovereign expressly refusing all indemnity on account of the personal sacrifices he had himself made_.” It was further agreed: