At last the feeling became so strong in Europe that in September, 1904, King Leopold appointed a Commission of Inquiry consisting of three persons, two of whom were his own subjects; the third was an eminent Swiss jurist. This was somewhat like King Leopold investigating himself. But the Commission seems to have listened impartially to the testimony. With the eyes of Europe upon them they proceeded to the Congo and spent four and a half months in taking the sworn testimony of “hundreds of witnesses.” The contrast between what the Commission _expected_ to find, and what they actually found, may be best expressed in the words that M. Janssens, president of the Commission, is reported to have spoken publicly before leaving Boma: “I came here with a feeling of confidence, expecting to find everything in order. I did not think I was about to come into contact with such putridity as I have found.” In general the report of King Leopold’s Commission confirms all the charges, including the very worst, that had ever been made against the Congo government. To such an extent is this true that those who are working against the continuance of King Leopold’s rule in the Congo would be willing to base their appeal on the report of the Commission alone. It is a lengthy and exhaustive document, but a few brief extracts will convey a fair idea of the whole; for instance the following: “In the majority of cases the native must go one or two days’ march every fortnight, until he arrives at that part of the forest where the rubber vines can be met with in a certain degree of abundance. There the collector passes a number of days in a miserable existence. He has to build himself an improvised shelter which obviously cannot replace his hut. He has not the food to which he is accustomed. He is deprived of his wife, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather and the attacks of wild beasts. When once he has collected the rubber he must bring it to the State station, or to that of the Company, and only then can he return to his village, where he can sojourn for barely more than two or three days, because the next demand is upon him. “They brought before the Commission a multitude of native witnesses, who revealed a great number of crimes and excesses alleged to have been committed by the sentries.... The truth of the charges is borne out by a mass of evidence and official reports.... The agents examined by the Commission did not even attempt to refute them. “According to the witnesses, these auxiliaries convert themselves into despots, demanding women and food, not only for themselves, but for a retinue of parasites which a love of rapine causes to become associated with them. They kill without pity all those who attempt to resist. “If we accept Stanley’s figures it is incontestable that a large part of the population must have disappeared; for, from Stanley Pool to Nouvelle Anvers, the banks of the river are almost deserted.”