Scotland. Distances in this country are so enormous, the means of
progress so primitive, that many of the Belgian officers with whom I
came south and who already had travelled nineteen days from Antwerp,
had still, before they reached their posts, to steam, paddle, and
walk for three months.

In 1844 to dispose amicably of this great territory, which was much
desired by several of the Powers, a conference was held at Berlin.
There it was decided to make of the Congo Basin an Independent
State, a "free-for-all" country, where every flag could trade with
equal right, and with no special tariff or restriction.

The General Act of this conference agreed: "The trade of ALL nations
shall enjoy complete freedom." "No Power which exercises or shall
exercise Sovereign rights in the above-mentioned regions shall be
allowed to _grant therein a monopoly or favor of any kind in matters
of trade_." "ALL the Powers exercising Sovereign rights or influence
in the afore-said territories bind themselves to watch over the
preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement
of _the condition of their moral and material welfare_, and _to
help in suppressing slavery_." The italics are mine. These
quotations from the act are still binding upon the fourteen Powers,
including the United States.

For several years previous to the Conference of Berlin, Leopold of
Belgium, as a private individual, had shown much interest in the
development of the Congo. The opening up of that territory was
apparently his hobby. Out of his own pocket he paid for expeditions
into the Congo Basin, employed German and English explorers, and
protested against the then existing iniquities of the Arabs, who for