AT THE BEGINNING of August 1890, several weeks after he wrote his furious Open Letter to King Leopold II, George Washington Williams finished the long return journey down the Congo River to the station of Kinshasa, on Stanley Pool. 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When the native inquired about the disparity of strength between himself and his white brother, he was told that the white man could pull up trees and perform the most prodigious feats of strength. I believe that from this experience he was able to show his To avoid that, they get interested in it, and make you murderous competition and dream one day to overthrow you. George Washington Williams witnessed the extreme mistreatment of the Africans in the Congo, and wrote An Open Letter to King Leopold II as a response. CONCLUSIONS The laws printed and circulated in Europe for the Protection of the blacks in the Congo, are a dead letter and a fraud. I was anxious to see to what extent the natives had adopted the fostering care of your Majestys benevolent enterprise (? Three hundred Ntakabrassrod-is the price the State pays for a slave, when bought from a native. They are ignorant and cruel, because they do not comprehend the natives; they are imposed upon them by the State. The State then hires these woman out to the highest bidder, the officers having the first choice and then the men. W. Williams, of the United States of America, 1890. All Rights Reserved. In 1935, while working in the Congo, Muikwani Bukoko bought a second-hand Bible from a Belgian priest who forgot the speech in the Bible. Every charge which I am about to bring against your Majestys personal Government in the Congo has been carefully investigated; a list of competent and veracious witnesses, documents, letters, official records and data has been faithfully prepared, which will be deposited with Her Britannic Majestys Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, until such time as an International Commission can be created with power to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and attest the truth or falsity of these charges. BlackPast is dedicated to providing the inquisitive public with on November 22, 2021. fraud, robberies, arson, murder, slave-raiding, and general policy of cruelty of your 9. Instead of the natives of the Congo adopting the fostering care of your Majestys Government, they everywhere complain that their land has been taken from them by force; that the Government is cruel and arbitrary, and declare that they neither love nor respect the Government and its flag. Officers at the chief stations get the men and receive the money when they are transferred to the State; but there are some middle-men who only get from twenty to twenty-five francs per head. Whenever children are born of such relations, the State maintains that the women being its property the child belongs to it also. There is no improvement among the natives, because there is an impassable gulf between them and your Majestys Government, a gulf which can never be bridged. It buys and sells and steals slaves. Memoria e Perdono, atteggiamenti ontici per la felicit, in Dietrich Bonhoeffer e Paul Ricoeur, Autismo: Tecniche educative e comunicative, Le stragi e gli eccidi dei Savoia: Esecutori e mandanti, Luomo di Selo e altre solitudini balcaniche. Congo. And make sure that niggers never become rich. It buys and sells and steals slaves. But of all the awful crimes they committed, Belgiums King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all. Three hundred and sixteen slaves were sent down the river recently, and others are to follow. Anyway, if you could find a proven original? The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. Atrocious Facts About Belgium's King Leopold II, The - Factinate George Washington Williams (October 16, 1849 - August 2, 1891) was a soldier in the American Civil War and in Mexico before becoming a Baptist minister, politician, lawyer . Upon the arrival of the survivors in the Congo they are set to work as labourers at one shilling a day; as soldiers they are promised sixteen shillings per month, in English money, but are usually paid off in cheap handkerchiefs and poisonous gin. Shocked by the widespread brutal abuses and slavery imposed on the Congolese, he wrote an open letter to Leopold in 1890 about the suffering of the region's native inhabitants at the . Go look it up. They were the very first royal family of Belgium, because the country was just 5 years old. I cannot deal with the dimensions of these prisons in this letter, but will do so in my report to my Government. The original source came from blackpast. By such means as these, too silly and disgusting to mention, and a few boxes of gin, whole villages have been signed away to your Majesty. The letter helped sway European and American public opinion against the Congo regime. Every charge which I am about to bring against your Majestys personal Government in the Congo has been carefully investigated; a list of competent and veracious witnesses, documents, letters, official records and data has been faithfully prepared, which will be deposited with Her Britannic Majestys Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, until such time as an International Commission can be created with power to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, and attest the truth or falsity of these charges. All the sleight-of- hand tricks had been carefully rehearsed, and he was now ready for his work. WhatsApp Only +2347014043648. A cap was placed upon the nipple of the gun, and the black brother was implored to step off ten yards and shoot at his white brother to demonstrate his statement that he was a spirit, and, therefore, could not be killed. No white man commanded his rear column, and his troops were allowed to straggle, sicken and die; and their bones were scattered over more than two hundred miles of territory. 1950s (London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1969). All rights reserved. Institute a confessional system, which allows you to be good detectives denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of the decision-maker. George Washington Williams(October 16, 1849 August 2, 1891) was a soldier in the American Civil War and in Mexico before becoming a Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history. During thirteen years only one white man has lost his life by the hands of the natives, and only two white men have been killed in the Congo. There are instances in which they have brought the heads of their victims to their white officers on the expeditionary steamers, and afterwards eaten the bodies of slain children. Posted on August 20, 2009 September 3, 2019 by contributed by: BlackPast. There is not a single chaplain in the employ of your Majestys Government to console the sick or bury the dead. Stanley Falls, Central Africa, And all this upon the word of honour of a gentleman, I subscribe myself your Majestys humble and obedient servant. The labour force at the stations of your Majestys Government in the Upper River is composed of slaves of all ages and both sexes. However, in his letter, Williams claims that no effort has been made to aid these people, but . From these general observations I wish now to pass to specific charges against your Majestys Government. Majestys Government to the natives 4 Just this one sentence gives you an overview of career. There is no improvement among the natives, because there is an impassable gulf between them and your Majestys Government, a gulf which can never be bridged. Your principal objective in our mission in the Congo is never to teach the niggers to know God, this they know already. There exist similarly inspired letters as well, the content varies. Nor will this condition of affairs change until the native shall have been taught by the European the dignity, utility and blessing of labour. If God punished Eve with painful childbirth, why do animals feel pain too? And, of course, many die. One copy is held with the Guy Carlton Papers in The National Archives of Great Britain in Read More(1783) The Book of Negroes, General Act of the Conference of Berlin Berlin, Germany Signed February 26, 1885 CHAPTER I DECLARATION RELATIVE TO FREEDOM OF TRADE IN THE BASIN OF THE CONGO, ITS MOUTHS AND CIRCUMJACENT REGIONS, WITH OTHER PROVISIONS CONNECTED THEREWITH Article I The trade of all nations shall Read More(1885) General Act of the Conference of Berlin, George Washington Williams, An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo By Colonel, The Honorable Geo. analyzing the situation and coming up with ways to make changes to help. 1 had never been able to conceive of Europeans, establishing a government in a tropical country, without building a hospital; and yet from the mouth of the Congo River to its head-waters, here at the seventh cataract, a distance of 1,448 miles, there is not a solitary hospital for Europeans, and only three sheds for sick Africans in the service of the State, not fit to be occupied by a horse. I appeal to our Heavenly Father, whose service is perfect love, in witness of the purity of my motives and the integrity of my aims; and to history and mankind I appeal for the demonstration and vindication of the truthfulness of the charge I have herein briefly outlined. When these men run away a reward of 1,000 Ntaka is offered. T have heard an officer of the Belgian Army pleading the cause of a white man of low degree who had been guilty of beating and stabbing a black man, and urging race distinctions and prejudices as good and sufficient reasons why his client should be adjudged innocent. Open letter to King Leopold on Congo - Passerino Editore Utilizziamo i cookie per essere sicuri che tu possa avere la migliore esperienza sul nostro sito. ELEVENTH.Your Majestys Government has concluded a contract with the Arab Governor at this place for the establishment of a line of military posts from the Seventh Cataract to Lake Tanganyika territory to which your Majesty has no more legal claim, than I have to be Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian army. When my ex became rich and famous, I thought I was going to die!