THE CONGO.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1108, 22 May 1883, Page 1

THE CONGO.

In MSS7 IfenrV Stanley inwlo his wonderful descent of the Congo ltivcr and revealed the fact that, if the Livingstone Falls were once surmounted and Stanley Pool reached, there would be waterway for hundreds of miles up the course ot this Equatorial stream. The months (f the Con«<» had been discovered in 1481 A. o. by the Portuguese, and are immortalise.] in the " Lustiad " of Camoens i he Crown of Portugal has ever claimed as far as 6deg. 12-miu. Hinith latitude, which includes the estuary of this grand river, but the claim has e\ er been disputed

by the English Government, as there was no proof of continuous occupation. In the most esteemed books on Africa, such as Stanford's " Africa,'' 1878, Ambtiz, 8 desr. south latitude, is shown as the northern boundary. Affairs were in this position when Henry Stanley surprised the residenls of Embommn, the h'gliest point then known of the Uongo, by tho appearance of himself and his companions, line spectres from the desert. The King of the Belgians had in the previous year summoned all the geographers of Europe to Brussels, and founded the African International Association, England preferred to carry on hoiAfrican explorations in her own way. The Germans and the French shrted their own associations, huf attention is now called (o the enterprise of tho King of the Belgians. His idea was to start separate parties from Zanzibar on the east coast, and from tho mouth of the Oongo on the west, and to advance into the unknown interior until they met at Nyange, 4deg. south latitude, planting intermediate stat : ons. The motive of this costly enterprise, to which the King devoted from his private purse £60,000 per annum, was pure geography, but it is obvious that geographical discovery is always the forerunner of commerce, often of religious missions, and sometimes of political annexation The Belgian Association, not being national, had no flag. The King had no desire to annex territory. His unselfish outlay was for the good of the world. Henry Stanley was employed to make a roa*l on the side of the Livingstone Falls, with steamers upon convenient level reaches, so as tG reach Stanley Pool from Embomma. This lie has accomplished. By his side and in harmony with him Protestant, Missionary Societies have trodden the same severe path, made large outlays of men and money, and have also reached Stanley' Pool. Two steamers, broken up into hundreds of small pieces, are being conveyed ou the shoulders of men to the Pool, and will in a few months be launched. Leopoldville is the name of the station that hi>s been founded there ; anothor of thl stations is named "Peace."

Political complications ha}'3 unfortunately arisen. De Brazza accomplished his meritorious exploration from the head waters of che Gahu River to Stanley Pool, and had the audacity to hoist the French flag, and thus imperil the freedom of the river on the plateau above the cataracts It is difficult to imagine what advantage would be gained. However, while he has been occupied at Paris Henry Stanley has returned to the Congo, and we shall soon see the very pretty complication caused by the collision of the American citizen in the employ of the King of the Belgians, and in alliance with Enelish missionaries, holding the fort against the Franco-Italian intruder. But a new political difficulty has now arisen at the mouth of the Congo. The rumor first came from Lisbon, it was reechoed at Brussels, and found its way to London, that the English Foreign office had at this late hour acknowledged Portugal's old claim to sovereignty as far as south latitude sdeg. 12min., and had in effect ceded to that inert, inapt, and inefficient State the guardianship of the mouth of the mighty river. It has been whispered that the King of the Belgians is greatly distressed at this compact between his two first cousins, the Queen of England and the King of Portugal, to the destruction of his geographical enterprises. It is urged that every precaution has been taken to secure -by treaty religious toleration and commercial freedom, but any oin who has studied the debased system of Government both at Mozambique, on the east coast, where the great river Zambesi is lost to commerce from the neglect of its nominal rulers, and at Loanda, on the West Coast, must feel that a great mistake hiiß been made, the consequences of which will be severely felt in the future. The Portuguese officials in their African colonies are notoriously ill-paid, inefficient, and, it is feared corrupt. Those who ought to know assure us that the subject was well considered from every point of view by the Foreign Office, and the parties interested consulted, and yet it is rumored that so secret and rapid were the transactions which eventuated in a treaty that the attempt to get a clause securing liberty of worship failed. We all know within what narrow limits toleration of religion exists in the States of Southern Europe ; how liberty of worship is restricted, how permissions have to be taken out to do what comes as a natural right in Englaud or the United SUlea. As to the commercial provisions nothing i« known.