The essay L'État Indépendant du Congo was written by an unknown Belgian some time during the period 1895-1908. Apologetic in tone, it discusses the political and social organization and religion of the Congolese natives, the geography and productions of both Bas Congo and Haute Congo, and the civil administration.
The author steadfastly asserts the profit of the Free State both to Belgium and to the native peoples. While he extols the virtues of the state for developing agriculture and commerce in the Congo, he cites the even greater gift of missions. While he admits that the early years of the state were marked by brutality and the rule of force, he wrote: "aujourd'hui heureusement cette situation n'existe plus. Le code protège tout le monde et les nègres ne sont pas les derniers à s'en apercevoir" (30).
The "ethnographic" comments that the author provides on the indigenous population are not particularly deep or insightful, but are interesting when seen in the context of an advocate of colonialism. Perhaps typical of the comments is the following:
D'ailleures il ne faut pas s'imaginer que les habitants de l'État Indépendant du Congo sont des Sauvages féroces et cannibals. Il existe certainement des tribues loin dans l'intérieur du pays où les moeurs ne sont pas douces et où il ne serait pas don d'aller faire une excursion de plaisir une simple badines à la main, mais en règle générale le nègre congolais n'est pas aussi diable qu'il est noir et pour ma part je crois que nous ne perdrons pas notre lessive en essayant, -- moralement parlant -- de le blanchir un peu. (1-2)
The date of the manuscript is difficult to ascertain, but it can be no later than about 1908, when it was accessioned at the APS. Mentions of the slave trade in eastern Congo suggest weakly that it may have been written in the mid-1890s, when the campaign against Arab slavers was at its most active.