George Washington Williams,
What does William say about the educational services given to the natives
." Your Majesty's Government has never spent one franc for educational purposes, nor instituted any practical system of industrialism. Indeed the most unpractical measures have been adopted against the natives in nearly every respect; and in the capital of your Majesty's Government at Boma there is not a native employed.
What does William state about the officers of the Belgian army age
But I take the liberty to say that many of these officers are too young and inexperienced to be entrusted with the difficult work of dealing with native races. They are ignorant of native character, lack wisdom, justice, fortitude and patience. They have estranged the natives from your Majesty's Government, have sown the seed of discord between tribes and villages. They also abuse their power and commit murder.
What did William say about the natives adoption process of the benevolent enterprise
He was disappointing to learn that the residents were upset because they believe they got their land taken by force, so they did not adopt. They believe the Government is cruel and arbitrary, and declare that they neither love nor respect the Government and its flag
Williams first law against congo
Soldiers do not understand the natives, but still make laws that they expect natives to follow. Also they feed people to the natives
What does William say about the black soldiers
The African soldiers and laborers of your Majesty's Government fare worse than the whites, because they have poorer quarters, quite as bad as those of the natives; and in the sheds, called hospitals, they languish upon a bed of bamboo poles without blankets, pillows or any food different from that served to them when well, rice and fish.
Williams fourth accusation congo
The Courts of your Majesty's Government are abortive, unjust, partial and delinquent. I have personally witnessed and examined their clumsy operations. The laws printed and circulated in Europe "for the Protection of the blacks" in the Congo, are a dead letter and a fraud. Black servants got accused for white soldiers theft
Twelfth accusation of congo
The agents of your Majesty's Government have misrepresented the Congo country and the Congo railway. Mr. H. M. STANLEY, the man who was your chief agent in setting up your authority in this country, has grossly misrepresented the character of the country. Instead of it being fertile and productive it is sterile and unproductive.
third act
The white man took a percussion cap gun, tore the end of the paper which held the powder to the bullet, and poured the powder and paper into the gun, at the same time slipping the bullet into the sleeve of the left arm.After much begging the black brother aims the gun at his white brother, pulls the trigger, the gun is discharged, the white man stoops . . . and takes the bullet from his shoe!(The White man tricked the Black man into believing that he was really shooting some one)
What does William say about the officers that work under the king
There are from sixty to seventy officers of the Belgian army in the service of your Majesty's Government in the Congo of whom only about thirty are at their post; the other half are in Belgium on furlough. These officers draw double pay—as soldiers and as civilians.(He saying that soldiers receive better treatment, while some of them put in less work)
What does Williams say about the chaplain of congo
There is not a single chaplain in the employ of your Majesty's Government to console the sick or bury the dead. And barely have christian burial
The purpose of Williams letter
William intended on telling the king of Africa how terrible his continent is
What does William say about the surgeons
With few exceptions, the _______ of your Majesty's Government have been gentlemen of professional ability, devoted to duty, but usually left with few medical stores and no quarters in which to treat their patients
Williams sixth accusation of congo
Women are imported into your Majesty's Government for immoral purposes. They are introduced by two methods, viz., black men are dispatched to the Portuguese coast where they engage these women as mistresses of white men, who pay to the procurer a monthly sum. The other method is by capturing native women and condemning them to seven years' servitude for some imaginary crime against the State with which the villages of these women are charged. The State then hires these woman out to the highest bidder, the officers having the first choice and then the men. Whenever children are born of such relations, the State maintains that the women being its mother means it is also property.
Ninth accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government has been, and is now, guilty of waging unjust and cruel wars against natives, with the hope of securing slaves and women, to minister to the behests of the officers of your Government. Natives had to become cannibals
eleventh accusation of congo
Your Majesty's 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.
Williams second accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government has established nearly fifty posts, consisting of two to eight mercenary slave-soldiers from the East Coast. There is no white commissioned officer at these posts; they are in charge of the black Zanzibar soldiers, and the State expects them not only to sustain themselves, but to raid enough to feed the garrisons where the white men are stationed. They burn down natives houses that do not listen, and soldiers are disrespectful.
Eighth accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government has violated the General Act of the Conference of Berlin by firing upon native canoes; by confiscating the property of natives; by intimidating native traders, and preventing them from trading with white trading companies; by quartering troops in native villages when there is no war; by causing vessels bound from "Stanley-Pool" to "Stanley-Falls",
William seventh accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government has violated the General Act of the Conference of Berlin by firing upon native canoes; by confiscating the property of natives; by intimidating native traders, and preventing them from trading with white trading companies; by quartering troops in native villages when there is no war; by causing vessels bound from "Stanley-Pool" to "Stanley-Falls",
Tenth accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government is engaged in the slave-trade, wholesale and retail. It buys and sells and steals slaves. Turns slaves into soldiers.
William sixth accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government is engaged in trade and commerce, competing with the organised trade companies of Belgium, England, France, Portugal and Holland. It taxes all trading companies and exempts its own goods from export-duty, and makes many of its officers ivory-traders, with the promise of a liberal commission upon all they can buy or get for the State. punishes people who dont sell through goverment by burning their village.
William fifth accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government is excessively cruel to its prisoners, condemning them, for the slightest offences, to the chain gang, the like of which can not be seen in any other Government in the civilized or uncivilized world. Also whipped prisoners with dried hippo skin
Williams third accusation of congo
Your Majesty's Government is guilty of violating its contracts made with its soldiers, mechanics and workmen, many of whom are subjects of other Governments. Their letters never reach home.
John Hope Franklin
arranged for a proper headstone to mark the grave. would become the first black American to chair a history department at a non-traditionally black college. That department was the history department at Brooklyn College.]
lens act
declared that if the White man were to request him to burn up his black brother's village it would be done.
CAMILLE JANSSEN
detected in stealing a bottle of wine from a hotel table. A few hours later the Procurer-General searched his room and found many more stolen bottles of wine and other things, not the property of servants. Was not arrested because governor did not permit it
Mr. M H Stanely
fed the people of Congo nothing, but lies
What were Williams intentions when he visited congo
he sought for the results of the brilliant programme: "fostering care", "benevolent enterprise", an "honest and practical effort" to increase the knowledge of the natives "and secure their welfare
what happened 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.
Adam Hochschild
noted, the "open letter" was "the first comprehensive, systematic indictment of Leopold's colonial regime written by anyone.
What does williams say about the humanity of the Dutch trading company
opened their private hospital to the sick of other countries
What does William say about the soldiers
recruits are transported under circumstances more cruel than cattle in European countries. They eat their rice twice a day by the use of their fingers; they often thirst for water when the season is dry; they are exposed to the heat and rain, and sleep upon the damp and filthy decks of the vessels often so closely crowded as to lie in human ordure. And, of course, many die.
Mr. HENRY M. STANLEY
sent one white man, with four or five Zanzibar soldiers, to make treaties with native chiefs.The staple argument was that the white man's heart had grown sick of the wars and rumours of war between one chief and another, between one village and another; that the white man was at peace with his black brother, and desired to "confederate all African tribes" for the general defense and public welfare.
What does Williams say about medical care in congo
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.
What does William say about the survivors 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. The cruel and unjust treatment to which these people are subjected breaks the spirits of many of them, makes them distrust and despise your Majesty's Government. They are enemies
George Washington Williams
was an American Baptist minister, Civil War veteran, politician, and writer. In 1889 he was granted an audience with the king of Belgium, Leopold II, and then travelled to the Congo Free State, which was at that time a personal possession of the king.wrote the following appeal to Leopold. The "open letter" was soon published as a pamphlet and distributed widely in the United States and Europe.
