G  119  20

expected  to  read  in  the  preamble  to  the  process
  verbal  that  a  court  martial  was  constituted
  consisting  of  between  10  or  12  officers
whose  manes  were  given  —  but  according  to
these  documents  Lothaire  and  Henry  were
the  Court-judges  and  executioners!  Really
Stokes's  offences  are  made  to  appear  mere
light  errors-compared  to  Lothaire’'s  action.

Stokes  offences  so  far  as  proved  by
Lothaire's  witnesses  amount  tor

1d.  Sclling  powder,  percussion  caps  about
100  muskets.  1  Double  barreled  gun  and
60  cartridges,  and  about  a  dozen  or  so  of
Sniders.

2.  Buying  ivory,  say  ten  tons,  and  smuggling
  it  out  of  the  Congo  State.
3.  Holding  communication  with  Kibonge  —

a  fugitive  from  justice,  and  olfering  to
assist  his  flight  out  of  the  country.

These  are  illegal  and  penal  offences,  it  is
true,  but  upon  the  surrender  and  submission
of  Stokes,  they  appear  trivial  in  comparison
to  the  awful  punishment  inflicted  on  him.

observe  Lothaire  qduotes  article  1  of  the
decree  of  March  1892,  and  articele  28  of  the
Military  Code  but  there  is  a  higher  law  than
either  of  these  —  I  mean  the  Treaty  between
the  British  Government  and  the  Congo  State.
I  beg  to  refer  you  the  articles  5  and  6  of  the
Treaty,  and  to  artiele  19  of  the  General  Act
of  the  Berlin  Conference,  and  as  the  Brussels
Act  repealed  „all  previous  Conventions“,  1
refer  you  to  its  artiche  V  which  says  that
„organizers  and  abettors  of  slave  hunting
shall  be  kept  without  other  formality  at  the
disposal  of  the  tribunals  competent  to  try
them“.

There  is  only  one  tribunal  competent  to
try  a  white  man,  and  that  is  at  Boma  —  Where
the  Consuls  reside.

If  British  journalists  have  any  idea  of
these  facts  —  of  course  that  is  the  view  they  will
take  —  and  the  consequences  of  this  preeipitate
  act  of  Lothaire's  will  be  serious  and  humiliating.
  All  well-wishers  of  the  State  have
been  in  hopes  that  Lothaire’s  action  would  be
justilied  by  the  documents  we  understood  were
on  their  way  to  Europe.  But  il  these  are  all
the  documents  yvou  have  I  am  bound  to  say
that  Lothaire's  Conduct  is  utterly  indefensible.
Had  Stokes  been  contumacious,  attempted  to
defend  his  camp,  and  defied  arrest  there
would  have  been  justilication  in  shooting  him,
but  he  not  only  quietly  obeyed  the  order  of
arrest,  but  by  this  statement  signed  by  him
he  also  offered  to  place  all  his  propertx  at  the

 

disposal  ol  ihe  State.  Then  for  Lothaire  to
hang  him  after  his  submission  seems  to  me
worse  even  then  if  he  had  erept  into  his  tent
and  cut  his  throat.

I  am  going  to  America  in  accordance  with
#a  deceision  taken  soon  after  the  eleetion.  I  sail
to-lmorrow,  and  so  Ishall  not  becalled
upon  to  try  and  defend  an  aect
whieh  I  heartily  condemn').  Had
Lothaire  put  him  in  chains,  few  would  have
had  much  sympathy  with  the  prisoner,  but
as  Stokes  appears  to  be  a  victim  of  a  rash
and  unjustifiable  act  ol  tyranny,  he  is  more.
likely  to  be  held  up  as  a  martyr.  Stokes'  statement
  is  sure  to  excite  pitT  when  published.

I  am  surprised  also  that  the  authorities
at  Brussels  have  not  tried  to  tone  down  the
arbitrary  conduct  of  Lothaire.  Extracts  from
Stokes’  diary  showing  by  his  own  statements
the  number  of  rifles,  and  amount  of  ammunition
  sold,  and  the  extent  of  his  dealings  with
Kibonge  might  have  lessened  the  horror  that.
is  now  sure  to  be  left.

I  write  these  lines  to  you  privatly  and  confidentially,
  and  I1  can  only  hope  that  the  journalists
  over  here  may  not  take  the  view  I  am
constrained  to  take  in  the  privaty  of  correspondence
  with  a  friend.

With  best  regards  I  am
VLours  very  faithfull
S.)  HBenry  M.  Stanley.

A  Mons.  Liebrichts,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,
cte.  etc.

Anlage  V.

Im  Hinblick  auf  die  bei  Gelegenheit  des  Prozesses
  Lothaire  von  der  Staatsanwaltschaft  und
von  der  Verteidigung  gegen  die  Verwaltung
von  Deutsch-Ostafrika  erhobenen  Anschuldigungen,
hegen  die  Bestimmungen  der  Brüsseler  Akte  in
bezug  auf  den  Waffen=  und  Munitionsverkauf  an
die  Eingeborenen  verstoßen  zu  haben,  ist  es  von
Interesse,  aus  den  Akten  der  Brüsseler  Kolonialverwaltung
  ersehen  zu  können,  wie  dieselbe  sich
bis  in  die  neueste  Zeit  über  die  Brüsseler  Akte
hinweggesetzt  hat  und  wie  begründet  die  von  der
Congo  Reform  Association  gegen  die  belgische
Verwaltung  in  dieser  Beziehung  erhobenen  Vorwürfe
  waren.

Dossier  23—789.  Auszug  aus  einem
Schreiben  des  Ministers  des  Auswärtigen  Da-*)

  Man  sieht  hieraus,  daß  Stanley  die  Reise  nach
Amerika  offenbar  absichtlich  unternahm,  um  der  ihm
sehr  unbequemen  Vernehmung  und  Aussage  vor  Gericht
aus  dem  Wege  zu  gehen.