G 119 20 
expected to read in the preamble to the pro- 
cess verbal that a court martial was con- 
stituted 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 smugg- 
ling 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Act repealed „all previous Conventions“, 1 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 preeipi- 
tate act of Lothaire's will be serious and hu- 
miliating. 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' sta- 
tement 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 ammu- 
nition 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 con- 
fidentially, and I1 can only hope that the jour- 
nalists over here may not take the view I am 
constrained to take in the privaty of cor- 
respondence 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 Pro- 
zesses 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 Kolonial- 
verwaltung 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 Vor- 
würfe 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.