§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Consuls or other officials or agents in the Congo State and adjoining districts have been, or will be, directed to report to His Majesty's Government as to the illegal punishments and cruelties repeatedly alleged to be inflicted by the officials of the Congo State upon the natives; whether, if so, such reports will be laid before Parliament; and whether any representations have been made on this subject to the Belgian Government.
§ MR. MANSFIELD (Lincolnshire, Spalding)May I at the same time ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any official reports showing that slavery exists in the Congo State through the connivance, or by the acts, of the State officials, and of cruelties perpetrated upon the natives by the officials of the State; and, if so, do the Government propose to take any steps to enforce the regulations of the Berlin 382 Conference of 1885, by which the native races were to be protected.
§ LORD CRANBORNEI will answer both Questions together. We have no reason to think that slavery is recognised by the authorities of the Congo Free State, but reports of acts of cruelty and oppression have reached us. Such reports have been received from our Consular officers, but our information is not very complete, and it would be premature to consider the propriety of laying Papers before Parliament. I am not sure to what regulations the hon. Member for the Spalding Division refers other than Article VI. of the Berlin Act, which is undoubtedly binding on the Congo Free State. As I intimated to the House on the 2nd instant His Majesty's Government are not at present contemplating any action based upon that Article.†