The Curse of Central Africa (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Curse of Central Africa Except on rare occasions, to which I shall hereafter very briefly refer, King Leopold, his counsellors, and their friends abroad have deemed it necessary, when criticised, to do little more than pose as much misunderstood and maligned philanthropists. The mission of the State, according to their view, is so high-minded and majestic as to palliate, if not justify, every evil accidental to it, which may from time to time be disclosed. With a loftiness of tone and unctuous insistence upon the purity and unselfishness Of their intentions, which in a less serious matter would be appropriate subject for ridicule, they have claimed, throughout the world, not only an exclusive prerogative Of superiority to adverse comment, but even a prescriptive right to disregard the ordinary obligations of humanity and organised society. Having closed nearly the whole State to all save Officials and dependents, they have deemed themselves in a position to ignore or laugh to scorn all allegations of wrong-doing which may periodically stir the conscience of Belgium or of the other nations primarily responsible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.