_ 
 
 s book gives a detailed description of 
 one of the most praised and most abused 
 men of recent years. The work deals 
 with Morel's earlier yea?s and shows how 
 his views on Free Trade and Native Rights 
 in Africa were formed. *It gives the first 
 detailed account of the Congo Reform 
 Movement and of the great campaign 5 
 which lifted the yoke of slavery from 
 millions of Natives in tropical Africa ; 
 and also describes Corel's fight against 
 Secret Diplomacy aufi Militarism, and his 
 attitude towards the recent war.
 
 UGSB LIBRARl 
 
 6<e4*
 
 E. D. MOREL 
 
 THE MAN AND HIS WORK! 

 
 E. D. MOREL, 1918.
 
 THE MAN AND HIS WORK 
 
 BY 
 
 F. SEYMOUR COCKS 
 
 Author of "The Secret Treaties" 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 COLONEL WEDGWOOD, D.S.O., M.P. 
 
 LONDON : GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. 
 RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. i
 
 There is all Africa and her prodigies in us." 
 
 SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY COLONEL WEDGWOOD, D.S.O., M.P. 
 
 A NOT inconsiderable part of this volume is taken up with 
 appreciations of the work of E. D. Morel, laudatory 
 appreciations coming from the heads of Church and 
 State and Commerce. They read curiously. Those who 
 made them think otherwise, now. The story of E. D. 
 Morel is like a play by one of the great Greek Tragedians, 
 and can only be fully brought out by the dramatic con- 
 trasts. In 1911 the Morning Post hardly got ahead of a 
 press and public pouring forth peans of praise ; and within 
 a few short year^even his friends were glad to see Morel 
 safe in gaol, lest press and public should assassinate him ! 
 The man himself never changed at all, neither his 
 ideals, nor his weapons, nor his , enthusiasms, nor his 
 almost childlike faith in human nature. He is left at 
 the end a little puzzled and bewildered at the four prison 
 walls he found confining him. As he never knew of any 
 reason why truth and logic should not prevail in his own 
 case (for he never could " play the hypocrite amongst 
 you "), so he supposed that truth and logic should be 
 enough for ail men always. It was on this supposition 
 that he had carried to a successful close the emancipation 
 of the Congo, perhaps the greatest single-handed 4ght 
 that any man has ever won. And then with the same 
 sword he went up against Armageddon, and the marvel
 
 4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 is that the man is still alive. Perhaps this faith came 
 from underestimating the vested interests in the world 
 or from ignorance of psychology. Or perhaps there was 
 a grain of truth in the Address from the African Chiefs. 
 Morel is in some ways very like a little child ; arid like 
 all little children he may have come " from God." 
 
 As the Africans have had presumably no reason to 
 suppose that Morel is paid by German gold (for they 
 do not know one exploiter from another), and as on 
 simple matters like liberty they may not have had their 
 minds changed by the war, their Address of thanks may 
 stand. 
 
 A fight against your own people for aliens, not even of the same 
 race, ... at the risk of losing the goodwill of your own brethren, 
 is humanly speaking unnatural. Hence we take it to be from God. 
 And we class you among the few whom He has at all times reserved 
 for Himself to carry out His purpose and maintain His honour among 
 the nations of the world. 
 
 E. D. Morel is not a saint. It is true that he does 
 not take life lightly or relax with ease.* He sets a hard, 
 a very hard pace, in racing towards the stars. But 
 he does not wear his hair Jong, nor go bare-footed in 
 Tolstoyan smock. What people think of him matters. 
 He does like recognition, and his hard work is partly 
 to deserve that recognition. It did not please him to be 
 sent to prison " for the Cause." His smile is somewhat 
 sour when he is turned down by an Archbishop. This 
 goes to show that E. D. Morel is not all saint, nor all 
 fanatic. It indicates that the child may grow into a 
 man, in practical politics, and a very formidable man 
 it will be. No one ever ridiculed Morel. 
 
 Few know the capacity of this man. When he touches 
 a subject he masters it, till there is nothing more to be 
 said. He knows how to get it into the press in the most
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 palatable form. On his own subjects I class him with 
 Mr. Lloyd George or Mr. Devlin or Mr. Philip Snowden, 
 as a superb platform orator. And withal he has the 
 basic ideas of Liberty that move the spirit of England. 
 One day he discovered that to take their land from the 
 native* cultivators was to enslave them, to establish 
 exploitation ; and in that sign he conquered, and swept 
 away the horrors of the Congo. A clerk in a Liverpool 
 shipping office, without money or connections, by sheer 
 force of character and ability, rose to the eminence of a 
 Wilberforce, and did his work in shorter time. Some day 
 he will discover that the age-long process of taking their 
 land from Englishmen has had the same results, and 
 then there will be more trouble, for others beside 
 himself. 
 
 The first phase in the life of Morel came to an end in 
 1911 and left him victorious, without a rival, without an 
 enemy who dared show his teeth. The second phase 
 is ending now. He turned his attention to Diplomacy, 
 showed it up, exposed the ignorance and arid priestcraft 
 of it, and held ^;o the exposure through the war, that 
 apotheosis of diplomacy. It has left, him against the 
 ropes, bloody, execrated, but not knocked out. The 
 third phase is still to come ; but it will be well to consider 
 more closely Morel in war, and the ferocious hatred to 
 which he gave rise in the governing and middle classes ; x 
 for the second phase must be understood. 
 
 Our foreign policy is conducted by a few governing 
 personages, not necessarily by the Cabinet, still less by 
 the sentiments of the governing Party. The powerful 
 ones, ensconced in the Foreign Office, use or cast out such 
 instruments as passing gusts of Party send to be their 
 
 1 He was never refused a hearing by a working-class audience. 
 That class seems to have a monopoly both of patience and tolera- 
 tion.
 
 6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 nominal chiefs. Sir Edward Grey suited them. Morel 
 discovered this ; and he did not like their foreign policy. 
 No man was ever more intent on hunting down what he 
 did not like than Morel. War made no difference to him. 
 It merely proved the more completely to his satisfaction 
 that Grey and the policy were wrong. Everybody 
 else might say that it was a war made in Germany. Morel 
 knew better. It was Grey and the arch-priests of the 
 Foreign Office using Grey who had helped ; it must be 
 so. We all like to make our theoiies fit, and no man can 
 ladle out blacking quite impartially. 
 
 But in a war, the safety of the State makes it quite 
 vital that everyone should believe that the other side is 
 the aggressor. In no other way can the morale of a nation 
 be stiffened through the horrors of war. The Govern- 
 ment that fails to convince its people of this is destroyed, 
 and revolution supervenes. Morel must have glimpsed 
 this (though none of us saw it so clearly in 1914 as in 
 1919), and yet he went on adjusting the crime of the 
 origin of the war. But Morel saw also, and far more 
 clearly, that what he was doing was, unpopular. He 
 saw what he believed to be the truth. He said to himself, 
 " I must either be a coward and swim with the tide in 
 silence or speak out. Ought a man to cease to speak the 
 truth, because it is Unpopular ? No. Ought a man to 
 cease to speak the truth, because it is dangerous to 
 himself? No. to the State? (And here I think he 
 thought a long time and finally again said :) No. More- 
 over what I am urging is really in the interest of the com- 
 munity, for a policy built on lies and shams must eventually 
 be disastrous to the people." 
 
 Those of us who think, know full well that in ordinary 
 times at least, the safety of the State does not come 
 firsf in our rules of conduct. Justice comes first. We
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 know instinctively that we ought to do Justice though 
 the heavens should fall ; we know that, in the long run, 
 that which is unjust can never be expedient for the State. 
 But ought we to tell a lie in the interests of the State ? 
 Or live a lie by not telling the truth ? Many moralists 
 will agree with Morel, that a man must just say what he 
 thinks right, be the result to the State what it may. 
 Otherwise we should have had no Christian Era, no 
 Protestant Reformation, no representative or responsible 
 government. The State would have remained stationary. 
 
 Are all these principles altered by war ? Most people 
 think they are. Morel thought not. Does what you 
 believe to be the truth, or your country's victory^ come 
 first ? If a man of Morel's standing and ability puts 
 truth first, what are those who are responsible for the 
 country's fate to do ? There was an E. D. Morel in Ger- 
 many, Maximilian Harden. He too refused to suppress 
 the truth. Does anyone doubt that he did contribute to 
 the disillusionment of the Germans which brought about 
 their revolution, their collapse ? Looking back now 
 in calmer days,^I think that both Morel was right, and 
 those who locked him up were right, ^according to their 
 lights. The excuse of the letter to Miss Sidgwick was 
 indeed puerile and degrading, the use of Courts of Justice 
 an hypocrisy ; but in war the herd instinct takes us all 
 back to prehistoric man, when brute fear rules alone. 
 If Christ had come preaching submission, we should have 
 locked Him up too. War is the negation of Christianity 
 and Justice. 
 
 But now the third phase opens. The war is done with, 
 for a time. Morel is free. It is against war we must all 
 fight. His old enemies, the old diplomacy, are spinning 
 webs again, muddling again, pretending to construct 
 a new world, really reconstructing the old. lungs,
 
 8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Junkers, capitalists and serfs will soon be hack at the 
 bidding of the bad old International. Morel and all his 
 colleagues, once called " liberal," are united in the ranks 
 of the Independent Labour Party, the new International. 
 It is a fight to the finish between these two.
 
 PEEFACE 
 
 THIS book was finished on January 30, 1919. Certain 
 difficulties have delayed its publication for a year. In 
 the interval many things have happened. Peace has 
 been signed, although not precisely the Peace to end 
 War which we were promised. Europe has advanced 
 a further stage towards bankruptcy. And warfare is 
 still being waged in various parts, of the world. 
 
 In the past twelve months, also, many eminent states- 
 men and commanders have written their reflections 
 and " apologias," and a considerable quantity of new 
 evidence bearing on the origin and conduct of the war 
 has been published. In view of these facts I considered 
 the question of adding a further chapter to this book. 
 But after due reflection f I decided that there was no 
 
 need to alter a word of it. I have therefore left it as 
 
 s 
 
 it was originally written. 
 
 A few years ago Morel endured much praise from eminent 
 persons. Since 1914 he has endured much abuse from 
 persons, eminent and otherwise. A few of those who 
 abused him certainly knew what his views were, and 
 detested them. But the majority of those to whom he 
 was an object of obloquy never knew what his views were 
 at all. 
 
 The object of this book is to set out, without adornment, 
 the main facts of Morel's life and work. I believe that 
 his views have been misrepresented and misjudged, 
 
 9
 
 10 PREFACE 
 
 and I have tried to describe them impartially. Perhaps 
 after reading this account some of his opponents may 
 modify the views they have formed as to his conduct. 
 In any event this book will give them the facts necessary 
 for arriving at a sound judgment upon the matter 
 adverse or favourable as the case may be. l 
 
 I take this opportunity of acknowledging my deep 
 sense of gratitude to the many friends who have helped 
 me with their advice. I thank Mr. Morel himself for 
 allowing me to examine his books, correspondence 
 and newspaper files. Without this permission this book 
 could not have been written. I am indebted to Mr. 
 Arthur Ponsonby for very kindly reading the manuscript, 
 and for making several valuable suggestions, to Mr. 
 Arthur F. Thorn for his assistance in correcting the 
 proofs, and to Miss Ada Ammon for her invaluable and 
 painstaking work in typing. I also thank Mrs. Huth 
 Jackson, Mr. George Tweedy and Mr. Harrison Barrow 
 for the valued help they have rendered in various ways, 
 and Colonel Wedgwood for contributing the Introduction. 
 
 < F. S. C. 
 
 January 1920.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .3 
 
 PREFACE . . 9 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. WHO HE IS . . . . . . .15 
 
 H. THE JOURNALIST . . . . . .23 
 
 III. THE WEST AFRICAN EXPERT ' . . .34 
 
 IV. A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS . . . .39 
 V. THE FREE TRADER . . . . .50 
 
 PART II 
 
 
 
 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 VI. THE CONGO FREE STATE . . . .59 
 
 VII. FIRST SUSPICIONS ... .65 
 
 VIII. CERTAINTY . . . . . . .70 
 
 IX. THE CAMPAIGN OPENS . . . . .78 
 
 x. TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING . . . .86 
 
 XI. THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION . . 99 
 
 XII. THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE . .119 
 
 .t 
 
 XIII. THE FUTURE OF AFRICA ..... 136 
 
 XIV. VICTORY ..... . 155 
 
 11
 
 12 CONTENTS 
 
 PART III 
 
 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 XV. CO-OPERATION OB CONFLICT . . . .173 
 
 i 
 
 xvi. "MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY" .... 178 
 
 XVII. LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOR BIRKENHEAD . 200 
 
 XVIII. THE GATHERING STORM . . 209 
 
 XIX. THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR . . 218 
 
 XX. AN ENQUIRY INTO ORIGINS . . . 229 
 
 xxi. "TRUTH AND THE WAR" .... 244 
 
 XXII. PENTONVILLE AND AFTER .... 254 
 
 INDEX * , .269
 
 PART, I 
 THE FOUNDATIONS
 
 CHAPTER I 
 WHO HE IS 
 
 His father His mother Ancestral associations with the Quakers 
 A French household Early affection for England School-days at 
 Eastbourne and Bedford Love of nature Secures^ business appoint- 
 ment at Liverpool. 
 
 E. D. MOREL, like Hilaire Belloc, is the offspring of a 
 Franco-British alliance. His father was a Frenchman, 
 his mother an Englishwoman, and in his own person 
 he unites French fire, exactitude, acuteness and logical 
 expression with British tenacity, stubbornness, impa- 
 tience, courage, and scorn of consequences : altogether 
 a most formidable combination of the characteristic 
 qualities of the two races, and a fitting equipment for 
 the man who baffled and defeated the policy of a 
 king, and who aspires to help in % overthrowing the giant 
 evils of Militarism and Secret Diplomacy, which hold 
 the modern world in thrall. 
 
 His Father. 
 
 Edmund Dene Morel, or, to give him his full baptismal 
 name, Georges Edmond Morel-de-Ville, was born in Paris 
 in a picturesque old mansion, since pulled down, in the 
 Avenue D'Eylau, on July 10, 1873. 
 
 His father, Edmond Morel-de-Ville, was a man c^ con- 
 siderable ability but little ambition. He spoke five or 
 six languages, was a brilliant chess-player, and possessed 
 
 15
 
 1C THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 so fine a tenor voice that several tempting offers were 
 made to him to sing at the famous Paris Opera. But he 
 always declined these offers, not merely because he was 
 unambitious, but also because he possessed to a marked 
 degree that sense of the special duty owed by a son to his 
 parents which is so familiar a feature of French social life, 
 and which, although in many respects attractive, frequently, 
 it must be confessed, has a tendency to cramp initiative 
 and to limit development. In Morel-de-Ville's case the 
 parent was a widowed mother, to whom he was devoted. 
 It is true that his position in the Ministry of Finance 
 was only a modest one, but at least it enabled him to live 
 with his mother, to see her daily and to minister to her 
 many wants. Had he thrown up his position in order 
 to enter upon a more crowded and responsible life, he 
 would probably have had to leave her side. Therefore 
 he deliberately chose to remain as he was, and was quite 
 content so to do. 
 
 This mother of Morel-de-Ville's was a strong-minded 
 old lady. In her youth she had been a celebrated beauty, 
 and her portrait, painted at that time by Paul de la 
 Roche, indicates tbat in addition to great personal attrac- 
 tions I she possessed a decided will of her own, and if 
 the truth were known, her son probably stood in a good 
 deal of awe of her. At any rate, to the end of his days 
 he refused to leave her, and she even continued to live 
 with him after his marriage, dying at an advanced 
 age. 
 
 In 1870 came the Franco-Prussian War and the siege 
 of Paris. Morel's father took part in the defence of the 
 
 * ,ln Morel's home, Cherry Croft, King's Langley, there hangs a 
 stril' ing portrait of this lady, his grandmother, painted by Hyacinthe, 
 a pvnil of de la Roche. Morel also possesses photographs of the 
 de la Roche portrait, and of portraits of his great-grandmother and 
 of his great-great-grandmother. All three, it is evident, were remarkably 
 handsome women.
 
 WHO HE IS 17 
 
 city, and whilst thus serving against the Prussian invader, 
 standing knee-deep in snow, night after night, upon the 
 ramparts, he contracted a terrible disease affecting the 
 marrow of the spine, which eventually six years later 
 led to his death. 2 
 
 With the restoration of peace there came a great influx 
 of visitors to Paris and amongst them was his fiancee, 
 an Englishwoman, Emmeline de Home, who, whilst on 
 a previous visit to France, had become engaged to him. 
 Now that peace was proclaimed she returned, and the 
 two were married, Edrnond Morel-de-Ville being at that 
 time forty-eight years of age and the lady twelve years 
 his junior. 
 
 The sole offspring of this union was the subject of this 
 biography. 
 
 His Mother. 
 
 Emmeline de Home, the daughter of Abraham de 
 Home, of Peckham, came from a well-known East Anglian 
 family, which had been settled in Essex for over three 
 hundred years. The de Homes trace their ancestry in 
 unbroken line from one Oliver Horne,.or de Home, who, 
 with his wife, Jocaminca, migrated to England in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, from Nova Kirk, near Ypres, 
 " to avoid," as the old chronicle puts it, " the persecution 
 of the Duke of Alva," and settled in Norwich. 3 
 
 2 Morel, who thus lost his father through the effects of war, has there- 
 fore a hereditary reason for detesting this irrational method of settling 
 international differences. In this connection it is interesting to note 
 that his well-known book Truth and the War (1916) is dedicated " To my 
 Sons, in the hope that they may help to free Humanity from the curse 
 of Militarism and War." 
 
 3 " But not liking a strange country, and hearing of the cessaticfo of 
 the persecution in Flanders, after his wife was delivered of a son, vnom 
 he called Abraham, the first in the register of that Congregation /here 
 (the Dutch at Norwich), leaving his small family to God's Almighty pro- 
 tection, he shipte himself for Flanders, to seeke a settlement there again, 
 but in his returne was taken sick of the Plague, and dies on ship bord."
 
 uen^x * 
 
 18 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 Their son, Abraham, born in 1571, married Mercy 
 
 Rush, niece of the sometime rector of Bere Church, alias 
 West Dornilands, Essex. The couple had several children, 
 but only one survived to marry, viz. George de Home, 
 who died of plague at Colchester in 1665. Colchester 
 became the home of the family and remained so until 
 towards the close of the nineteenth centurj^. Thus we 
 read of an Abraham de Home, " free burgess " of that 
 town in 1741 4 and of a George de Home purchasing 
 Stanway Hall in 1765. Stanway Hall remained the family 
 seat for more than a century. It stands on an eminence 
 overlooking the road from Colchester to Maiden, and was 
 
 f ^ jL ra * sec ^ fr m * ne rums f * ne ld mansion built by Sir John 
 Swinnerton, Lord Mayor of London, in 1612. The property 
 contains the interesting ruins of Great Stanmore Church. 
 
 The de Homes appear to have become members of the 
 c Society of Friends at a very early period, 5 and several 
 
 of them suffered persecution for their faith. 6 The Friends 
 Burial Ground at Colchester contains numerous monu- 
 ments to departed members of the family. The de 
 Homes married into other families of tV>e same religious 
 persuasion. Thus Morel's mother and the first Lord 
 Monkswell (formerly the Right Hon. Sir Robert Porrat 
 Collier) had a common ancestor in Dorothy Fox, daughter 
 of Francis Fox, of St. German's, Cornwall, who married 
 Joseph Collier, of Plymouth, their son Benjamin's only 
 daughter, Mary, marrying Abraham de Home in 1786. 7 
 
 4 Vol. xii. Huguenot Society's Publications. 
 
 5 In the register of the births for the quarterly meeting at Essex we 
 find the first entry of the de Homes to be that of George de Home, 1662, 
 and the last that of Richard, 1701. See also the " Register of Baptisms 
 
 r in the Dutch Church at Colchester," 1645-1728 in vol. xii. of the publi- 
 
 cations of the Huguenot Society of London. 
 
 6 I Morel, therefore, has in his veins the blood of ancestors who suffered, 
 as L> has done, as the result of holding opinions temporarily unpopular 
 with the majority. 
 
 7 Owing to the personal attacks made upon Morel since 1914, it is 
 necessary to relate in some detail these facts concerning his ancestry.
 
 WHO HE IS 19 
 
 It is an interesting coincidence that the late Lord Monks- 
 well became President of the Congo Reform Association 
 (founded by Morel) in 1906, in a succession to the first 
 President, Earl Beauchamp, who retired from the position 
 on accepting a seat in the Cabinet. 
 
 A French Household. 
 
 The household in the Avenue d'Eylau to which Edmond 
 Morel-de-Ville brought his bride consisted of the impe- 
 rious old lady already mentioned, of his married sister 
 and her husband with their two children, and of himself 
 and his wife. The place was managed on communal 
 lines, the two married couples occupying two different 
 parts of the house, but all having their meals in common. 
 Such an arrangement must have seemed very strange 
 to an Englishwoman, and was perhaps a somewhat trying 
 one. But however that may be, she was not to have 
 a very long experience of it, for in 1877, after only six 
 years of married life, her husband, following upon a 
 severe operation rendered necessary by the disease he 
 had contracte^, as already mentioned, during the defence 
 of Paris, died from the shock, leaving her with a small 
 boy, barely four years old. 
 
 There followed a bad time. Some legal dispute with 
 the husband's family led to an estrangement, and the 
 widow left the communal roof and took a small flat for 
 herself and her child. Morel's mother was a remarkable 
 woman, proud, independent, spirited and resolute. Already 
 possessing some professional connections of her own, she 
 supplemented the income from these by giving lessons 
 in English, and too proud to seek help from her relatives 
 in England, she set herself with infinite pluck and re? puree 
 to make a life of her own, and to put by sufficient ^Aoney 
 to give her son a good English education. From the 
 first she made up her mind that the boy should be
 
 20 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 educated in England as an Englishman. This was her 
 firm resolve, and, without any help from outside sources, 
 she carried it through. 
 
 England. 
 
 In 1881 she sent her son to a private school 
 at Eastbourne, and there the boy spent five happy 
 years, returning to Paris for his holidays. The 
 school was called Madras House, and Morel, in some 
 as yet unpublished reminiscences, has painted a charm- 
 ing picture of those early days, which shows how 
 the beauty of his mother's land the beauty of England 
 gripped and held and enthralled him from the very 
 first. 
 
 " Great memories some oft these ! Memories of luxurious swims 
 from the sands of Berling Gap, of elastic turf, and golden scented 
 gorse, long swelling downs, spinneys redolent in spring with sweet 
 violets. Memories of palpitating excitement at the discovery 
 of a fragment of alleged ' Roman ' pottery on one of the numerous 
 tumuli, desperate adventures in rifling birds' nests on forbidden 
 ground ; awesome glimpses from the summit r^>f Beachy Head, 
 and fossil hunts in the soft chalk at its base ; excursions to Pevensey, 
 renowned for its crumbling castle and rusty cannon ' on which 
 Queen Elizabeth sat,' but better Ipved by me for its woods of 
 primroses and kingcups, with occasional lurking adder and harmless 
 water-snake. Ah ! That virginal joy of realization that God's 
 world at least is fair can anything ever exceed it in after life ? 
 To the delicate, weedy, passionate, and abnormally sensitive boy, 
 with an instinctive love of the beautiful, the sight and feel of the 
 summer sea, the rush of the perfumed breeze over great open spaces, 
 the picture of a wood primrose-carpeted these things were a delight 
 unspeakable. And later the zest of them was to be keener still, 
 for the time came when the down-side contained yet fuller joys, 
 because of the bee-orchis and butterfly-orchis which diligent 
 seeki g might discover ; the chalk cliffs fruitful in interest because 
 the Horned poppy raised its yellow blossoms in cracks and crevices 
 difncuV" of access, and because on sunny days a chalk-hill blue 
 flashed wings of amethyst and topaz athwart the dazzling whitenesi 
 of their surface.''
 
 WHO HE IS 21 
 
 This love of nature has always been a strong influence 
 in Morel's life. It was stimulated by one of his father's 
 relatives, an uncle, M. de Lucy de Fossarieu, who, being 
 amongst other things an ardent naturalist, opened the 
 boy's eyes to the fascinating worlds of insect lore, of 
 butterflies and moths and beetles, of birds and of flowers, 
 so that when in France on his holidays it was not the lure 
 and lights of Paris which attracted him, but the cool 
 and shady woods of St. Cloud, Meudon, and Versailles. 
 
 Bedford Modern School. 
 
 In 1886 the boy Morel left Madras House and entered 
 Bedford Modern School, where he boarded at the house 
 of the Rev. H. W. Evans. His days there passed without 
 any particular incident worth recording. He avers that 
 he gained no distinction whatever in the scholastic line, 
 although his perfect command of French must have 
 won him many advantages. Games with the exception 
 of cricket he rather scamped for entomology, which 
 absorbed his spare time " and whatever the period of 
 the year, there tvas always something to be done." When- 
 ever he could, he roamed the countryside and river-banks. 
 His house master was indulgent and gave him many 
 liberties, even allowing him to" keep caterpillars and 
 pupae in his school-box. 
 
 At Bedford he stayed for two and a half years, when 
 his mother's increasing ill-health cut short all too early 
 his school-days, and caused him to return to Paris. 8 His 
 mother had secured for him a position in the Paris branch 
 of the American banking house of Drexel, Morgan & Co. 
 Here he worked for a year, until gradually the know'tdge 
 
 8 His last school report is dated April 1889, and contains the fc .owing 
 particulars : Age fifteen years nine months : Form Lower 6th : House 
 and Form Master, Rev. H. W. Evans. House Master's comment : " Very 
 sorry to lose him."
 
 22 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 dawned upon him that the continued exile in Paris was 
 slowly killing his mother. She longed for England, 
 and for home and in that longing he shared. Many 
 avenues were tried, and eventually he secured the offer 
 of a pursership on a liner trading between Antwerp and 
 the Congo, and owned by a Liverpool firm. But his 
 mother had a horror of the Congo. Her brother-in-law, 
 Major Phillips, had been one of the adventurous band 
 of Englishmen who died out there in the days of Sir 
 Francis de Winton, its first and only English Governor. 
 She wrote asking whether another post in the firm could 
 not be found. In reply there came an offer of a clerkship 
 in the Liverpool office at a salary of 60 a year. This 
 was accepted. The two sailed for England. They rented 
 a small house at Blundellsands (one of the suburbs of 
 Liverpool), and young Morel entered upon his new duties 
 as a clerk in the firm of Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., 
 Liverpool. 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER II 
 THE JOURNALIST 
 
 The Romance of African trade Ignorance of public on African affairs 
 A critic of Germany A champion of the natives Contributor to 
 Pall Mall Gazette and Daily Chronicle Thanked by War Office 
 Journalistic coups Works to improve Franco - British relations 
 A " Pro-Frenchman " Exposes plot to murder Clemenceau 
 Famous editor's tribute Name, naturalization, and marriage. 
 
 IT was in 1890 that young Morel, now a lad of seventeen, 
 entered on his duties as a clerk in the office of Messrs. 
 Elder Dempster & Co., only a few months before the 
 promulgation by King Leopold of the notorious secret 
 decrees which deprived the natives of the Congo of the 
 produce of theif land and condemned them to a state 
 of slavery. But of this more anon. , 
 
 These early days were days of straitened circumstances, 
 and the young clerk endeavoured to add to his slender 
 income by teaching French in the evenings. This he did 
 with some success, but it was drudging work and very 
 distasteful. He looked about for some more profitable 
 method of utilizing his spare time. One evening his 
 mother suggested that he had a gift for writing which 
 might be put to some use. At the time this struck him 
 as unlikely. However, the idea stuck in his mind, as 
 ideas will, and in the end he determined to try his juck 
 with his pen, should anything interesting enoug'z to 
 write about ever come his way. He had not long to wait. 
 Liverpool was full of interest, and his work brought 
 
 23
 
 24 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 him into daily contact with strange and fascinating 
 things. To quote again from his unpublished reminis- 
 cences : 
 
 " The office I was employed in was the centre of West African 
 interests in Liverpool indeed in England; and West Africa, 
 I was not long in apprehending, seemed likely to occupy a great 
 deal of public attention. There was something very huge and 
 mysterious about the whole subject which exercised an increasing 
 fascination over my mind. Liverpool was full of West African 
 traditions mostly evil ones. It had been Bristol's rival in the 
 slave trade. The office was always full of black men stokers and 
 others coming up for their pay : anglicized native merchants, 
 very wealthy some of them ; occasionally a striking figure in hand- 
 some flowing native garments. To watch a steamer unload her 
 endless barrels of palm-oil, bags of kernels, bags and casks of 
 rubber, elephant tusks, huge mahogany logs and so on, always sent 
 a thrill of excitement down my back. Everything that came from 
 West Africa seemed impregnated with a wonderful pungent smell. 
 The captains were full of weird yarns about wonderful happenings, 
 horrible native customs and such-like. Then, too, one was always 
 hearing vague political talk of the French trying to steal our 
 ' hinterland,' of trouble with the Portuguese or with the Niger Com- 
 pany, of a supine Governor who would not build railways into the 
 interior. I plunged into old West African literature : learned the 
 geography of the coast, section by section, withTthe help of maps 
 and steamer charts ; studied its history, its trade and its peoples 
 and customs, its flora and fauna, laid myself out to read up every- 
 thing I could find about the current problems in the newspapers 
 our own and also the Continental prints French especially. . . . 
 The more I read the more interested I grew : the more clearly 
 it seemed to me, first that international rivalries and administrative 
 problems were forcing West Africa to the front rank of national 
 interest, and secondly that the newspapers seemed extraordinarily 
 ignorant of the whole subject." 
 
 Early Press Work. 
 
 Hf iving thus acquired an extensive knowledge of the 
 subject of West Africa a knowledge which was con- 
 tinually being added to in the course of business Morel 
 proceeded to use this knowledge for the enlightenment
 
 THE JOURNALIST 25 
 
 of the general public. As one who was afterwards asso- 
 ciated with him on the African Mail writes : 
 
 " Morel was one of the first to find a market for articles about 
 the Coast. He did it thoroughly, no ' eye-wash,' no scissors and 
 paste : the walls of his study were lined with African and tropical 
 books, in every language under the sun. He became the recognized 
 expert on the subject." 
 
 His first article appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette in 
 December 1893 when just over twenty years of age. 
 It dealt with the subject of French colonial policy in 
 West Africa, and urged the need for more extensive 
 railway construction in the British Protectorates and 
 Crown Colonies, in which respect we were far behind 
 not only the French but even the Portuguese. 
 
 From that date onwards a continual stream of articles 
 from his pen, signed and unsigned, appeared in the Press, 
 and as these were always marked by that meticulous 
 accuracy which distinguishes Morel's work, editors in a 
 very short time became most ready to accept them. 1 
 
 Criticizes Gercnan Colonial Officials. 
 
 In view of subsequent events it is particularly inter- 
 esting to note that one of Morel's first contributions to 
 the Press (Pall Mall Gazette, May 23, 1894) contained 
 a vigorous onslaught on the action of certain German 
 officials in the Cameroons, who had been accused of 
 cruelty towards the natives. And this was not a solitary 
 instance of its kind. 3 
 
 1 "When I took charge of my paper, there was a tradition and a rule 
 in the office that Mr. Morel's ' copy ' was regarded as a sacred institution," 
 said Mr. Robert Donald, editor of the Daily Chronicle, speaking at the final 
 meeting of the Congo Reform Association in 1913 (see Chapter XIV)i 
 
 2 Glancing through Morel's Press cutting books one notices jiany 
 instances in which he protested against German action in various parts 
 of the world. For example, he was opposed to the idea that Germany 
 should acquire Delagoa Bay (January 1897) and he protested against 
 her action in the Cretan trouble.
 
 26 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 Thus early he was not quite twenty-one did Mr. 
 Morel come forward to champion the natives of Africa 
 against all of whatever nation who would oppress, 
 enslave and exploit them. 
 
 Further, in order to show that Mr. Morel entered upon 
 his African work without any preconceived dislike of 
 the administration of the Belgian Congo, it may be as 
 well to mention a Pall Mall Gazette article (Feb. 22, 
 1894) in which he warmly praised the Belgians for their 
 " commendable energy in grappling with the difficulties 
 which beset them." 
 
 A Great Journalist. 
 
 And Morel went on writing. Despite the growing 
 importance and responsibilities of his work with Messrs. 
 Elder Dempster & Co., he found time to write more 
 than ever. His literary activities became amazing. He 
 must have used every minute of his days, and sat up 
 far into the nights. His subsequent public activities 
 in connection with the Congo Reform Association and 
 international politics have obscured the facf that Morel was 
 once a great journalist. He was undoubtedly that. Not 
 only was he one of the leading authorities on West Africa, 
 but he was one of the few English writers who possessed 
 an intimate knowledge of French politics and of the 
 various personalities whose interests, ambitions, rivalries, 
 jealousies and intrigues play so large, and often so obscure, 
 a part in the bewildering political life of the French capital. 
 On these two subjects Morel wrote incessantly, attacking 
 political and administrative injustices with equal vigour 
 and information, hitting at vested interests, and inspiring 
 the [views of great newspapers. He wrote for the Pall 
 MaftjGazette, the Daily Chronicle, the Manchester Guardian, 
 the Speaker (now the Nation), the Liverpool Daily Post, 
 the Liverpool Journal of Commerce and numerous other
 
 THE JOURNALIST 27 
 
 journals. This period of journalistic activity lasted for 
 about ten years from 1893 to 1903 ; and long before 
 he had reached the age of thirty this young man was 
 earning a considerable income from his journalistic writings 
 alone. 
 
 Thanked by the War Office. 
 
 And once he was thanked by the War Office ! An 
 article of his in the Daily Chronicle (May 6, 1898) on 
 Rabah, the celebrated Arab chieftain, formerly an associate 
 of the famous Zubeir Pasha, who was threatening Northern 
 Nigeria, brought him a letter, through the editor, from 
 the Intelligence Department of the War Office, asking 
 a number of questions in connection with this important 
 subject. Morel gave the Department all the information 
 at his disposal, and, in acknowledging this, the repre- 
 sentative of the War Office said : 
 
 " I cannot thank you sufficiently for your very interesting letter 
 about Rabah. Your information will be of great use to us . . . your 
 kindness in putting your knowledge at my disposal may impel me 
 to apply to you again." 
 
 
 
 He was applied to again, and yet again, and gave 
 what help he could. 
 
 Another valuable piece of journalistic work accom- 
 plished by Morel was his announcement in the Daily 
 Chronicle (June 16, August 8, September 13, September 
 17, November 14, 1898) of the arrival of Major Marchand 
 at Fashoda, of the despatch of expeditions reinforcing 
 him from Pauillac (Bordeaux) " with an extraordinary 
 amount of secrecy," of their arrival at the Congo, and 
 of their passage through Congo State territory. 
 
 In those days, relations between Britain and France 
 were not at all cordial : Lord Salisbury had spoken of 
 the Gallic cock ; ' scratching in the sands of the Sahara " ;
 
 28 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, on one celebrated occasion, had 
 seen fit to advise the French " to mend their manners " ; 
 sensational threats " to roll France in mud and blood," 
 and to give her colonies to Germany, had appeared in 
 the Daily Mail ; and at one moment during the Fashoda 
 incident it looked very much as though war might 
 break out between the two nations. 
 
 All through this period Morel worked steadily, as far 
 as the situation in West Africa was concerned, for the 
 improvement of Franco-British relations. That situation 
 was a delicate one, and taxed the diplomatic resources 
 of both countries to the uttermost. French territorial 
 expansion in West Africa had caused great jealousy 
 and alarm. " British and French officers, with excitable 
 native troops under their command, remained facing 
 one another in the far interior a few hundred yards 
 distance for weeks at a time, awaiting instructions 
 from their respective Governments." 3 Whilst others were 
 doing their worst to inflame the situation, Morel used 
 all the influence he could to prevent a rupture. He did 
 his best to get the British public to reccgnize the enter- 
 prise, efficiency and capacity of the French Colonial 
 Administrators, and to disabuse them of the foolish 
 notion that " the ideajs of French colonial management 
 in West Africa " could only be represented " in the light 
 of a custom-house official and a soldier," 4 whilst at the 
 same time he helped to the extent of his power to create 
 an informed public opinion on the whole question such 
 as would give to the British Government the backing 
 required to secure from France a non- differential treat- 
 ment of British trade in the French West African Colonies ; 
 
 3 H^birs of West Africa, by E. D. Morel (Heinemann, 1902), p. 246. 
 
 4 K)id. p. 265. It is amusing to note that at that time Morel, owing 
 to his efforts to show that the wrongs of the dispute were not wholly 
 on the side of France, was taunted in certain quarters with being " pro- 
 French."
 
 THE JOURNALIST 29 
 
 and this was happily brought to pass by the Anglo- 
 French Convention of June 1898.5 
 
 Whilst in this way giving the fullest possible credit 
 to the French for the valuable work they had accom- 
 plished in West Africa, Morel strongly disapproved of 
 the French advance under Marchand into the'Nile Valley. 
 He looked upon this as a piece of pure aggression, and 
 supported the attitude of the British Government through- 
 out in that affair. 
 
 Exposes Plot to Murder Clemenceau. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest of all Morel's journalistic exploits 
 was his exposure of a plot to murder Clemenceau, Trarieux, 
 Pressense", and other prominent defenders of Captain 
 Dreyfus. 
 
 This appeared in the Daily Chrpnicle on November 8, 
 1898, and was editorially presented as follows : 
 
 A PARIS PLOT. 
 
 ALARMING STORY OF PROJECTED MURDER. 
 
 REMARKABLE CONFIRMATION OF OUR NEWS. 
 
 " We received on Sunday evening from a correspondent well 
 known to us, and who has furnished us on many occasions with 
 news of much importance and invariably accuracy, an astounding 
 narrative of alleged preparations for violence, and even assassina- 
 tion, against the principal supporters of ex-Captain Dreyfus in 
 Paris." 
 
 (Morel's story followed.) 
 
 The Daily Chronicle editorially continued : 
 
 " In accordance with our invariable custom, we did not publish 
 the above until we had obtained sufficient confirmation to warrant 
 the printing of so alarming a narrative. We immediately tele- 
 graphed to our Paris correspondent as follows : 
 
 " ' Have conversation instantly with Pressense. Ask if he ha 
 
 S See also Chapter III.
 
 30 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 received any official warning of personal danger. Ditto, if possible, 
 Clemenceau, Trarieux.' " 
 
 The Paris correspondent's story, after seeing these 
 three gentlemen, followed, and the editorial comment 
 closed thus : 
 
 " It will be seen that in certain important particulars our cor- 
 respondent, knowing nothing of our information, confirms it literally. 
 He confirms it in another particular which we withhold for the 
 present." 
 
 It is possible that this timely exposure prevented a 
 concerted and planned attempt upon these men's lives 
 from taking place. It was certainly a remarkable triumph 
 for a young journalist of twenty-five. 
 
 Famous Editor's Tribute. 
 
 Morel's chief work for the Daily Chronicle was done 
 between the years 1896 and 1899, when that journal 
 was under the joint-editorship of H. W. Massingham 
 and Sir Henry Norman. Mr. Massingham resigned his 
 editorship in 1899 on the question of tjje Boer War, and 
 in a letter to Morel at that time (December 8, 1899), 
 the famous editor paid a handsome tribute to the work 
 of his young contributor : 
 
 " It has always been a pleasure to me," he wrote, " to be asso- 
 ciated with you on the Daily Chronicle and to mark the admirable 
 and energetic work that you have done for the paper." 
 
 Amongst the many well-known editors and journalists 
 with whom Morel has been associated in his literary 
 work may be mentioned, in addition to the foregoing, 
 Sir Douglas Straight and Mr. H. N. Cust of the Pall Mall 
 Gazette ; the late Sir James Knowles of the Nineteenth 
 Century ; Sir Percy Bunting of the Contemporary Review ; 
 Mr. J. L. Hammond of the Speaker (now the Nation) ;
 
 THE JOURNALIST 31 
 
 Mr. C. P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian ; Sir Edward 
 Russell of the Liverpool Daily Post ; the late Mr. W. T. 
 Stead ; Mr. Robert Donald of the Daily Chronicle ; Mr. 
 A. G. Gardiner of the Daily News and Leader ; Mr. J. S. R. 
 Phillips of the Yorkshire Post; Mr. J. Nicol Dunn and 
 Mr. Fabian Ware, successive editors of the Morning 
 Post ; Sir Valentine Chirol, for many years foreign editor 
 of the Times, and Mr. Grieg, for some time colonial editor 
 of the same journal ; M. de Pressense, for many years 
 foreign editor, and M. Pierre Mille, colonial editor of 
 Le Temps ; M. Charles Peaix-Seailles, editor of the Courier 
 Europein ; and many others. 
 
 Founded the " African Mail." 
 
 In 1903 Morel, who, three years previously had severed 
 his connection with Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., 6 
 founded the African Mail, a weekly journal devoted to 
 the administrative and economic development of British 
 West Africa, which he edited until the close of 1915. 
 During his editorship the paper acquired great influence, 
 was widely read, amongst those who were concerned with 
 West Africa, and was distinguished for, its championship 
 of native rights, its descriptions of native laws and 
 customs, and its fearless criticism of abuses. Many 
 distinguished authorities contributed to its columns, 
 and its first issue (April 3, 1903) contained letters of 
 encouragement from Sir Charles Dilke, Sir Harry John- 
 ston, Sir George Denton (then Governor of Gambia), 
 Sir Edward Russell, Mr. Alfred (afterwards Lord) Emmott, 
 Mrs. John Richard Green, Prof. Ronald Ross, Mr. W. T. 
 Stead and others, not to mention Mr. Winston Churchill. 
 It appeared as the official organ of the British Cotton 
 Growing Association and the Liverpool School of Tropical 
 Medicine. 
 
 6 See p. 76.
 
 82 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 " All who are interested and perplexed for the future of tropical 
 Africa," said the Manchester Guardian, "will welcome Mr. Morel's 
 new weekly paper. . . . The consolidation and strengthening of 
 native institutions, under which the natural attributes of the race 
 can alone attain development, high-minded justice, the willing 
 co-operation of the natives these are some of the heads of the 
 policy advocated by Mr. Morel." 
 
 Through many vicissitudes the African Mail never 
 fell below the high standard set for it by its editor. 
 
 From 1904 to 1912 Morel also edited the monthly 
 " Official Organ " of the Congo Reform Association. 
 
 Change of Name. 
 
 In the early nineties, when writing for the Press, Morel, 
 partly at the suggestion of a well-known novelist, decided 
 to drop, for literary purposes, the second half of his 
 surname and to use the first half only. He began by 
 signing his contributions " M." A little later he took 
 to using the familiar initials " E. D. M." and the signature 
 E. D. Morel. In course of time he became so well known 
 publicly by the abbreviation that he retained it for all 
 purposes and dropped the " de-Ville " altogether. The 
 full family names of " Morel's " parents have been printed 
 in Who's Who ever since he himself has figured in that 
 work of reference. 
 
 In 1893, being a French subject, Morel came under 
 the operations of the French conscription laws. Despite 
 his extraordinary energy, he was a delicate youth, and 
 after a medical examination he was exempted from 
 service of all kinds. Three years later, on becoming 
 engaged, he was naturalized and became by law, what 
 he already was by education and upbringing, an English- 
 man. In 1896 he married Mary Florence Richardson, 
 daughter of John W. Richardson of Liverpool and of 
 Anna Carwithen, a member of a well-known Devonshire 
 family. " In all his endeavours," says Maurice Whitlow,
 
 MOREL AT THE AGE OF 20.
 
 THE JOURNALIST 33 
 
 writing in 1909,7 " he has been helped and encouraged 
 at every turn by the counsel and comradeship of a good 
 woman." 
 
 Those who had the privilege of knowing Mrs. Morel 
 during the sad months of 1917 know that she is a brave 
 woman as well, and realize to some extent how precious 
 that " counsel and comradeship " must have been. 8 
 Morel's book, Great Britain and the Congo (1909), bears 
 the following touching dedication : 
 
 TO HER 
 
 WHOSE STEADFAST COURAGE 
 
 AND UNSWERVING FAITH HAVE 
 
 MADE IT POSSIBLE. 
 
 The Morels have five children, four sons and one 
 daughter. 
 
 7 In the Mitigate Monthly, November 1909. 
 
 8 M. Rene Claparede, in a recent pamphlet, relates the following inci- 
 dent : " Morel and I were walking up and down the railway platform 
 at Dijon. Suddenly he said to me, ' I should never have done what I 
 have without my fife's help. I was often discouraged. It was she 
 who invariably made me strong again by saying to me, " Go on " 
 (Deux Journalistes, J . Condurier et E. D. Morel, by Rene Claparede, 
 Lausanne 1918).
 
 CHAPTER III 
 THE WEST AFRICAN EXPERT 
 
 Relations with the Congo Chief of Congo Department of Messrs. Elder 
 Dempster & Co. Sir Alfred Jones's right-hand man Campaign 
 to avert war with France An opponent of Jingoism Reason, not 
 force Advocates Free Trade and the Open Door First success. 
 
 WE must now turn to 1890 and to the junior clerk in 
 the offices of Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co. at Liverpool. 
 These offices, as already stated, were the centre of West 
 African interests in England, and it is a curious coinci- 
 dence that only a few days after Morel's arrival the firm 
 secured a contract which enabled them to inaugurate 
 an occasional service of steamers betwetn Antwerp and 
 the Congo. 
 
 At first gradually, but afterwards rapidly, the relations 
 of the firm with the Congo developed. The irregular 
 service became a monthly one, and then a three-weekly 
 one. Morel's knowledge of French was found extremely 
 useful, and, as may be imagined, a young man of his 
 industry, knowledge and ability was not destined to 
 remain a junior clerk for long. His duties increased, 
 a special department known as the Congo Department 
 was created, he was placed in charge of it, and 1895 
 found him making frequent journeys to Brussels and 
 Antwerp, to interview the authorities of the Congo Free 
 State, to discuss affairs with the Company's agents, and 
 to witness the departure of the steamers. It was in 
 
 34
 
 THE WEST AFRICAN EXPERT 35 
 
 the course of these visits, but at a later date, that Morel's 
 suspicions were first aroused as to the true character 
 of the Congo Free State and of its methods of adminis- 
 tration suspicions which afterwards, on being confirmed, 
 led to the most astounding exposure, and most wonderful 
 public campaign, of modern times. 
 
 In the meantime, as related in the preceding chapter, 
 Morel was acquiring an extraordinarily thorough and 
 extensive knowledge of African affairs generally, was 
 studying the whole vast subject in all its multitudinous 
 details, was soaking himself in its history and literature, 
 was assimilating the nature of its economic problems, 
 and was rapidly becoming one of the leading authori- 
 ties, if not the leading authority, on West Africa in the 
 country. 
 
 Sir Alfred Jones. 
 
 The head of the firm of Elder Dempster & Co. was 
 Mr. (afterwards Sir) Alfred Jones, a man of great enter- 
 prise and energy, tremendous personal force, and the 
 Chairman of the* African Section of the Liverpool Chamber 
 of Commerce. To such a man, Morel was invaluable. 
 Was it necessary to push on with railway construction 
 in the West African colonies or to institute necessary 
 reforms in administration or policy, there was Morel 
 with all the essential facts at his finger-ends facts which 
 Mr. Alfred Jones was able to place before the Secretary 
 of State in a forceful and convincing way. And there 
 was Morel, too, to advocate these same proposals and 
 reforms in the public Press, and to enlighten public 
 opinion upon matters vital to the interests of West Africa, 
 but upon which the readers of the newspapers, and even 
 the newspapers themselves, were largely ignorant. The 
 services which Morel has been able to render to the cause 
 of civilization in West Africa, in this unobtrusive way,
 
 36 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 are incalculable. They certainly deserve the gratitude 
 of his countrymen. One instance will suffice before we 
 pass on to other matters. 
 
 Working for Peace with France. 
 
 In 1898, as indicated in Chapter II, 1 great concern 
 was felt in this country at the rapid extension of French 
 territory in West Africa. It was feared that the British 
 colonies in that region would be isolated, cut off by a 
 high protective tariff from the markets of the interior, 
 and commercially ruined. The feeling between the two 
 countries was becoming exacerbated, and, as usual, 
 there were plenty of people on both sides of the Channel 
 who were only too glad of the opportunity to create 
 bad blood between France and Britain, and even to go 
 to the length of threatening war. 
 
 Against this method of unfastening the Gordian knot 
 by severing it with the sword Morel set his face like 
 flint. It is true that he strongly disapproved of the 
 high protective tariffs advocated by the extreme French 
 colonial school. High protection, he wa& certain, would 
 be ruinous to We"st Africa, and would generate bitter 
 feeling between Britain and France. He was convinced 
 of the merits of Free Trade. He believed that a policy 
 of Free Trade and the Open Door was essential to the 
 welfare of West Africa. He believed also, with Cobden, 
 that such a policy would help to bind nations together 
 and would remove one of the causes of war. But he did 
 not believe that the yells, shouts, and insults of ignorant 
 rage were efficacious methods of convincing an opponent, 
 or of securing concessions from another nation. He did 
 not believe in maddening the people by the frenzied 
 rhetoric of Yellow Journalism. He did not believe in 
 trying to force France to abandon her tariff policy by 
 
 1 See p. 28.
 
 THE WEST AFRICAN EXPERT 37 
 
 threats of war. A war between France and England, 
 he was convinced, would be fatal to the prosperity of 
 West Africa and to the future welfare of the world. 
 The problem was certainly a difficult one, but it could 
 be solved by patience, understanding, and mutual for- 
 bearance. And so he threw himself into the task of 
 persuading the people chiefly concerned that this special 
 difficulty in West Africa could be settled much more 
 expeditiously and satisfactorily by methods of Reason 
 and Conciliation than by those of Militarism and Force. 
 He did his utmost, too, to remove from the public mind 
 those misapprehensions as to the true nature of the 
 problem which, if allowed to remain and to develop, 
 might easily lead to a futile and disastrous conflict. 
 
 " It is essential," he wrote at a later date, " that Englishmen 
 and Frenchmen, in order to work ha'rmoniously together in the 
 future, should thoroughly understand one another's points of view 
 in this connection. ... A policy of Free Trade is one which in 
 West Africa spells commercial success to the nation which adopts 
 it. ... A natural community of interests exists between British 
 and French merchants in West Africa . . . every action calculated to 
 bring them into closer relationship is a step in the right direction." 2 
 
 
 
 Advocates the Open Door. 
 
 In pursuit of this object Morel, acting through 
 Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., organized a campaign 
 amongst the British Chambers of Commerce, in order 
 to induce them to take collective action in urging upon 
 " the Foreign Office the necessity of securing the Open 
 Door for British trade in French West Africa." This 
 campaign was a great success. Petitions rained upon 
 the Foreign Office from all parts of the country ; and in 
 response to this agitation Lord Salisbury succeeded by 
 peaceful methods in obtaining from the French Govern- 
 ment an agreement that no differential tariffs should be 
 
 > Affairs of West Africa, pp. 246, 247, 248.
 
 88 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 placed upon British goods for thirty years in most of 
 the French West African possessions. 
 
 "The Franco-English Convention of June, 1898," said M. 
 Bohn, head of the leading firm of French West African merchants, 
 addressing the Marseilles Geographical Society, in September, 
 1898, " by abolishing for a period of thirty years all differential 
 duties in the Ivory Coast and Dahomey, has assured for that period 
 the commercial prosperity of these colonies." 
 
 This was Morel's first important success. He succeeded 
 because he had already grasped one great truth a truth 
 which still seems to elude so many people the truth 
 that a policy of Free Trade and the Open Door not only 
 would make for the prosperity of West Africa but would 
 help to draw into closer and ever closer relationship 
 the real interests of all the countries concerned. 
 
 But by this time he' had also grasped the truth of 
 another great principle a principle the application of 
 which was destined to bring about a great change in 
 African affairs, and to affect profoundly the course of 
 Morel's own career. So important is this principle that 
 we must reserve the discussion of it for the next chapter.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 
 
 Native rights versus capitalistic exploitation The treasure-house of the 
 tropics Native ownership in land A subtle form of slavery 
 Opposition of vested interests Sir Harry Johnston and " Morelism " 
 African land tenure A hardworking and industrious people. 
 
 THE ordinary member of the public who thinks of 
 Morel in relation to Africa probably looks upon 
 him as "the man who put 'an end to the Congo 
 atrocities." 
 
 This is a very inadequate and superficial summary of 
 his work. It is true that, in the course of his activities 
 in connection with the Congo Reform Association, Morel 
 succeeded in putting a stop to a very cruel, barbarous, 
 and atrocious regime. But his chief title to fame is 
 based on a very much wider and more permanent founda- 
 tion than this. It is based on the fact that he was the 
 great champion of " native rights " as opposed to " capital- 
 istic exploitation " in tropical Africa. And he was the 
 champion of those rights not only in the interests of the 
 natives although it was this humane motive that was 
 the driving force in his mind but in the interests of the 
 whole of Africa and of the future of civilization. His 
 point of view was not only that of a humanitarian 
 (although it was that as well, and perhaps primarily 
 that), it was the point of view of (in the best sense of 
 the term) a world-statesman. 
 
 39
 
 40 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 The Tropical Treasure-house. 
 
 Tropical Africa is a country of immensely valuable 
 natural resources. It is a veritable storehouse of the 
 raw materials urgently needed by modern industry. 
 Amongst its chief products are palm-oil and kernels, 
 rubber, ivory, gum arabic, gum copal, shea-butter, kola- 
 nuts, gutta-percha, fibres (such as those used in musical 
 instruments and in brush-making), coco-nuts, bananas, 
 castor-oil, red pepper, indigo, cotton, ground-nuts, coffee, 
 cocoa, cereals, ebony, mahogany and other valuable 
 woods. Its soil, in many parts, is of surpassing richness. 
 Its population, in some regions, is very dense ; and 
 generally speaking, it is not suitable, and never can be, 
 as a home for Europeans. How is such a country to be 
 treated ? 
 
 There are two methpds. One is to dispossess the 
 native of his rights in the land, to declare that the whole 
 territory and its products is the property of some European 
 state or states, or of financial groups within those states, 
 and to exploit the country in the interests of European 
 capitalism, using the native either as a slav^ or as a hired 
 labourer. This method leads to the degradation of the 
 native, and eventually, in Morel's opinion, to the ruin 
 of the country. The other method is to preserve the 
 rights of the native in the land, to recognize him as a 
 free man as a human being and not as a mere tool of 
 industry and to help him, by means of administrative 
 assistance and supervision, to develop the natural re- 
 sources of his own country. This method, says Morel, 
 will guard the native against exploitation, and will lead 
 to the continued and progressive prosperity of tropical 
 Africa. It is, therefore, the method which Morel, ever 
 since he became an authority on West Africa, has per- 
 sistently and courageously advocated in the teeth of the 
 bitterest and most malignant opposition.
 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 41 
 
 The Two Policies. 
 
 The key to the whole problem is the question of native 
 land tenure the preservation of native rights in the 
 land. 
 
 "Native ownership in land," 1 says Morel, "must needs be the 
 foundation-stone of all normal European rule in the African 
 tropics, because the economic object of normal European rule is 
 the development of commercial relations, and because any com- 
 mercial relationship between the European and the native is 
 impossible, unless the native has articles to sell with which to 
 purchase manufactured goods." 
 
 In other words, as long as the native has free access 
 to the soil, he will develop his land, he will put forth 
 every effort to increase its productive value, he will ex- 
 change its produce with manufactured goods sent from 
 Europe, a normal commercial relationship will be set 
 up, imports and exports will expand, the prosperity of 
 the whole country will increase, and, incidentally, the 
 workers of Britain or France or Belgium will benefit, 
 first by the employment created by the manufacture 
 of the goods exported to West Africa, secondly by the 
 increased supply of valuable foodstuffs and raw materials. 
 
 On the other hand, if the native is dispossessed of 
 his rights, the land and its products become the property 
 of European capitalists and concessionaires. But there 
 is nobody to develop that land but the native. He must 
 therefore be used as a wage-slave or a serf. Deprived 
 of his rights, he puts no effort into his work. So con- 
 stituted is he that, cut off from land and liberty, he often 
 dies of sheer unhappiness. 2 If force is used to make 
 him work, we have a regime of atrocities such as existed 
 in the Congo. Possessing no property of his own, he 
 
 1 Great Britain and the Congo, by E. D. Morel (Smith, Elder & Co., 
 1909), p. 86. 
 
 3 See Great Britain and the Congo, chapter ix.
 
 42 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 has nothing with which to purchase manufactured goods. 
 Consequently imports fall, to the detriment of the workers 
 in Europe, whilst a handful of concessionaires pile up 
 enormous fortunes out of the products they have appro- 
 priated by a stroke of the pen. Eventually, after 
 perhaps several native risings, sternly suppressed by 
 machine-guns and aeroplanes, the country becomes 
 largely depopulated, 3 its trade dwindles, the cost of 
 securing any products at all increases, and the conces- 
 sionaires, having obtained all they can get from it, throw 
 the ruined and bankrupt colony, with its history of untold 
 suffering and unspeakable cruelty, upon the backs of the 
 tax-payers at home. 
 
 These, then, are the two policies which can be applied 
 to tropical Africa, as Morel saw them twenty years ago, 
 and as indeed they , exist to-day. He found himself 
 confronted by a public which knew nothing whatsoever 
 about the problem, and which was therefore indifferent 
 to its implications. He determined to arouse it from 
 this indifference. Despite fierce opposition from vested 
 interests, opposition which has grown in bitterness, 
 ferocity and unscrupulousness without a break up to 
 the present time, he threw himself into the fight for 
 an enlightened policy in tropical Africa, and for the 
 defence of the rights of the natives as against the demands 
 of the exploiters. In article after article, pamphlet 
 after pamphlet, and book after book, he championed 
 the rights of those natives with a wealth of argument, 
 and a knowledge of native customs, astonishing in one 
 who had never at that time set foot in West Africa ; 
 and gradually he had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 formation in this country, in France, in Belgium, in 
 Switzerland, in Italy, and to some extent in Germany, 
 
 3 The population of the Congo Free State dwindled from about 
 20,000,000 in 1881 to 8,500,000 in 1911.
 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 48 
 
 of a body of able and influential men and women, vigilant 
 to see that the principles of " Morelism," as Sir Harry 
 Johnston has described the policy advocated by Morel, 
 were applied to all problems of West African adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Native Rights in Land. 
 
 The first point Morel had to drive home to the know- 
 ledge of his readers was the fact that a system of native 
 rights to the land in West Africa really existed, and had 
 existed, as far as could be ascertained, from time im- 
 memorial, and that this system was just, and adapted 
 to the needs of the country. 
 
 This fortunately he had no difficulty in doing, as all 
 the competent authorities and explorers were agreed 
 upon the point. 
 
 " If there is one thing more than another upon which the most 
 competent students of West Africa are agreed," says Morel, " it is 
 the tenaciousness of the West African negro to his landed rights. 
 Land tenure in West Africa has been properly described as a ' cult.' 
 The most experienced English, French and German observers have 
 noted this characteristic. Wherever it has be<yi adequately studied, 
 the system of native land tenure, in its tribal, family, individual 
 and commercial aspects, is found to be at once simple in its broad 
 lines, elaborate in its details and approaching in many respects 
 to the most advanced democratic conceptions of Western Europe." 4 
 
 " The system of native land tenure is essentially just, thoroughly 
 adapted to the needs of the country and its people . . . there can 
 be no justification whatever for the break-up of land tenure, or for 
 the alienation of native property, under any pretext. It is morally 
 indefensible, and what is morally indefensible is seldom politically 
 wise." 5 
 
 " In the coast- wise districts of West Africa . . . it may be accepted 
 as a rule (whatever differentiation may exist in the system of land 
 tenure in widely removed districts) . . . that every square yard of 
 
 4 Affairs o] West Africa (Heinemann, 1902), p. 169. 
 
 5 Ibid. p. 173.
 
 44 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 the country is owned. Sarbah for the Gold Coast, Clozel and Dela- 
 fosse for the Ivory Coast, Ellis for Yoruba, Mary Kingsley for the 
 Rivers, Bolin for French Guinea, Fabre for Dahomey, have borne 
 witness in their respective fields of observation to this fact that 
 there is no land without an owner." 6 
 
 " In all inhabited districts land is never without an owner, 
 whose claims, whether tribal or family, are as sacred in native 
 unwritten law as they would be if duly set forth in a legal docu- 
 ment, in accordance with the full requirements of European 
 jurisprudence." 7 
 
 " Wherever their forms have been examined, native laws of land 
 tenure have been found to repose upon just principles, to be 
 thoroughly well understood, recognized and adhered to by the 
 people of the land." 8 
 
 " Speaking generally, throughout tropical Africa there is no such 
 thing as unowned land, where there is population. The public 
 writings of the most authorized exponents of Native Customary 
 Law in tropical Africa Ellis, Sarbah, Mary Kingsley, Ballay, 
 De Brazza, Clozel, Binger, Vilamur, Delafosse, Rayner, Healy, 
 Dareste, Bohn, Blyden, Zimmerman : the universal experience 
 (much of it recorded) of African administrators, missionaries and 
 merchants are conclusive, and cover virtually the whole of 
 Western Africa from the Senegal to the Congo." 9 
 
 " And what form does this native land tenure . . . actually take ? 
 Here, again, the evidence is voluminous and^ conclusive. With 
 few exceptions, nativte tenure takes the form of communal owner- 
 ship of the land and its fruits ; a form proper to the condition of 
 native society where the whole social structure is patriarchal and 
 communistic, outcome of inherent usage, immemorial custom and 
 racial necessities. In certain regions, a feudalism has developed, 
 and the land is owned by the King and nobles ; but this is the 
 exception. In certain regions, too, individual tenure is found exist- 
 ing side by side with communal ownership ; but this also is the 
 exception. In Mohammedan Northern Nigeria communism has 
 developed into nationalization. This native ownership in land, 
 which is admitted and recognized, is, then, communal in form." I0 
 
 6 Affairs of West Africa (Heinemann, 1902), p. 173. 
 
 7 Ibid. 
 
 8 King Leopold's Rule in Africa (Heinemann, 1904). 
 
 9 Great Britain and the Congo (Smith, Elder & Co., 1909), pp. 87-8. 
 
 10 Ibid. p. 88. In a memorandum written for the Colonial Office in 
 1912 Morel described the native system of land tenure in more detail,
 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 45 
 
 Will the Native Work ? 
 
 Morel's second point was one which he had more 
 difficulty in getting the British public to accept. This 
 was the fact that the West African native, when treated 
 as a free man, and allowed to retain his rights in the 
 land, was hard-working and industrious, and capable, 
 with a little administrative encouragement and assistance, 
 of developing his country to a high level of commercial 
 prosperity. Advocates of the concessionaire system 
 naturally did their best to spread the impression that 
 the native, when left to himself, was lazy and incom- 
 petent, and would only work under compulsion." There- 
 fore, they argued, if the country was to be developed 
 at all, the system of land tenure would have to be changed, 
 and the native would have to be set to work either as 
 a hired labourer or under some form of forcible control. 
 As this argument accorded with the general view of the 
 " man in the street " that all " natives " and " niggers " 
 and dark-skinned people generally were a " set of worth- 
 less, lazy beggars," it naturally found ready credence, 
 and Morel was Confronted with a hard task in trying 
 to counteract it. But this he eventually did, and it is 
 to his success in this direction that Sir Harry Johnston 
 more particularly refers when he says of Morel's writings 
 that " they have influenced Governments and actually 
 contributed to an historical change in the outlook of 
 the European." 
 
 That the African native is a " useless and dangerous 
 brute," says Morel, " is one of the many fictions which 
 
 and pointed out that the word " communal," although roughly descriptive, 
 perhaps did not define the system with sufficient exactitude (see 
 Chapter XIII). 
 
 11 During this period the arguments of the concessionaires were 
 naturally supported, for similar reasons, by the South African Rand 
 Lords, their defenders in the Press, and the advocates of Chinese labour 
 for the Transvaal.
 
 46 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 pass for truths about Africa." I2 It is true that in the 
 more inaccessible regions, when the wants and desires 
 of the native have not increased and expanded as the 
 result of contact with white civilization, the native is 
 not inclined to wear himself to death with hard work. 
 But then there is no need for him to do so. The " soil is 
 so fertile . . . that it produces with little trouble every- 
 thing which the native requires," *3 whilst the climate, 
 being hot, " militates against great physical energy." 
 
 But when his desires are stimulated by trade and 
 increased facilities for locomotion, the native, working 
 for himself and his family on his own tribal ground, is 
 as industrious as any one could wish. Take the palm- 
 oil and palm- kernel industry alone. It " permanently 
 employs hundreds of thousands of negroes men, women 
 and children." X 4 The oil, " shipped in hundreds of 
 thousands of gallons from West Africa, is brought down 
 to the coast bit, by bit, in small receptacles, often from 
 considerable distances inland, on the heads " of these 
 so-called lazy people ; the kernels are " each . . . ex- 
 tracted with infinite trouble from an< extremely hard 
 shell," and it takes " four hundred of them to make 
 a single pound of kernels, and . . . the market value in 
 Southern Nigeria of those four hundred kernels, to the 
 native, is the maximum sum of one penny." I 5 There 
 is " abundant and cumulative evidence of his willingness 
 to trade, to learn, to take on new industries, to follow 
 up everywhere his natural profession of agriculture . . . 
 of his enterprise and producing capacity in the . . . oil- 
 palm, ground-nut, mahogany and rubber industries." l6 
 In the Upper Nile Valley " he works in iron, moulds 
 pottery, has in many cases a highly developed, artistic 
 
 " Affairs of West Africa, p. 181. 
 
 '3 Ibid. p. 180. M Ibid. p. 76. '5 Ibid. p. 77. 
 
 ' 6 Ibid. p. 174.
 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 47 
 
 instinct, manufactures cloth and ingenious and elaborate 
 weapons of offence." J 7 In the Congo he " sustains 
 himself by agriculture, fishing and hunting. In various 
 parts of the Congo he cultivates manioca, millet, rice, 
 maize, bananas, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, serame, 
 sorghum, ground-nuts (for food), etc." l8 In a memo- 
 randum drawn up for the Foreign Office in 1909 on " Native 
 rights in the land and its fruits in the Congo," X 9 Morel 
 quotes a great number of authorities testifying to the 
 industry of that unhappy region in the days before King 
 Leopold began what he termed its " moral and material 
 regeneration." " Forests over an enormous distance are 
 cleared for sowing of maize and the insertion of banana 
 cuttings " (Dr. Vedy). : ' The natives of the cataracts 
 region have immense plantations of palm-trees, manioca, 
 sweet potatoes, ground-nuts " (Laurent). " The forest 
 was cultivated for one to one and a half hours' march, 
 and the plantations often as well cared for as those of 
 Flanders " (Laurent). " The abundance of food supplies 
 testifies to the hard work done by the race " (Laurent). 
 ' There are great plantations of maize, manioca, castor- 
 oil, sugar-cane and ground-nuts " (Dr. Deken). The 
 natives are " keen, enterprising, high spirited "... 
 " possess commercial knowledge " . . . " are devoted to 
 trade " (Sir H. M. Stanley). " Possess truly remarkable 
 trading and labour capacities " (Laurent). And, of a 
 primitive people, " wherever they settle, the jungle 
 around them is soon converted into fruitful fields, yielding 
 sweet potatoes, or various forms of corn " (Dr. Ansorge). 
 " Every year," says Morel, " the voluntary labour of 
 the West African negro supplies Europe with nearly 
 four millions sterling of palm-oil and kernel alone, re- 
 
 *7 Affairs in West Africa, p. 181. 
 
 18 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 108. 
 
 J 9 Afterwards published in Great Britain and the Congo.
 
 48 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 quiring infinite time, infinite toil, and infinite trouble 
 in their preparation . . . the voluntary labour of the 
 natives of ... Senegal and . . . Gambia supplies Europe 
 every year with ground-nuts to the tune of over one 
 million sterling. . . . From West Africa the negro sends 
 us every year thousands of tons of precious cabinet woods 
 involving the expenditure of an enormous amount of 
 physical labour in felling and squaring the logs and 
 floating them down the rivers and creeks to the sea." 2 
 Voluntary native labour supplies Europe with tons of 
 " cocoa " and " mahogany," and an increasing quantity 
 of cotton. Of the life of the native agriculturists of 
 Nigeria he says : 
 
 " What a busy intensive life it is ! From sunrise to sunset, save 
 for a couple of hours in the heat of the day, every one appears to 
 have his hands full. . . ..The men driving the animals to pasture, 
 or hoeing in the fields, or busy at the Ibrge or dye-pit or loom ; 
 or making ready to sally forth to the nearest market with the 
 products of the local industry. The women cooking their break- 
 fasts, or picking or spinning cotton, or attending to the younger 
 children, or pounding corn ... or separating on flat slabs of 
 stone the seed from the cotton lint. . . . The sowing or reap- 
 ing, and the intermediate seasons, bring with them their several 
 tasks. The ground *must be cleared and hoed, and the sowing of 
 the staple crops concluded before the early rains in May, which 
 will cover the land with the sheet of tender green shoots of guinea 
 corn, maize and millet, and, more rarely, wheat. When these 
 crops have ripened, the heads of the grain will be cut off, the bulk 
 of them either marketed or stored. . . . The stalks . . . will be 
 carefully gathered and stacked for fencing purposes. Nothing . . . 
 is wasted in this country. . . . The bees receive particular attention 
 for their honey and their wax. . . . Before harvest-time has dawned 
 . . . the secondary crops come in for attention. Cassava and cotton, 
 indigo and sugar-cane, sweet potatoes and tobacco, onions and 
 ground-nuts, beans and pepper, jams and rice, according to locality 
 and suitability of the soil. . . . 
 
 " It is a revelation to see the cotton-fields, the plants in raised 
 rows three feet apart, the land having in many cases been precedently 
 
 20 King Leopold's Rule in Africa (Heinemann, 1904), p. 100. These 
 figures, of course, had enormously increased by 1913.
 
 A CHAMPION OF NATIVE RIGHTS 49 
 
 enriched by a catch-crop of beans. . . . The fields themselves are 
 protected ... by tall neat fencing of guinea-corn stalks, or reeds, 
 kept in place by native rope of uncommon strength. . . . Equally 
 astonishing are the irrigated farms . . . on the banks of the water- 
 courses. The plots are marked out with the mathematical precision 
 of squares on a chessboard, divided by ridges with frequent gaps 
 permitting of a free influx of water from the central channel." 
 
 Of the Northern Nigeria farmer he writes : 
 
 " Rotation of crops and green manuring is thoroughly under- 
 stood . . . every scrap of fertilizing substance is husbanded by 
 this expert and industrious agricultural people." 
 
 Writing of the industrial life of the same districts, he 
 says : 
 
 " Iron-stone is common in many parts of the country and is 
 extensively worked. . . . Hoe-handles, mortars, pestles, beds, doors, 
 gins, spindles, bobbins, looms, shuttles, saddles, riding-boots, 
 slippers, bridles, scissors, razors, rope,' fishing-nets, earthenware, 
 cooking-pots, lamps, water-bottles, pipes, are among the innumer- 
 able articles turned out by the artisan in Northern Nigeria. Indigo 
 dye-pits are to be found in many towns. . . . The great tanning 
 centre is Kano. . . . The completed skins, dyed deep red or orange 
 with native dyes . . . are as soft to the touch as Russian leather. 
 They are greatly pf>preciated in the Western world, and the trade 
 is a rapidly increasing one." 2 3 9 
 
 Thus with argument, illustration and quotation, Morel 
 drove his second point home. The natives had a David 
 to champion them at last a David who was determined 
 to assure to them their rights in their own lands 3 4 and to 
 prove to the world the falsity of the maliciously motived 
 slander that they would never work unless and until 
 they were compelled. 
 
 ^ Nigeria (Smith, Elder & Co., 1911), pp. 112-115. 
 
 M Ibid. p. 115. *3 Ibid. p. 120-122. 
 
 *4 Mr. Morel's labours in relation to this special piece of work received 
 official recognition in his appointment in 1911 to serve on the West 
 African Lands Committee, which was still sitting at the Colonial Office 
 when the war broke out (see Chapter XIII).
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE FREE TRADER 
 
 Legitimate commerce and exploitation The evils of the concessionaire 
 system A practical policy Enlisting the Free Traders Attitude 
 at first misunderstood Sir Charles Dilke convinced Tributes from 
 eminent French and Belgian authorities Mr. Brailsford's view 
 The Chambers of Commerce assist the Humanitarians. 
 
 FOR a movement to become successful, it must embrace 
 many issues, and rally many forces to its support. 
 
 The wrongs and sufferings of the natives, great as they 
 were, might not of themselves have aroused sufficient 
 practical indignation in this country to bring the move- 
 ment for the defence of native rights to swift and over- 
 whelming success. People might have a:gued, and with 
 some justice, thav others, nearer home, were suffering 
 also, and enduring cruel wrongs the denizens of the 
 slums, the victims of landlordism and of our competitive 
 capitalistic system and that their sufferings must be 
 alleviated,, and the system which oppressed them over- 
 thrown, before they could spare the time to go crusading 
 on behalf of the remote West African. And although 
 thousands would undoubtedly have been stirred and 
 shocked by Morel's revelations of the abominable atro- 
 cities perpetrated in the Congo (just as they were " stirred 
 and shocked " by Mr. Gladstone's revelations of the 
 atrocities perpetrated on the Bulgarians and Armenians), 
 the movement to put these cruelties to an end might 
 have dragged on many weary years without result but 
 
 50
 
 THE FREE TRADER 51 
 
 for the fact that this great advocate, by pressing forward, 
 in addition to the two points described in the previous 
 chapter, a third and very important argument, was able 
 to rally to its support certain powerful trading and com- 
 mercial interests, legitimately concerned in the main- 
 tenance of the principle of Free Trade and the Open 
 Door, a principle in which, as we have already seen x 
 Morel was a profound believer. 
 
 Morel's Third Point. 
 
 This point was as follows : As long as the native 
 retained his rights in the land, and was a free man, he 
 was able to trade. British merchants sent their goods 
 to West Africa, and there exchanged them by the free 
 process of barter with the products produced by the 
 natives. This was legitimate trading, and benefited both 
 parties. The native secured his cotton and woollen 
 cloths, muslins, silk yarn, paper, salt, copper, brass and 
 iron rods, sugar, tea, agricultural implements, and beads 
 and other ornaments for his womenkind, and the merchant 
 obtained in exchange palm-oil, rubber and such other 
 products as are mentioned in the previous chapter ; and 
 during the preceding one hundred years or so an in- 
 creasingly profitable trade had sprung up between Britain 
 and West Africa. 
 
 But under the concessionaire system the native 
 was deprived of all his land, and " of all its products." 
 The land and all it produced became the property of 
 the state or, for a term of years, of the concessionaire. 
 At once trade with the native ceased. The native could 
 no longer, for instance, offer the merchant any rubber, 
 because the rubber was not his to offer ; it belonged 
 to the concessionaire, and to trade with it was to 
 trade in stolen property. As for the native, he was 
 1 See Chapter III.
 
 52 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 merely a landless and propertyless slave one of the 
 dispossessed. 
 
 Not only did the interests of the legitimate trader 
 suffer, but in the regions where this system was estab- 
 lished they were absolutely extinguished. 
 
 Attitude at first Misunderstood. 
 
 Morel saw at once the great advantage of rallying 
 these interests to his side in his campaign for native 
 rights ; and this he proceeded to do, taking at the same 
 time the risk that his motives might be misinterpreted. 
 This they certainly were. 
 
 The henchmen of King Leopold, for example, declared 
 that these " Free Trade " arguments of Morel showed 
 that the whole Congo Reform agitation arose from British 
 commercial jealousy, and accused their exponent of being 
 merely an " agent " of British commercialism. And in 
 this country also Morel's attitude was not at first wholly 
 understood especially by those who supported the 
 
 Reform movement mainly upon humanitarian grounds. 
 
 o 
 But despite the abuse of his opponents and the doubts 
 
 much harder to bear of his friends, Morel never swerved 
 an inch from the line he had decided to follow, and in 
 course of time this contention of his was recognized by 
 almost every one as the key to the whole position. 
 
 " Your own chief contribution to the movement of which you 
 are now properly the head," wrote the late Sir Charles Dilke in 
 a published letter, dated February 6, 1908, " was that you brought, 
 to those of us who had originally raised the matter, a firm grasp 
 of a great principle. . . . 
 
 " You showed us that all depended upon the right of the original 
 black inhabitants of the soil to own their property and to carry on 
 trade. . . . There always lay a danger in our public becoming wearied 
 and accepting an imperfect solution which would, in fact, give up 
 all that we had been fighting for. Your energy has preserved us 
 from that risk, and as Jong as you are there to fight I have no 
 fear."
 
 THE FREE TRADER 53 
 
 French and Belgian Tributes. 
 
 This central truth was brought out very strikingly in 
 some of the speeches at the public presentation to Morel 
 in 1911. 2 Emil Vandervelde's tribute to the wisdom of 
 Morel's attitude could not, for example, have been more 
 complete : 
 
 " It was Morel who opened my eyes . . . ," he said. " It was he 
 who made me understand that the system established on the Congo 
 by King Leopold II was not the fatal result, at the same time as 
 the necessary consequence, of the developments of the tropical 
 regions of the world, but a monstrous anomaly monstrous as much 
 for its economic, as from the human, standpoint. It was he who 
 showed me that it was essential that the system itself should dis- 
 appear, by recognizing to the natives their rights in the land, the 
 freedom of their labour, and their social freedom." 
 
 M. Pierre Mille, the well-known French traveller and 
 author, and the chairman of the French Congo League, 
 was equally emphatic : 
 
 " I am very proud publicly to state that if I was the first in France 
 to denounce the crimes which were being committed in the Leo- 
 poldian Congo, itwas because Morel converted me : and, I admit it 
 to my shame, he did not at first succeed. IJ took him more than a 
 year of incessant letters, of irrefutable proofs communicated to me, 
 to convince me of what, after all, was as clear as daylight, viz. 
 that the daily crimes of the Congo were the result, not of individual 
 madness, but the inevitable consequence of a system whose starting- 
 point was the negation of the most elementary principles of law 
 and humanity. I had not the common sense at first to recognize . . . 
 that to refuse to allow the natives to dispose fully of the produce 
 of the soil conferred upon them by nature was to reduce them to 
 slavery, because, without profit to themselves, they would refuse 
 to work, and would therefore be compelled to do so by violence 
 by their taskmasters." 
 
 An interesting statement was made on the same occa- 
 sion by M. Felicien Challaye. M. Challaye had been a 
 
 See Chapter XIV.
 
 54 THE FOUNDATIONS 
 
 member of the mission of enquiry under de Brazza, 
 which the French Government had despatched to the 
 French Congo to investigate the working of the con- 
 cessionaire system there. 3 Addressing the assembled 
 guests, he explained how, when actually in the French 
 Congo engaged in the enquiry, he had " read for the 
 first time the writings of Mr. Morel," and how " as I read 
 them a strong light seemed to electrify my mind. It 
 suddenly came over me by what powerful links, progress, 
 happiness and even the preservation of the native races, 
 are intimately bound up with freedom of commerce." 
 
 Mr. Brailsford's Judgment. 
 
 The whole position has also been described very clearly 
 by Mr. H. N. Brailsford in The War of Steel and Gold.* 
 
 " The originators of this movement," says Mr. Brailsford, "and 
 its supporters in the Churches and in Parliament, were, of course, 
 entirely disinterested. They would undoubtedly have worked 
 with exactly the same self-sacrificing zeal if no question of traders' 
 rights had been involved. They were thinking solely of the miseries 
 of the natives, whom King Leopold and his financiers exploit. . . . 
 But this movement would never have attained the success which 
 was won, nor would it 'have impressed itself to such a degree upon 
 the Foreign Office, had it confined itself to humanitarian arguments. 
 Its devoted originator, Mr. E. D. Morel, was wise enough to lay 
 stress on the commercial argument, and to seek the support of the 
 Chambers of Commerce. It secured the attention of the Foreign 
 Office, partly because its programme included a demand for better 
 facilities for British trade. The whole Congo affair is a perfect 
 illustration of the main thesis of Liberal Foreign Policy that free 
 trade in goods is an interest consistent with humanity. The begin- 
 ning and end of Congo misrule consisted in this that a group of 
 Belgian financiers, with King Leopold at its head, carved out this 
 vast territory with domains and concession areas. In each of 
 these the King or the companies enjoyed a monopoly. They did 
 not trade, for there was no exchange of goods. They spent a 
 
 S See Chapter IX. 
 
 4 The War of Steel and Gold, by H. N. Brailsford (G. Bell & Sons), 
 second edition, pp. 69-71.
 
 THE FREE TRADER 55 
 
 certain capital upon river gunboats, the building of stations and 
 railways, and the arming of the savage native levies. In return, 
 they claimed as their own the land and its produce (that is to say, 
 the rubber), and, under the guise of a labour tax, set the natives 
 to gather it. This was not trade ; it was high Imperialist finance 
 in a peculiarly brutal form. Incidentally, they excluded from their 
 monopoly areas all foreign traders, and indeed there was no possi- 
 bility of trade, since nothing was left for the natives to sell. The 
 only thing they could have sold was the rubber, and this was appro- 
 priated by the financiers in Belgium. The standpoint of the Liver- 
 pool merchant was an entirely proper one. He is a trader and a 
 shipper. He wanted to do business with the Congo natives as he 
 does with the natives of the Gold Coast. He would have exported 
 cottons in return for rubber. The Belgian monopoly stood in his 
 way, and he argued fairly enough (1) that the monopoly was a 
 breach of treaty rights, and (2) that its consequences were hideous 
 to the natives themselves. One need not enquire what was the 
 relative importance of the two issues to the Foreign Office and to 
 Liverpool. The point to note is that in pursuing a traditional Free 
 Trade Policy, and in backing British trading interests, the Foreign 
 Office was really serving the cause of the natives. They could not 
 become prosperous or free until they were delivered from this 
 monopoly ; incidentally, their prosperity and freedom would benefit 
 our West African trade. Here the essential antagonism between 
 the financier who uses his capital to exploit native labour and the 
 trader who uses his capital to develop a system of exchange between 
 natives and Europeans stands clearly revealed. Neither the trader 
 nor the financier is disinterested. But the interests of the one 
 are as consistent with those of the native as the interests of the 
 other are inimical to them." 
 
 And so Morel, by his clear, far-seeing, business-like 
 arguments, brought to the support of the Humanitarians 
 the powerful influence of the Chambers of Commerce. 
 With this double aid, he fought the great political and 
 financial interests which were opposed to him, he forced 
 the reluctant hands of an apathetic Foreign Office, and, 
 in face of public indifference, private hostility, and official 
 hesitation and circumlocution, he carried the banner of 
 Free Trade, Equal Commercial Opportunity and Native 
 Rights, to victory.
 
 PART II 
 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE CONGO FREE STATE 
 
 The Brussels Conference, of 1876 Stanley discovers the Congo The 
 International Congo Association The Berlin Conference of 1884-5 
 Free Trade the Charter of the Free State The natives deprived 
 of their lands King Leopold's infamous edicts Slavery under a 
 new guise. 
 
 IT is now necessary to give in a summarized form a short 
 history of the Congo Free State and" an account of those 
 conditions, created by the policy of the late King Leopold, 
 which led to Morel taking the action he subsequently 
 did. In doing this, Morel's own words will be used as 
 far as possible. 1 
 
 On September 12, 1876, Leopold II, King of the Belgians, 
 invited an International Conference to Brussels " to 
 consider the best means which could be devised in order 
 to open up Central Africa to European civilization." a 
 Delegates were sent to this Conference by Belgium, Great 
 Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and 
 Russia, and the King " was careful to assure the assembled 
 explorers and scientists ... of the absolute disinterest- 
 edness of his intentions. The upshot of the Conference 
 
 1 For the historical side of the question the following works may be 
 consulted : The Life of Lord Granville, 1815-91, by Lord Edmond Fitz- 
 maurice (Longman & Co.) ; The Life of Sir Charles Dilke, by Stephen 
 Curzon and Gertrude Tuckwell (John Murray) ; The Colonization o 
 Africa, by Sir Harry Johnston (Cambridge Historic Series) ; La Belgique 
 et le Congo, by Emile Vandervelde (Paris, Felix Alcan). 
 
 * Affairs of West Africa, p. 314. 
 
 SO
 
 60 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 was the creation of an ' International Association for 
 the Exploration and Civilization of Africa,' of which 
 King Leopold naturally assumed the presidency." 3 
 
 A year or so later, the famous American explorer, 
 H. M. Stanley, having travelled across the Dark Continent, 
 suddenly emerged at the mouth of the Congo, first " re- 
 vealing to the world the existence and course of that 
 mighty river." 4 " King Leopold, realizing the immense 
 importance of the discovery, . . . hastened to get in 
 touch with the great explorer, whose services he succeeded 
 in enlisting." 5 Stanley went out on behalf of the Associa- 
 tion in 1879, and again in 1882, founding posts and 
 making treaties with the native chiefs " all along the 
 banks of the river and its affluents." 6 
 
 On April 22, 1884,7 the United States of America 
 recognized the Association, the title of which had now 
 been changed to that of the " International Congo 
 Association," as an " independent state," but certain 
 complications having arisen with France, Portugal, and 
 Great Britain, Prince Bismarck suggested " a Conference 
 of the Powers, in order to set at rest Che rivalries which 
 had arisen in the Congo Basin," 8 and, indeed, "to consider 
 the future of the African continent." 9 
 
 The Berlin Conference. 
 
 This important Conference met at Berlin on November 
 15, 1884, and concluded its sittings on February 26, 1885. 
 It elaborated a series of principles for regulating European 
 
 3 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 9. 
 
 4 Ibid. 
 
 5 Ibid. 
 
 6 Africa and the Peace of Europe (National Labour Press, 1917), p. 31. 
 For the nature of these treaties see Great Britain and the Congo. 
 
 7 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 40. 
 
 8 Affairs of West Africa, p. 317. 
 
 9 Africa and the Peace of Europe, p. 32.
 
 THE CONGO FREE STATE 61 
 
 policy generally in tropical Africa. From it " there 
 blossomed the Congo Free State," I0 and one of the results 
 of its deliberations was the " General Act of the Confer- 
 ence of Berlin," which was signed by the Powers collec- 
 tively and " became the charter of the new State's 
 existence." " 
 
 The two vital clauses of this Act were Articles 1 
 and 5. IZ Article 1 declared : 
 
 " The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom." 
 Article 5 laid it down that 
 
 " No Power which exercises, or shall exercise, sovereign rights 
 in the above-mentioned regions shall be allowed to grant therein 
 a monopoly or favour of any kind in matters of trade. 
 
 " Foreigners without distinction shall enjoy protection of their 
 persons and property, as well as the right of acquiring and trans- 
 ferring movable and immovable possessions, and national rights 
 and treatment in the exercise of their professions." I 3 
 
 " Taken together," says Morel, " the two articles 
 provided a double guarantee of the most solemn and 
 
 definite character." *4 
 
 
 
 Dispossessing the Native. 
 
 On August 1, 1885, King Leopold notified the Powers 
 that the International Congo Association, which had been 
 described in an " Exchange of Declarations " between 
 the Association and the British Government in the 
 previous December as having been " founded by His 
 
 10 Africa and the Peace of Europe, p. 32. 
 
 11 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 12. 
 
 ' Article 7 is also important. It runs as follows : " All the Powers 
 exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind 
 themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes and to 
 care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral well-being, 
 and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade " (see 
 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 6). 
 
 J 3 The British Case in French Congo, pp. 29-40. 
 
 M Ibid. p. 41.
 
 62 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Majesty the King of the Belgians for the purpose of pro- 
 moting the civilization and commerce of Africa, and for 
 other humane and benevolent purposes," J 5 would hence- 
 forth be known as the Congo Free State, with himself 
 as Sovereign of that State. In this manner the King 
 became " the ruler of a million square miles of territory 
 in Central Africa." l6 A month previously, however 
 (i.e. in July 1885), King Leopold " issued a decree whereby 
 the State asserted rights of proprietorship over all vacant 
 lands throughout the Congo territory. It was intended 
 that the term " vacant lands " should apply in the broadest 
 sense to lands not actually occupied by the natives. . . . 
 By successive decrees, promulgated in 1886, 1887, and 
 1888, the King reduced the rights of the natives to their 
 lands to the narrowest limits, with the result that the 
 whole of the odd 1,000,000 square miles assigned to the 
 Congo State, except such infinitesimal proportions thereof 
 as were covered by native villages or native farms, 
 became terres domaniales." J 7 
 
 In the meantime enormous export duties were imposed 
 on trade from the Congo, these duties aggregating 
 as much as 50,000 in a year's export trade of 
 175,000.^8 
 
 Although the Berlin Act had not forbidden the imposi- 
 tion of export duties, it had laid it down that no import 
 duties should be established in the mouth of the Congo 
 for twenty years. 
 
 " But in 1890 King Leopold, alleging the heavy expenses 
 to which he had been put by the campaign against the 
 Arabs in the Upper Congo, applied for permission to levy 
 import duties." X 9 
 
 J S King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 12. 
 
 16 Affairs of West Africa, p. 318. 
 
 7 Ibid. p. 323. 
 
 18 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 18. 
 
 J 9 Affairs of West Africa, p. 318.
 
 THE CONGO FREE STATE 63 
 
 The Edicts of 1891 and 1892. 
 
 As a result of this request, representatives of the 
 Powers met at Brussels and granted the King the 
 permission he desired, "merely reserving to themselves 
 the right to revert to the original arrangement in 
 fifteen years." 20 
 
 The international position of the Congo Free State 
 being thus greatly strengthened, Leopold went a step 
 farther. He issued a series of decrees or edicts 
 
 " by which the produce of the land was declared to be the property 
 of the Government ; the natives who collected it for sale to the 
 white man, denounced as poachers upon the property of others ; 
 the white man who bought it, denounced as a receiver of stolen 
 goods and threatened with condign punishment." 2I 
 
 Thus, with a stroke of the pen, King Leopold abolished 
 the rights of the natives to the land and its products ; 
 thus he swept away their liberty, and the liberty of others, 
 to trade in rubber and ivory ; thus he reduced a popula- 
 tion of millions of free men and women to virtual slavery ; 
 thus he arrogated to himself and his friends the absolute 
 ownership of the vast wealth of the whole of the Congo 
 basin with the exception of a very small portion, known 
 as the Lower Congo, around the mouth of the river. 
 
 And having thus acquired this immense territory, 
 henceforward to be known as the Domaine Prive, the 
 King proceeded to divide it into a number of districts, 
 which were farmed out to various trusts and Concession- 
 
 o Affairs of West Africa, p. 318. 
 
 31 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 78. One circular issued by the officials 
 of the Congo (February 14, 1892) forbade the natives to collect either 
 ivory or rubber unless they brought the articles to the State's officers, 
 and added that " merchants purchasing such articles from the natives, 
 whose right to collect them the State only recognized provided that 
 they were brought to it, would be looked upon as receivers of stolen 
 goods, and denounced to the judicial authorities " (Affairs of West 
 A/rica, pp. 324-5).
 
 64 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 aire Companies. The most important of these districts 
 were " the Domaine de la Couronne," which was adminis- 
 tered as a Royal preserve, the Katanga Trust, the Mongalla 
 Trust, the Lopori-Maringa Trust, and the Kasai Trust, 
 and these were misgoverned and exploited in the manner 
 afterwards exposed, to the horror of the civilized world, 
 by the Congo Reform Association and E. D. Morel.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 
 
 Journeys to Antwerp and Brussels Rumours of " atrocities " in Congo 
 Studying the evidence Gruesome stories Curzon defends the 
 Free State Administration Morel looks into the trade statistics. 
 
 WE left Morel, at the end of Chapter III, the chief of the 
 Congo Department of Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., 
 a leading authority on West Africa, a voluminous writer 
 for the Press, with connections with many important 
 newspapers, an ardent worker for better relations between 
 France and Britain, a convinced and enthusiastic sup- 
 porter of Free Trade, the Open Door, and Native Rights, 
 and Sir Alfred Jones's right-hand man on the political 
 side of all West African affairs. 
 
 This was in 1898, six or seven years after the promulga- 
 tion of the Leopoldian edicts recorded in the previous 
 chapter, and Morel, still little more than a youth, was 
 twenty-five years of age. 
 
 During his frequent visits to Antwerp and Brussels 
 on the company's business, Morel naturally had many 
 opportunities of discussing Congolese affairs, * and was 
 constantly thrown into contact with people connected 
 with the Congo Free State administration ; and, gradually, 
 from words dropped casually in business conversations, 
 snatches of talk overhead on the quays and in Government 
 offices, and direct tales of " atrocities " told by men who 
 had formerly traded with the Congo, he began to wonder 
 
 5
 
 66 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 whether it could be possible that " something was wrong " 
 somewhere, and whether matters were not being concealed 
 which ought to be disclosed. 
 
 Studying the Evidence. 
 
 Anyhow, the Congo was a West African subject, and 
 ought to be studied. He began to study it ; and first 
 he turned to what British publications he could find on 
 the matter. In 1896 the Aborigines Protection Society 
 had made an appeal to the British Government on behalf 
 of the natives of the Congo an appeal which fell on deaf 
 ears and in the spring of 1897 Sir Charles Dilke had 
 brought the question before the House of Commons, 
 and had suggested that the Government should take 
 steps to convene an International Conference " with a 
 view to the adoption and enforcement of further measures 
 for securing equitable treatment of the natives of Africa. 1 
 The suggestion having been declined by the Government, 
 the debate was followed by a public meeting, convened 
 by the Aborigines Protection Society, at which speeches 
 were delivered by Mr. John Morley, Mr. Leonard Courtney, 
 and Sir Charles Dilke ; and a Swedish missionary, named 
 Sjoblom, made certain startling accusations against Con- 
 golese officials, charging them with committing atrocities 
 upon the natives and forcing the latter to collect vast 
 quantities of rubber on pain of death. 
 
 " If the rubber does not reach the full amount required," said 
 the missionary, " the sentinels attack the natives ; they kill some and 
 bring the hands to the commissary. . . . Two or three days after 
 a fight a dead mother was found with two of her children. The 
 mother was shot and the right hand taken off. On one side was 
 the elder child, also shot, and the right hand also taken off. On 
 the other side was the younger child, with the right hand cut off, 
 
 1 Amongst those who generally supported Sir Charles Dilke in the 
 debate were Mr. Sydney Buxton (now Lord Buxton), Mr. John Burns, 
 Mr. McKenna, and Sir George Baden-Powell.
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 67 
 
 but the child, still living, was resting against the dead mother's 
 breast. ... A sentinel passed our mission station, and a woman 
 accompanied him, carrying a basket of hands. We counted eighteen 
 right hands smoked . . . they belonged to men, women, and even 
 children. . . . One of the soldiers told me, . . . ' The commissary 
 has promised us if we bring plenty of hands he will shorten our 
 service. I have brought in plenty of hands already, and I expect 
 my time of service will soon be finished.' " ' 
 
 All these speeches Morel read. He also read the stories 
 of abominations committed in the Congo detailed by two 
 American missionaries, Murphy 3 and Morrison. 4 He 
 read the book entitled The Fall on the Congo Arabs, by 
 Captain Hinde, a British officer, temporarily in King 
 Leopold's service, which contained the appalling allegation 
 that European officers commanding Leopold's levies in 
 the campaign against the Arabs of the Upper Congo had, 
 in fact, commanded an army " fe,d for long periods by 
 organized cannibalism," 5 a condition of things which 
 Sir Charles Dilke had brought to the attention of a startled 
 House of Commons. He read the writings of Mr. H. R. 
 Fox-Bourne, the secretary of the Aborigines Protection 
 Society ; the dry of Mr. E. J. Glave, a well-known 
 traveller, once associated with Stanley,*published in 1896 
 after his death, in the Century Magazine ; and the White 
 Book on the Stokes Affair. 6 And these speeches and 
 
 2 See King Leopold's Rule in Africa, pp. 111-112. 
 
 3 The Rev. J. B. Murphy of the American Baptist Union, who, in a 
 statement which appeared in The Times (November 18, 1895) gave an 
 instance of " hands of men, women and children " being " placed in rows " 
 " before a commissary," who counted them to see that the soldiers had 
 not wasted cartridges. 
 
 4 The Rev. W. M. Morrison. 
 
 5 See The Life of Sir Charles Dilke. 
 
 6 C8276 (Africa, No. 8, 1896). In 1896 Henry Stokes, a British trader 
 in the Congo, was arrested and shot without trial by order of Major 
 Lothaire, a Belgian officer in the employ of King Leopold. Stokes was 
 accused of selling guns to the Arabs with whom the Congo State was at 
 war (see above). But " this," say the authors of The Life of Sir Charles 
 Dilke, " true or not, does not affect the initial outrage, that though he 
 was entitled to a proper trial, he was trapped and summarily executed
 
 68 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 statements certainly indicated to Morel that there was 
 a considerable body of evidence in existence which pointed 
 to the fact that there was something gravely wrong with 
 the administration (at least on its African side) of the 
 Congo Free State, and that gruesome atrocities were 
 being perpetrated on an extensive scale in the mysterious 
 interior of Central Africa. On the other hand, the Congo 
 Government at Brussels had vehemently denied that there 
 was the slightest scintilla of truth in these stories at all, 
 and the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
 Mr. George Nathaniel Curzon (the present Earl Curzon), 
 had defended the administration of the State in the House 
 of Commons against the attack of Sir Charles Dilke. 
 The evidence up to that moment was clearly insufficient. 
 
 The Trade Statistics. 
 
 And then Morel turned to the line of investigation 
 which he subsequently pursued with such extraordinary 
 effect. He examined the trade statistics of the Congo. 
 No one who had criticized the Free State for its treatment 
 of the natives had apparently thought of Going this before. 
 No one before Morel had seen any connection between 
 the exports and imports of the Congo and the question 
 of the natives. No one had conceived that the two things 
 
 without trial of any kind." Speaking at the Pembroke Chapel, Liverpool, 
 on April 12, 1906, Morel said of this case : 
 
 (Stokgs) "... was arrested by a commandant of the Congo Forces, 
 upon whom had been conferred judicial power. He was arrested 
 as he entered the tent of that Congolese Commandant as an invited 
 guest. He was tried in the evening, without counsel, without 
 assistance a mock trial ; and in the morning, before dawn, he 
 was taken out and hanged. Speaking eighteen months ago, in the 
 House of Commons, Lord Fitzmaurice, now Under-Secretary of 
 State for Foreign Affairs, said that Stokes was ' murdered,' and 
 used these words : ' His blood still cries out from the ground.' 
 Such was the fate of an Englishman who came to loggerheads with 
 the Congo State." (See also the Babinek Case, p. 88 and seq.)
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 69 
 
 could have any bearing on each other. But Morel, as 
 a business man, an economist, and a Free Trader, knew 
 that there was a profound connection between the 
 two. He knew that legitimate trade meant an exchange 
 of goods, that exports must be paid for by imports. He 
 knew that if the statistics showed that there was no such 
 exchange of goods, that valuable commodities were being 
 exported from the Congo and nothing sent in exchange, 
 then the natives were certainly being robbed and ex- 
 ploited. It was from this practical business side that 
 Morel approached the matter. He looked into the figures, 
 and these figures absolutely appalled him ; for they 
 showed him, beyond a shadow of doubt, that a gigantic 
 wrong was being committed.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 CERTAINTY 
 
 Imports and exports Morel's great discovery An irresistible argument 
 Robbing the natives Concealed cargoes Profiteering in excelaia 
 Rule by ball-cartridge The Sultan of Central Africa Twenty 
 million slaves Attitude of Sir Alfred Jones Phantom reforms The 
 Anversoise scandals Morel's articles in the Speaker Letter from 
 Sir Charles Dilke Severs connection with Messrs. Elder Dempster's 
 Testimonial from colleagues A malicious falsehood. 
 
 BROADLY speaking, the, trade statistics of an undeveloped, 
 or partially developed, tropical African colony should 
 show an excess of imports over exports. 
 
 The reason for this is as follows : 
 
 Certain products of the colony are exported to Europe. 
 These are paid for by " trade goods " imported. Over 
 a term of years, therefore, these two sets of figures should 
 roughly balance. 
 
 But, in addition to the goods imported to pay for the 
 goods exported, there is usually a considerable importation 
 of material and stores for the administrative staff, the 
 military forces, and for public works ; and this, of course, 
 should cause the figures of the imports to overtop those 
 of the exports. 
 
 Morel's Discovery. 
 
 Now in the Congo there was a considerable adminis- 
 trative staff. There was an army of nearly 20,000 regular 
 troops, and many thousands of irregular levies as well. 
 There were two lines of railway, and a third under
 
 CERTAINTY 
 
 71 
 
 construction, all requiring large importations of material. 
 There was a fleet of more than forty steamboats on the 
 river, also constantly requiring material for repairs, spare 
 parts, chains, and so on. And there was an enormous 
 number of military and other stations, for which material 
 was constantly required. 1 Therefore the imports into 
 the Congo should have been vastly greater than the 
 exports from that State. But on looking into the figures 
 Morel found that the position was just the reverse.* Not 
 only did the exports greatly exceed the imports, but 
 something like 80 per cent, of the latter consisted of goods 
 which had nothing to do with trade purposes. Thus, 
 although the Congo was exporting vast and increasing 
 
 1 See King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 63. 
 
 * In King Leopold's Rule in Africa Morel prints some interesting 
 statistics of the imports and exports of British and French West African 
 Colonies, comparing them with the trade returns of the Free State. 
 From these we extract the following, which will serve to illustrate the 
 point : 
 
 Imports (1899-1902). 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Sierra Leone (British) 
 
 Gold Coast (British) 
 Senegal (French) 
 Dahomey (French) 
 Congo Free State 
 
 2,024,526 1,127,395 
 
 (less Special Colonial 
 Stores) 
 
 5,594,366 
 
 (less Specie) 
 
 199, 144,302 francs 
 
 3,176,527 
 120,246,709 francs 
 
 60,413,425 francs , 49,623,215 francs 
 3,529,317 7,360,130 
 
 These figures in themselves were sufficiently striking. But Morel pointed 
 out that they were even more striking than they looked ; for out of 
 the 3,529,317 worth of imports into the Congo he calculated that 
 2,636,000 worth consisted of goods imported for administrative needs 
 and for the purpose of paying the soldiers and hired native labour. 
 Deducting this sum, it appeared that 7,360,130 worth of exports 
 (6,146,973 worth representing rubber alone) were "paid for" by 
 893,317 worth of imports !
 
 72 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 quantities of rubber and ivory, the natives in return were 
 getting practically nothing, either for their products, or 
 for their labour in collecting them. This meant 
 
 " Firstly, that the natives were being robbed. Secondly, as they 
 certainly couldn't be expected to work for nothing voluntarily, 
 that they were being enslaved." 
 
 This, stated in a few words and in its simplest form, was 
 the great discovery made by Morel. The argument was 
 irresistible. There was no escape from it. Supported 
 as it was by direct evidence of the most varied nature, 
 it carried conviction to Morel's own mind ; and in the 
 course of the next few years it was, in spite of fierce and 
 enraged opposition from the threatened interests, to 
 carry conviction to the world. 3 
 
 Immense Profits. 
 
 Pursuing his investigations farther, Morel made several 
 other important discoveries. 
 
 He found, on examining the ships' manifests, that 
 large quantities of rubber and ivory shipped from the 
 Congo in the Elder Dempster liners were not included 
 in the statistics issued by the Congo Government at all. 
 More was being exported than was included in the returns. 
 The State Government and the concessionaires were 
 getting far more out of the Congo than they allowed the 
 public to know. 
 
 He found also that some of the companies which were 
 controlling vast areas of Congo territory were making 
 immense profits so immense, in fact, that shares which 
 were nominally worth about 20 apiece were changing 
 hands at anything from 800 to 1,000 per share, whilst 
 shareholders were receiving dividends bringing in from 
 
 3 See Sir Charles Dilke's letter, p. 52.
 
 CERTAINTY 78 
 
 300 to 800 per cent, on their investments. Many of 
 these companies, too, through their directorates, were 
 apparently intimately connected with King Leopold and 
 high officials of his Court.4 
 
 Rule by Ball-cartridge. 
 
 Thirdly, throwing a lurid and sinister light on the 
 methods by which the natives were being forced to work 
 for nothing, he discovered that the steamers trading 
 with the Congo were regularly shipping to Africa extra- 
 ordinary quantities of ball-cartridge and thousands of 
 rifles and other lethal weapons. 
 
 And fourthly, after studying the official documents 
 bearing on the matter, he found that under the so-called 
 Constitution of the Free State the millions of natives 
 inhabiting the Congo had no legal, rights or position at 
 all. So far as the Congo was concerned King Leopold 
 was an absolute monarch. No Tsar, no Roman Emperor, 
 perhaps no Oriental Despot even, ever held powers so 
 unlimited and so unrestrained. All executive and 
 legislative functions centred in his hands. There was 
 not even a Council of Ministers or a* Grand Vizier to 
 guide him. He made his own decisions, and from these 
 decisions there was no appeal, and no redress. The 
 Belgian Parliament had no control over the administra- 
 tion of the Congo. The King had supreme and 
 autocratic power. With a flourish of his arm he 
 could, if he so wished, decide the destiny and dispose 
 of the lives of twenty millions of natives, inhabiting 
 a territory about as large as the whole of Europe minus 
 Russia, over which he ruled unchecked. 
 
 * Thus half of the shares of the " Soci^te Anversoise du Commerce 
 au Congo were owned by the King, its President was nominated by 
 the King, and one of its three administrators was one of the King's 
 aides-de-camp (see Affairs of West Africa, pp. 331-2).
 
 74 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 " To me," said Mr. Richard Harding Davis, writing at a later 
 date, s " the fact of greatest interest about the Congo is that it is 
 owned, and the twenty million of people who inhabit it are owned, 
 by one man. The land and its peoples are his private property. 
 I am not trying to say that he governs the Congo. He does govern 
 it, but that in itself would not be of interest. His claim is that he 
 owns it. It does not sound like anything we have heard since the 
 days of the Pharaohs. And the most remarkable feature of it is, 
 that the man who makes this claim was placed over the Congo as 
 a Guardian" 
 
 The "Speaker" Articles. 
 
 Having made these astounding discoveries, Morel's first 
 action, naturally, was to lay their main outlines before 
 his employer, in the hope that the latter might use his 
 influence with King Leopold to redress these evils. Sir 
 Alfred Jones was a strong man and an important one. 
 Even if he failed to alter the system from within, as was 
 indeed only too probable, he was a big enough man to 
 have come out boldly against it even at a temporary 
 though heavy sacrifice of business interests 6 and to 
 have headed a successful agitation against the abomina- 
 
 5 The Congo and Coasts of Africa, by Richard Harding Davis (Scribner's). 
 Mr. Harding Davis visited the Congo for Collier's Weekly. In his book 
 he paid the following tribute to Morel : 
 
 " Mr. Morel," he wrote, " has many enemies. So, early in the 
 nineteenth century, had the English abolitionists Wilberforce and 
 Granville Sharp. After they were dead they were buried in the 
 Abbey and their portraits were placed in the National Gallery. 
 People who wish to assist in freeing twenty millions of human beings 
 should to-day support Mr. Morel. It will be of better service than, 
 after he is dead, burying him in Westminster Abbey." 
 
 6 The contract with the Congo Free State held by Messrs. Elder 
 Dempster & Co. was an extremely lucrative one, and might have been 
 withdrawn by King Leopold. In fact, at a subsequent date the King 
 did threaten to withdraw the contract unless the growing agitation could 
 be damped down. Great pressure was brought to bear on Morel from 
 various quarters to induce him to stop his campaign. But Morel was 
 not amenable to pressure, and this naturally intensified the animosity 
 of the powerful interests he had challenged and which were gathering 
 against him.
 
 CERTAINTY 75 
 
 tions which prevailed in the Congo. But it was not to 
 be. On his return from a visit to Brussels he told Morel 
 that the King had promised reforms and must be given 
 time. But these promises, although doubtlessly made, 
 were never carried out. Subsequent events showed that 
 there had never been any intention of carrying them out. 
 To plead for delay whilst promising reform has ever 
 been a favourite weapon of those who would perpetuate 
 abuses. So it was in this case. The abuses continued, 
 the reforms never materialized. In fact, from the very 
 nature of the case, they could not. The only possible 
 reform was the abolition of the whole system. And it 
 was upon the maintenance of the system that the King 
 and his financiers depended for their colossal profits. 7 
 These scandals, with their shocking revelations of murder, 
 mutilation, and profiteering, determined Morel. He could 
 wait no longer. He sat down and penned a series of 
 vigorous articles for the Speaker.* These articles were 
 entitled " The Congo Scandal." They were unsigned, 
 and created a considerable sensation. Amongst others, 
 they attracted tjie attention of the late Sir Charles Dilke, 
 who communicated, through the editor.,* with their author, 
 and thus started a connection between himself and Morel 
 which only ceased with the former's death in 1911. An 
 
 7 The Socie'te Anversoise du Commerce au Congo possessed a capital 
 of 1,700,000 francs, divided into 3,400 shares of 500 francs. Of these 
 shares, one half belonged to the Congo State, i.e. to the King. The net 
 profits of the Company for the four years 1897-1900 were 7,275,838 
 francs. In March 1900 the 500-franc shares of the Company stood as high 
 as 13,730 francs, which meant that the King's holding w<5s worth over 
 23,000,000 francs, or roughly 933,000. King Leopold had conferred 
 upon this Company some 12,000 square miles of Congo territory, and in 
 the year of which we are speaking "one or two of its agents," said 
 Morel, had " confessed to killing, by order, 150 natives, cutting off 60 
 hands, crucifying women and children, and impaling the sexual remains 
 of slaughtered males on the stockade of the villages whose inhabitants 
 were slow in gathering rubber." These scandals were first revealed to 
 the world in the Belgian Press (see Affairs of West Africa, pp. 331-33). 
 
 * Now the Nation.
 
 7C THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 interesting reference is made to these articles in the 
 Life of Sir Charles Dilke, by Stephen Curzon and Gertrude 
 Tuckwell. Dealing with Dilke's action on the Congo 
 question, the authors say : 
 
 " So well was the secret of those dark places kept that even he, 
 with his widespread net of acquaintance in many capitals, found 
 facts hard to gather ; and he was naturally attracted by the appear- 
 ance in 1900 of a series of anonymous articles in the Speaker which 
 dealt with the system set up in the Congo, and its inevitable results. 
 These articles displayed an unusual knowledge of the whole 
 complicated subject, and revealed aspects of it which had previously 
 baffled enquiry. The writer proved to be Mr. E. D. Morel. So 
 began a co-operation whose influence upon the administration of 
 African races was destined to be far-reaching." 
 
 Leaves Elder Dempster's. 
 
 But it was now clearly impossible for Morel to remain 
 any longer at Messrs. Elder Dempster's. Owing to his 
 views on the Congo, his visits to Antwerp had for some 
 time been discouraged, and the whole situation had gradu- 
 ally grown more and more strained and difficult. He 
 determined, therefore, to leave, and having received a 
 journalistic appointment, sent in his resignation, which 
 was accepted with many expressions of regret and esteem. 9 
 
 9 As it has been alleged by some of Morel's opponents that he was 
 " dismissed " from the employment of Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., 
 or that he left that firm " suddenly " the suggestion being that there 
 was something discreditable about his departure it is necessary 
 to state that on leaving, in the circumstances related above, he was 
 presented by his colleagues with a handsome testimony of their goodwill, 
 the gift being accompanied by a testimonial, signed by the manager, 
 Mr. John Cra'g, which read as follows : 
 
 "May 1, 1901. 
 
 " On behalf of your old colleagues and staff of Messrs. Elder 
 Dempster & Co., I beg you to accept the accompanying presents 
 as a souvenir and mark of the high appreciation they have always 
 had for you during the time they have had the pleasure of being 
 associated with you in the office, and I take this opportunity to tender 
 you their heartiest good wishes for your future welfare and success." 
 
 Some years later in view of the foregoing allegations, Morel took the 
 precaution of getting letters both from Sir Alfred Jones and Mr. John
 
 CERTAINTY TT 
 
 And so Morel, having severed a ten years' connection 
 with the famous Liverpool shipping firm, went out, like 
 some modern Giant-killer, to destroy the evil which was 
 overshadowing the lives of millions of natives, and 
 making the vast Congo Basin " Darkest Africa " indeed. 
 
 Craig (who had by then become a partner in the firm) denying the state- 
 ment that he had been " dismissed." Mr. Craig in his letter expressed 
 " much regret to hear you have been caused any annoyance by such 
 a rumour as that you mention," whilst Sir Alfred Jones wrote to say 
 " it is not right for any one to say that you were dismissed. You were 
 not." These letters, which Morel still possesses, are dated respectively 
 December 23, and December 30, 1907.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE CAMPAIGN OPENS 
 
 Hawarden days The Sierra Leone Hut Tax Disturbances The position 
 in the French Congo Forty-four Concessionaire Companies British 
 trading rights affected A Heaven-sent opportunity Mr. John Holt 
 of Liverpool Chambers of Commerce petition Lord Lansdowne 
 Trading Monopolies in West Africa Morel on Free Trade and 
 Native Rights How a Slave State is created The root of the evil 
 A " blood-stained " structure Belgium must control the Congo 
 Call for an International Conference A campaign in two languages 
 French and Belgian support. 
 
 IN 1901 Morel had taken a small house at Hawarden, a 
 village on the Welsh borders imperishably associated 
 with the name of William Ewart Gladstone ; and it was 
 there, amidst pleasantly rural surroundings, that for the 
 next few years he worked, only coming up to London 
 on important occasions, and mainly conducting his cam- 
 paign and this is one of the most astonishing points 
 about it by correspondence. Indeed, it is this habit 
 of seclusion, practised by him for so long, his distaste for 
 what is called Society, and his reluctance, owing to his 
 retiring disposition and his strong affection for country 
 life, to come out into the limelight and to move in person 
 amongst the well-known figures of contemporary life, 
 which has enabled some of his opponents to picture him 
 as " a man of mystery " and a " sinister figure lurking 
 in the background," and to invest this downright, 
 somewhat unaccommodating man with the attributes of 
 a Machiavelli or a Drury Lane conspirator. 
 
 78
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OPENS T9 
 
 A friend of Morel's, Captain Hazzeldine, who was 
 associated with him on the African Mail, has given an 
 interesting glimpse of these Ha warden days : 
 
 " He (Morel) had just got back from work to the bosom of his 
 family in the village home in Cheshire. 1 His small boy and girl 
 were playing in the garden under Mrs. Morel's eye. There was 
 also a baby donkey a live one. This little big-headed creature, 
 standing about as high as they did, was tumbling the children about 
 on the grass. I said, ' What do you have that for ? Won't 
 it hurt them ? ' He said, ' No, it will do them good. It will give 
 the kid pluck. It will get him used to animals, so that he won't 
 be afraid of them.' " 
 
 In 1900 Morel had published a small pamphlet which 
 won the approval of the Manchester Guardian and the 
 Liverpool Journal of Commerce in which he condemned 
 the enforcement of the hut tax upon the natives of 
 Sierra Leone, 2 and in the following year he opened in real 
 earnest his campaign against the concessionaire system 
 in tropical Africa. 
 
 By this time this pernicious system had spread over 
 the borders of the Congo Free State into the French Congo, 
 
 and great trouble had resulted. 
 
 i 
 
 The Position in the French Congo. 
 
 This colony had been acquired by France largely owing 
 to the efforts of Savorgnan de Brazza, one of the greatest 
 colonial statesmen that France had ever produced, and 
 a man who had won the confidence and affection of the 
 natives to a very remarkable degree. The , territory, 
 however, had been somewhat neglected by the French, 
 and its trade was almost entirely in British hands. 
 
 But in 1898 the enormous profits secured by the Rubber 
 Companies in the Congo Free State had aroused the 
 
 1 This was in 1904. 
 
 2 The Sierra Leone Hut Tax Disturbances : a Reply to Mr. Stephen, 
 by E. D. M. (John Richardson & Sons, Liverpool).
 
 80 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 cupidity of a certain group of French colonial politicians 
 and financiers, and King Leopold on his part had not 
 been slow to realize that his own position would be 
 enormously strengthened if the system prevalent in 
 the Congo were buttressed by the introduction of a 
 similar state of affairs into a colony administered by 
 France. 
 
 And so in this year the French Congo was split up 
 amongst forty-four Concessionaire Companies " with 
 nominal French heads, but with Belgians on the board 
 of administration, a majority of Belgian shareholders 
 behind, with Belgian capital either openly, or in disguised 
 form, the controlling factor." 3 
 
 The natural results followed. Disputes took place 
 between the concessionaires and the British merchants 
 who had for years been trading peacefully with the natives. 
 The concessionaires claimed that the produce of the soil 
 was their own property, and that therefore the merchants 
 had no right to trade with the natives at all. In this 
 claim they were established on March 20, 1901, by a 
 decree, issued through the Governor of tjie French Congo, 
 which declared that " the products of the soil belonged 
 to the concessionaires, who alone had the right to dispose 
 of them, the natives not being entitled to sell them to 
 any one but the concessionaires." 4 
 
 This decree evoked from de Brazza, then in retirement, 
 a strong and dignified protest in Le Temps. It was 
 also opposed by other eminent Frenchmen. Nevertheless 
 it was persisted in. British merchants were forcibly 
 prevented from trading. British goods were seized on 
 the public roads. British factories were broken open. 
 British native agents were flogged. British subjects 
 were expelled. And, as a consequence, trading stations 
 were deserted, and a profitable commerce which had been 
 
 3 Affairs of West Africa, p. 288. 4 Ibid. p. 292.
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OPENS 81 
 
 gradually built up during twenty years and more was 
 being rapidly destroyed. 
 
 Morel saw in this situation a Heaven-sent opportunity 
 of opening a formidable attack upon the whole Leopoldian 
 system and the evils which logically sprang from it. 
 Getting in touch with Mr. John Holt, of Messrs. John 
 Holt & Co. one of the two important British firms which 
 were mainly affected 5 he persuaded him to bring the 
 matter officially before the Liverpool Chambers of Com- 
 merce. 6 As a result, an influential joint memorial from 
 nine Chambers of Commerce (including those of London, 
 Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, 
 and Bristol) was despatched on September 30, 1901, to 
 Lord Lansdowne, His Majesty's Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs, the memorialists taking their stand on 
 the Free Trade provisions of the Berlin Act of 1885, which 
 forbade the granting of any trade monopoly in the basin 
 of the Congo. 7 
 
 ' Trading Monopolies in West Africa." 
 
 In the autumA of the same year, Morel contributed a 
 series of articles to the weekly journal West Africa. 
 These articles., five in number, were reprinted in pamphlet 
 form under the title of Trading Monopolies in West Africa,* 
 were widely reviewed both in this country and on the 
 
 5 The other firm was Messrs. Hatton & Cookson. 
 
 6 Mr. John Holt had at first been reluctant to take this action, firstly 
 owing to a personal dislike of publicity, and secondly because he pre- 
 ferred to rely mainly on private negotiations through the Foreign Office. 
 Morel, however, with his eye on the still greater iniquity of the Congo 
 Free State, persuaded him that, in the wider interests of humanity, 
 it was necessary to arouse public opinion on the whole question, and to 
 mobilize the interests of legitimate commerce in support of the general 
 Humanitarian movement. 
 
 7 See Chapter V. 
 
 8 Trading Monopolies in West Africa : a Protest against Territorial 
 Concessions, by E. D. M. (John Richardson & Sons, Liverpool). 
 
 6
 
 82 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Continent, and gave rise to a considerable amount of 
 controversy, especially in Belgium. 
 
 In this pamphlet Morel developed at some length his 
 well-known views on the subject of Free Trade, Native 
 Rights, and Forced Labour. " Free Trade For All," he 
 proclaimed, was his ideal. 
 
 " Free Trade in West Africa, free trade for all ; free trade 
 for the Englishmen in a French colony, and in a German colony ; 
 free trade for the Frenchmen in the colonies of his neighbours ; 
 an assimilation of tariffs ; mutual co-operation in promoting legiti- 
 mate trade, the greatest of all civilizing agents ; mutual co-operation 
 in curtailing the liquor traffic, which is opposed to the interests of 
 the European Governments, of the merchants, of the natives. There 
 is plenty of room for the free, unfettered commerce of all the Powers 
 of Europe in the Western Continent of Africa, and the greater the 
 attractions given to the trade in an individual colony, whether it be 
 French or German or English, the sounder its financial position, 
 the more pronounced its ability to construct useful public works, 
 the more certain the contentment and the producing power of its 
 inhabitants." 9 
 
 How a Slave State is Created. 
 
 Of the concessionaire system he wrote : 
 
 " With a stroke o'f the pen it debars the natives from hereditary 
 and tribal ownership of land ; it ignores the native law of land 
 tenure and the native form of family property. It confers on a 
 group of Europeans the absolute ownership of tribal lands in Africa, 
 and grants them the sole rights of proprietorship over the raw 
 products of the soil. . . . The native is no longer asked to exchange 
 his vegetable riches for imported goods, because his possession 
 of those vegetable riches is no longer recognized. They are not his : 
 they belorg to the monopolist association, and he is expected to 
 collect and bring them to the association of whom he has become 
 the de facto serf, the association paying him for his labour on its own 
 terms. 
 
 " The basis of such a regime can only be force, and to be even 
 temporarily successful must everywhere necessitate the enrolling 
 and arming, on a large scale, of mercenaries. Each association is 
 therefore bound in time to become a Slave State, relying upon armed 
 
 9 Trading Monopolies in West Africa, p. 35.
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OPENS 83 
 
 force to compel its subjects to work. That is the only logical 
 outcome of the system, and we see it in the Domaine Priv of the 
 Congo State." 10 
 
 The Root of the Evil. 
 
 The last dozen words were characteristic. Never for 
 a moment did Morel lose sight of his main object. Starting 
 off with an examination of the conditions prevailing in 
 the French Congo, he quickly developed his theme until 
 it covered the Congo Free State as well. Here, as he 
 clearly showed, was the root of the evil, of which the 
 situation in the French colony was only an offshoot. 
 For the Leopoldian regime he reserved his fiercest invec- 
 tive. " The rubber shipped home by the Congo com- 
 panies ... is stained with the blood of hundreds of 
 negroes." " This hideous structure of sordid wickedness," 
 he called it. " Blood is smeared all over the Congo State, 
 its history is blood-stained, its deeds are bloody, the 
 edifice it has reared is cemented with blood the blood 
 of unfortunate negroes, spilled freely with the most 
 sordid of all motives, monetary gain : blood which 
 calls aloud to Heaven for retribution upon the shedders 
 of it." 
 
 '' The system must be changed," he declared, " and the 
 only way to change it is the abolition of the Domaine 
 Prive and the substitution of Belgian parliamentary 
 supervision for the despotism of the man who has brought 
 all these horrors upon Central Africa." " 
 
 Finally, he called for an International Conference to 
 enquire into " the whole problem of the relationship 
 between the peoples of Europe and the peoples of 
 Africa." " 
 
 10 Trading Monopolies in West Africa, pp. 9-10. 
 Ibid. p. 58. 
 
 11 For writing this pamphlet Morel subsequently received a letter 
 of thanks from the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
 
 84 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 French and Belgian Support. 
 
 Morel has the good fortune to be bi-lingual. He can 
 speak and write French as well as he can speak English. 
 So he made use of this advantage by following up his 
 pamphlet with a detailed exposure of the whole con- 
 cessionaire system in the French review Question 
 diplomatiques et Coloniales, which attracted considerable 
 attention across the Channel. And here it may be men- 
 tioned that Morel, in the attitude he was taking, was 
 receiving, and continued to receive, strong support from 
 well-known writers and politicians, not only in France, 
 but also in Belgium. 
 
 Amongst those who took a similar line to his own were 
 de Brazza himself, 1 3 whose protest has already been noted ; 
 the powerful Compagnie Frangaise de VAfrique Occidentale ; 
 M. Ballay, Governor-General of French West Africa, who 
 threatened to resign his office if the concessionaire system 
 were extended to the other French West African colonies, 
 and who declared that such a system required " a soldier 
 behind every producer " ; M. Jean Hess, the well-known 
 explorer ; M. Serge Barret ; M. Albert Cousin, " member of 
 the Superior Council of the Colonies" ; M. Pierre Mille ; 
 and in Belgium M. Lorand, leader of the Radical section 
 of the Liberal Party, and a number of other deputies. 
 
 In presenting Morel with a copy of his book on Native 
 Policy in the French Colonies (Paris : Bureaux de la France 
 d'outre mer. 1912, " published with approval of the 
 f, 
 
 *3 Many years later, in 1911, the Comtesse de Brazza, widow of this 
 great African explorer and administrator, sent the following message 
 to those who were making arrangements for the presentation of a public 
 testimonial to Morel : "I admire greatly the perseverance, courage 
 and energy with which Mr. E. D. Morel has pursued his work on behalf 
 of the black race against European cruelty and oppression in Africa, 
 and I shall be happy to join those of his friends who are about to give 
 him a public testimonial as a tribute of appreciation for his noble work 
 on behalf of the Congo natives. I am sorry to be detained in Algeria, 
 and not to be able to be present on this occasion."
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OPENS 85 
 
 Ministry of the Colonies "), M. Henri Bobichon, a high 
 official of the French Congo, who subsequently helped 
 in the work of removing evil consequences resulting from 
 the introduction of the Leopoldian system into that 
 territory, inscribed the following words upon its title- 
 page : 
 
 " To him who has struggled so courageously on behalf of the Congo 
 natives, Mr. E. D. Morel, with the sympathetic homage and devo- 
 tion of an old Colonial."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 
 
 First public speech The Rabinek case Affairs of West Africa Sir 
 Charles Dilke's opinion Translated by French Colonial Office 
 Morel's second book The British Case in French Congo Commerce 
 or exploitation ? A grave warning Public support increasing 
 The first Parliamentary debate British official action Starts the 
 African Mail The Congo Slave State An appeal to America. 
 
 EARLY in 1902 Morel was invited, through his work as 
 a writer on West African questions, to become a member 
 of the committee of the West African Section of the 
 Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, 1 and in May of the same 
 year he made his first public speech at a meeting held at 
 the Mansion House, under the auspices of the Aborigines 
 Protection Society, with Mr. Alfred E. Pea u se, M.P., in the 
 chair, supported by Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Mr. James 
 Round, M.P., Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Sir Alfred Lyall, 
 Mr. H. R. Fox-Bourne, Mrs. J. R. Green, Mrs. Brad- 
 laugh Bonner, and others. The following is an extract 
 from Morel's speech on this occasion : 
 
 " The Congo Free State has invented a form of slavery more 
 degrading and more atrocious than any slavery which has existed 
 before. They might disguise it as they liked ; they might wrap 
 it up in as many sonorous platitudes and misleading sophistries 
 as they chose. The fact remained that a State which by successive 
 strokes of the pen alienated native ownership in land, declared a 
 monopoly over the products of the soil, forebade the natives to 
 dispose freely of those products, compelled the natives to bring 
 
 1 He resigned this position two years later. 
 86
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 87 
 
 those products to itself as tribute, and was able to enforce these 
 monstrous edicts by the only way in which, in tropical Africa, it 
 was possible to enforce such a conception, namely by overwhelming 
 military force, was guilty of having established slavery. ... I do 
 not think the position is one as to the number of specific acts 
 of cruelty and oppression the real question is as to the cause of 
 which these atrocities are the effects. It is the cause itself which 
 must be removed. . . . The Congo Free State, which claimed to 
 be a philanthropic institution, has a regular army of 15,000 regular 
 levees. The number is official. ... It is of little or no consequence 
 how many or how few records exist as to the specific acts of cruelty 
 committed. What I contend is that the system itself infallibly 
 necessitates and renders inevitable such acts, and it is upon a 
 complete reversal of the system itself that efforts should be concen- 
 trated. Justice and humanity, reason and common sense, demand 
 that the system which is eating into the vitals of Africa should 
 be put a stop to. To ensure that result international enquiry is 
 essential." 
 
 At this meeting resolutions were passed expressing the 
 opinion that the provisions of the Berlin Conference " as 
 regards the protection of native populations " had been 
 violated " by proceedings ruinous to those native popula- 
 tions," and calling upon His Majesty's Government to 
 confer with th$ signatory Powers to the Act to take 
 steps " with a view to fulfilment of theiv joint obligations." 
 It is perhaps worthy of note that the Congo State com- 
 missioned two of its friends to attend this meeting, 
 and that these were responsible for several abortive 
 interruptions. 
 
 In the March issue of the Contemporary Review there 
 appeared an article by Morel entitled " The Belgian Curse 
 in Africa," and a little later, largely through tile influence 
 of Mrs. John Richard Green, a short article entitled 
 " The Congo State and the Domaine Prive " was inserted 
 in the official journal of the African Society and attracted 
 the favourable attention of high officials of the Foreign 
 Office, one of whom was the late Sir Martin Gosselin. 
 Both of these articles were subsequently reprinted as
 
 88 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 pamphlets, for Morel, amongst his other qualities, is an 
 indefatigable pamphleteer. 
 
 The Rabinek Case. 
 
 The publication of the first of these articles had a 
 remarkable sequel. Quite by accident a copy of the 
 Contemporary Review in which it appeared fell into the 
 hands of a European trader in the wilds of Central Africa, 
 and through him Morel was furnished with the first 
 particulars of the famous Rabinek Case, which he subse- 
 quently used with such startling effect. The facts of this 
 case, which were not fully made known until the following 
 year, were briefly as follows 2 : 
 
 Gustave Maria Rabinek was an Austrian merchant of 
 high integrity and unblemished character, trading in 
 rubber and ivory in the Katanga region of the Congo 
 Free State. He was well known to English explorers 
 and merchants in Central Africa, and possessed a trading 
 licence issued by two Congo State officials and by the 
 Katanga Company, the latter agreement being signed 
 on September 23, 1900. But on the previous June a 
 convention had been signed in Brussels, by which the 
 Katanga Company was converted from a more or less 
 private trading concern into a State institution on 
 the lines of the other trusts of the Domaine Prive.3 
 The news of this arrangement did not reach the African 
 manager of the Katanga Company until November 7th, 
 six weeks after the licence had been granted to 
 Rabinek. 
 
 Upon being informed of the agreement which had 
 been made with Rabinek, the European directors of the 
 Katanga Company immediately repudiated it, and the 
 
 z The particulars of this case are taken from King Leopold's Rule in 
 Africa, pp. 259-96 (cf. the previous case of Stokes, Chapter VII). 
 J See Chapter VI.
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 89 
 
 letter conveying their decision reached Africa on April 11, 
 1901, and was communicated to Rabinek nine days later. 
 Rabinek, however, declined to admit the validity of this 
 repudiation. He had his agreement, and he meant to 
 stick to it. 
 
 In the meantime (as far back as December 17, 1900) 
 a warrant for Rabinek's arrest had been issued on the 
 charge of violating the decree of October 30, 1892,4 by 
 which trading in rubber by private individuals . was pro- 
 hibited in the Katanga region " on pain of a fine of 
 10 to 1,000 francs, and to imprisonment of one day to 
 a month." 
 
 " Had Rabinek been indicted on this charge alone," says Morel 5 
 " he could have got out of the clutches of the State, and made himself 
 uncommonly unpleasant afterwards on the strength : first, of the 
 Free Trade Clauses of the Berlin Act ; second, of the official licences 
 granted him, for which he had paid ; and third, of the licence granted 
 him by the Katanga Company, to benefit by which he opened a 
 large credit with European firms." 
 
 So a secret charge of gun-running, which was never 
 communicated t# Rabinek, and for which there was no 
 tittle of evidence, was apparently made against him as 
 well ! 
 
 On May 14, 1901, Rabinek was arrested on board the 
 British steamer Scotia, anchored on Lake Muera, forty 
 yards from the Congo State port of Mpueto. The warrant 
 was read to him by an officer of the Free State, and 
 Rabinek accompanied him ashore. 
 
 He was then removed to Mtowa, 150 miles away, and 
 there on June 14th was summarily condemned by court- 
 martial to one year's imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 
 francs for " illegal " trading in rubber an absolutely 
 illegal sentence from any point of view, even under the 
 law under which he was charged, and one against which 
 
 4 See p. 63. 5 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 280.
 
 90 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 a judicial officer of the State, who attended the court- 
 martial, himself protested. 
 
 Against this sentence Rabinek appealed, and was sent 
 away, " a prisoner " under native escort, to Boma, 
 a distance of 2,000 miles. " Such a journey," said 
 M. Leveque, a high official of the Katanga Company, 
 when he heard of it, " certainly means death." It meant 
 death in this case ; for on September 1st Rabinek died 
 on the journey and was hastily buried on the river-bank, 
 the body not even being taken to Leopoldville, two hours' 
 steaming farther on. In the meantime all his effects, 
 to the estimated value of 12,000, had been seized by the 
 agents of the Katanga Company. 
 
 " In an abandoned clearing," wrote Morel, " where once stood 
 a Government wooding-post, at the mouth of Stanley Pool, lies 
 all that is left of Gustav Maria Rabinek. A grave hastily dug and 
 roughly closed, the body flung there like a dog, with not even a 
 stone to mark its resting-place only the grim African forest 
 mounting guard." 6 
 
 Such was the famous Rabinek Case, which in the follow- 
 ing year made suph a stir throughout Europe, and the 
 particulars of which Morel was instrumental in putting 
 before the public. 
 
 " Affairs of West Africa." 
 
 Towards the close of the year Morel issued his first 
 important book, Affairs of West Africa (Heinemann, 
 1902), a volume of nearly four hundred pages, profusely 
 illustrated with excellent photographs and maps. 
 
 This book contained a detailed and exhaustive descrip- 
 tion of West Africa, its history, its inhabitants, its flora 
 and fauna, its physical characteristics, its industries, its 
 trade and its finances, and revealed an amazing range 
 
 6 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 295.
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 91 
 
 of knowledge of the country for one who had at that 
 time never even visited its shores. The greater part of 
 the book dealt with Nigeria and other British West 
 African possessions, but the concluding chapters con- 
 tained a strong and measured attack upon the Leopoldian 
 system in the Congo Free State, and upon the same 
 system as applied in the French Congo, which was 
 contrasted with the brilliant achievements and ad- 
 mirable administrative successes of the French in their 
 other West African dependencies. Morel also, as stated 
 in Chapters II and III, devoted several pages to a 
 valuable plea for closer sympathy and understanding 
 between the French and British peoples on the subject 
 of West Africa. 
 
 The book was well reviewed. Sir Charles Dilke said 
 that it constituted " the best reflection on the conditions 
 of Africa " which had been produced " since that curious 
 volume the Dark Continent" Sir Harry Johnston, 
 writing in the Daily Chronicle, said of the Congo part 
 that " Mr. Morel's indictment is one of the most 
 terrible things ev^r written, if true." The Times, after 
 saying, 
 
 " It is with great satisfaction that the public will welcome a 
 contribution to our general knowledge on the subject, at once so 
 intelligent and so informing, as Mr. E. D. Morel's," 
 
 went on to remark that 
 
 
 " The sufferings of which the picture was given to the world 
 
 in Uncle Tom's Cabin are as nothing to those which Mr. Morel 
 represents to be the habitual accompaniments of the acquisition 
 of rubber and ivory by the Belgian companies " ; 
 
 whilst the Morning Post characterized the book as being 
 " a terrible indictment of the Congo State." 
 
 But the most flattering tribute to the book was that
 
 92 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 paid to it by the French Government. Containing, as 
 it did, the first serious study of French administrative 
 work in West Africa which had appeared in this country, 
 it was translated into French by the Head of the African 
 Department of the French Colonial Office, M. Alfred 
 Duchene, printed in serial form in the Official Journal 
 of that Department and afterwards published in book 
 form by Challomel.7 
 
 To this edition M. Duchene contributed an interesting 
 introduction : 
 
 " When a few months ago," he wrote, " the work of Mr. Morel 
 appeared in England, the few Frenchmen who became acquainted 
 with it were at once astonished, charmed, saddened. . . . This 
 conscientious writer had produced a most enlightened study of 
 West Africa. His liberal mind had steered him away from prejudice ; 
 whether the problem had to do with Mohammedanism, slavery, 
 the qualities and defects of the negro race, he approached it in the 
 light of facts. . . . For many Englishmen what Mr. Morel said in his 
 volume upon the success of France in West Africa must have been 
 a revelation, and more than one reader will rejoice to see an English- 
 man speak highly of the meritorious efforts of our fellow-country- 
 men. . . . But if the author refers in favourable terms to our work 
 in West Africa proper, he is very severe upon our proceedings in 
 the French Congo since 1899. Have we deserved these criticisms ? 
 Mr. Morel is convinced of it, for he sees in the grant of large concessions 
 in the French Congo and the economic system arising from them, 
 a system which has been adopted from the Congo Free State whose 
 methods he utterly condemns. . . . He does not admit that one 
 is entitled to remain neutral in the face of doctrines which one 
 blames and policies which one considers odious or arbitrary. . . . The 
 object we have had has been, by translating the volume of Mr. 
 Morel's, to present to the French public a book in which the ability 
 and scientific treatment of his subject by the author equals his 
 unquestionable competence." 
 
 Morel's second book, The British Case in French Congo 
 (Heinemann), appeared a few months later, in the spring 
 of 1903. In this work, as the title indicated, he reverted 
 
 7 Problemes de VOuest Africain. Translated from the English by 
 A. Duchene, chief of the African Staff at the Ministry of the Colonies. 
 (Paris : Augusten Challomel, 1904.)
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 93 
 
 to the state of affairs in the French Congo, and dealt with 
 it very fully and with great lucidity. At the same time 
 he again made it quite clear that in his opinion the root 
 of the whole evil lay in the Congo Free State, and that 
 he still retained a very real respect and admiration for 
 French administration in Africa generally. The book 
 was dedicated 
 
 " To all far-seeing Englishmen, and fair-minded Frenchmen," 
 and in his Introduction Morel remarked : 
 
 " I am an earnest and sincere admirer of the splendid work 
 accomplished by France in West Africa proper, and the magnifi- 
 cent labours of the de Brazza school in French Congo." 8 
 
 Commerce or Exploitation ? 
 
 The distinction between legitimate commerce and 
 exploitation was clearly drawn : 
 
 " The difference between commerce and exploitation which 
 is a polite way of describing robbery aggravated by violence is 
 the difference between approaching the owner of an article and 
 offering to buy it fr<yn him, and putting a pistol to the owner's head, 
 bidding him hand over his goods on pain of death or punishment 
 of various kinds. The one is based upon consent ; the other upon 
 compulsion. The one recognizes that the negro is (1) a man, 
 (2) a landowner, whether as a unit in a tribal community or family 
 organization, or as an individual. The other looks upon the negro 
 as (1) a brute ; (2) denies his rights as a landowner ; (3) claims that 
 the mountains, valleys, forests and plains, and everything of economic 
 value they contain, whether animal, vegetable or mineral except 
 the actual spot upon which the native has built his hut, or where 
 he cultivates his patch of maize millet or other foodstuffs belongs, 
 not to the native, but to the white man." 9 
 
 He concluded with a grave warning : 
 
 " Slavery, relying upon the rifles of thousands of native levies, 
 or commerce, based upon the recognition that the negro has the 
 
 8 The British Case in French Congo (Heinemann), p. 1. 
 
 9 Ibid. pp. 4-5.
 
 94 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 rights of a man to his freedom and his property that is what 
 European statesmen will shortly be called upon to decide. And 
 as they decide, so the structure which the white people are endeavour- 
 ing once more to raise up in the land of the negroes will remain, 
 or the great black wave inscrutable, mysterious, enduring will 
 once more roll suddenly forward even unto the ocean, obliterating 
 every trace of a civilization which, professing to act in the name of 
 the Most High God, has permitted the violation of every law, human 
 and Divine." I0 
 
 This book also was well received, the Morning Post in 
 particular being loud in its praise. 
 
 During this period the Congo Government and its 
 agents were not idle, and Morel, being recognized as a new 
 and formidable opponent of the Leopoldian system, was 
 the recipient of attacks from many quarters, actions for 
 libel which never materialized were threatened, and he 
 was even accused of being the agent of an " International 
 Syndicate working in the interests of France. 7 ' On his 
 part Morel was not letting the grass grow under his feet, 
 and in pamphlet after pamphlet, and in innumerable 
 articles and published letters, he pressed forward his case 
 against the Congo with characteristic vigour and zeal. 
 In particular he*, was now making known, through the 
 Press, the facts already related he had laboriously 
 pieced together concerning the notorious Rabinek Case. 
 This case was taken up most vigorously by the Morning 
 Post, to which journal Morel contributed several articles. 
 Morel also placed these facts before the Foreign Office, 
 with the result that Lord Lansdowne took certain official 
 action on the matter. 
 
 Increasing Public Support. 
 
 Public support was now rallying in considerable strength 
 to the cause of the Congo Reformers. A book entitled 
 Civilization in Congo-land, published in January 1903 by 
 
 10 The British Case in French Congo (Heinemann), p. 11.
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 95 
 
 Mr. H. R. Fox-Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines Protec- 
 tion Society, reinforced, especially from the Humanitarian 
 side, the case which Morel was presenting ; resolutions 
 censuring the methods of the Congo State were passed 
 in succession by the Associated Chambers of Commerce, 
 the Free Church Council, and the London Branch of the 
 late Mr. W. T. Stead's " International Union " ; and on 
 May 5th an important meeting was held at the United 
 Services Institute, at which the Rev. W. M. Morrison, 
 an American missionary who had spent four years in the 
 Congo, delivered an account of his experiences there, 
 and of the infamous deeds he had witnessed. Dr. Clifford 
 was the chairman of this meeting, and he was supported 
 by Mr. Herbert Samuel, M.P., Mr. Alfred Emmott, M.P., 
 Mr. T. R. Buchanan, M.P., Mr. C. McArthur, M.P., Mr. 
 Frederic Harrison, Mr. John Holt, and others. The 
 resolution, appealing to the Government to take action, 
 was moved by Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., and seconded by 
 Morel. 
 
 The First Parliamentary Debate. 
 
 And then, on May 20, 1903, the matter came before the 
 House of Commons. At the suggestion of Sir Charles 
 Dilke, Morel drew up a resolution to be submitted to the 
 House. It ran as follows : 
 
 " That the Government of the Congo Free State, having, at its 
 inception, guaranteed to the Powers that its native subjects should 
 be governed with humanity, and that no trading monopoly or 
 privilege should be permitted within its dominions (and both 
 these guarantees having been constantly violated), 11 this House 
 requests His Majesty's Government to confer with the other Powers 
 signatory to the Berlin General Act, by virtue of which the Congo 
 Free State exists, in order that measures may be adopted to abate 
 the evils prevalent in that State." 
 
 11 The words in parentheses were omitted, at the request of Mr. Balfour, 
 from the resolution as carried by the House.
 
 96 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 This resolution was moved by Mr. Herbert Samuel, 
 supported by Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Alfred Emmott, Sir 
 John Gorst, and Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, and carried 
 unanimously, Mr. Balfour, then Prime Minister, admitting 
 that the Government 
 
 " could not, of course, in any case, resist the motion, because it 
 indicated a policy the Government desired to follow." 
 
 In the course of this debate Morel's name was referred 
 to by Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Herbert Samuel, and Mr. 
 Emmott in the highest terms, and the references were 
 warmly cheered. He was described as the man who knew 
 more about the subject than any one else, and to whom 
 great gratitude was due. 
 
 British Official Action. 
 
 As a result of the adoption of this resolution the British 
 Government despatched a circular Note to the Great 
 Powers, suggesting another Conference. This Note was 
 presented in August, and, amongst other matters, stated 
 that 
 
 " the Congo stations are shunned, the only natives seen being 
 soldiers, prisoners, and men who are brought in to work. The 
 neighbourhood of stations which are known to have been populous 
 a few years ago is now uninhabited, and emigration on a large scale 
 takes place to the territory of neighbouring states, the natives usually 
 averring that they are driven away from their homes by the tyranny 
 and exaction of the soldiers." 
 
 Meanwhile, on July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, an important 
 debate had taken place in the Belgian House of Repre- 
 sentatives, when strong speeches against the system in 
 force in the Free State were made by M. Vandervelde, 
 M. Lorand, M. Janson, and other deputies.
 
 TWO YEARS' HARD FIGHTING 97 
 
 In April of the same year as stated in Chapter II 
 Morel, with the aid of some friends, launched the first 
 issue of a weekly journal entitled the African Mail, 
 a periodical mainly devoted to the administrative and 
 economic development of British West Africa, and which 
 he edited for the next dozen years. The editing of this 
 journal, in addition to carrying on his other controversial 
 work, entailed a life of long and laborious days, and all 
 through this time Morel was kept hard at work replying, 
 in the column of his paper and in the public Press, to the 
 innumerable books, pamphlets, and newspaper articles 
 which were now being outpoured in an ever-increasing 
 stream, and in all languages British, French, German, 
 Italian by the agents and friends of King Leopold. 
 The circulation of the journal was necessarily limited, 
 but Morel thought of the plan of sending round " advance 
 pulls " of his articles to the various newspapers, and by 
 this means he secured a good deal of valuable publicity 
 for his views. 
 
 "The Congo Slave State." 
 
 Later in the year Morel brought out a large pamphlet 
 (112 pages) entitled The Congo Slave State. 
 
 This pamphlet was perhaps the strongest and fiercest 
 indictment of Congo State rule he had yet published. It 
 contained a full and detailed description of the Leopoldian 
 system as carried on in the Domain de la Couronne, 
 and in each of the subsidiary concessions into which the 
 Congo was divided, illustrated by maps of the various 
 territories under discussion. It dealt with the Rabinek 
 Case at length, and described many of the abominable 
 atrocities which had taken place in the Congo. It also 
 contained a report of the debate in the House of Commons 
 on Mr, Herbert Samuel's resolution*
 
 98 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Through the generosity of one of his supporters," 
 who presented him with 100 for the purpose, Morel was 
 able this was before the days of high paper prices ! 
 to distribute this pamphlet free of charge. Copies were 
 sent to members of both Houses of Parliament, to the 
 principal newspapers, and to America. It was widely 
 reviewed, and caused considerable sensation. 
 
 An Appeal to America. 
 
 To this King Leopold retorted by getting himself inter- 
 viewed by the Paris editor of the New York Herald (to 
 which interview Morel duly replied in the same journal), 
 and by sending one of his henchmen on a lecturing tour 
 through America. Why America ? Because Morel in 
 this pamphlet had made a special appeal to the United 
 States. 
 
 " America," he said, " has a peculiar and very clear responsibility 
 in the matter, inasmuch as the American Government was the 
 first to recognize the status of the International Association (which 
 subsequently became the Congo State) and thereby paved the 
 way for similar action on the part of the European Governments. 
 America was deceived, as Europe was deceived, by the professions 
 of philanthropy and high moral purpose so lavishly scattered by 
 the Sovereign of the Congo State. It is to be hoped that President 
 Roosevelt and the American people may help to undo the grievous 
 wrong which was thereby unknowingly inflicted upon the natives 
 inhabiting the Congo territories." 
 
 " Mr. Herbert Ward.
 
 A Herculean task The Casement report Formation of Congo Reform 
 Association The Congo Commission Debate in the House King 
 Leopold's Rule in Africa Visit to America Mark Twain's Soliloquy 
 Received by President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay Speech at 
 Boston Letter from Sir F. C. Selous Serious reports from Congo 
 Sir Edward Grey becomes Foreign Secretary Morel's advice 
 King Leopold's defiance Public indignation Red Rubber A char- 
 acteristic quotation The Daily Mail's high praise Belgium must 
 annex the Congo. 
 
 IT is difficult to realize, even at this short distance of 
 time, the Herculean difficulty of the task to which Morel 
 had now set himself and the colossal strength of the 
 opposition he had to face and overcome. Opposed to 
 him was the ablest monarch in the world, a man of great 
 intellectual power, shrewd, skilled in the ways of diplo- 
 macy, of infinite resource, as crafty as he was unscrupulous, 
 the controller of immense wealth, related to half the Royal 
 Families of Europe, and able to exercise immense influence 
 through a thousand social, economic, and political channels. 
 This man was the centre of a vast capitalistic conspiracy, 
 with ramifications in every financial centre of Europe, 
 influencing the Press, and even, in some cases, tfie religious 
 organizations of a dozen countries, with an obedient 
 Publicity Bureau working at high pressure, pouring out 
 misrepresentations in the form of books, pamphlets, and 
 special articles in a never-ceasing stream, and " every- 
 where rallying to its side the latent forces of moral reaction, 
 infusing into them renewed energy and power, playing 
 
 99
 
 100 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 for high stakes." I Opposed to this conspiracy was a 
 small band of men and women energetic indeed, and 
 able, devoted to the cause of Humanity, but possessed of 
 very little wealth and with practically no financial backing, 
 having behind them at that time but limited public support, 
 and endeavouring to set in motion the ponderous machinery 
 of a cautious and reluctant Diplomacy a diplomacy with 
 its thoughts elsewhere, a diplomacy always ready, if 
 allowed, especially in view of the crowding complica- 
 tions of the International System, to take the least 
 difficult and inconvenient course, and to " let sleeping 
 dogs lie " ! 
 
 And yet, in spite of these difficulties and of almost 
 incredibly unscrupulous opposition, Morel and his friends 
 " won through," as the following pages will show. 
 
 The Casement Report. 
 
 In February 1904 there was published the most damning 
 exposure of capitalistic exploitation in tropical Africa 
 that has ever startled and shocked an easygoing world. 
 This was the official report of the British Consul in the 
 Congo State, INfav Roger Casement, who at the request 
 of the Foreign Office had been conducting a personal 
 investigation into the situation on the Upper Congo. 
 The account of his experiences was embodied in a docu- 
 ment of thirty-nine pages, with an appendix of twenty- 
 three further pages packed with specific facts, and with 
 detailed and minute observations. It was a record of 
 unrelieved horror, and with its appalling evidence of 
 fiendish cruelty, torture, mutilation, flogging, burning, 
 bestiality, and massacre, perpetrated systematically over 
 a long period of years upon the unfortunate natives 
 men, women, and children of Central Africa, in the 
 interests of rubber-getting, by the agents of the Congo 
 
 1 Cheat Britain and the Congo, p. 25.
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 101 
 
 Free State and the Concessionaire Companies, it proved 
 to the hilt the charges which Morel and his friends had 
 for years been making against the Leopoldian regime. 
 This is not the place to describe the Consul's evidence 
 in detail. It is sufficient to say that it was published, 
 together with certain scathing observations by Lord 
 Cromer who had visited the Congo State's administra- 
 tive stations on the Upper Nile by the British Government 
 and communicated by the latter to the Powers. 2 
 
 Formation of the Congo Reform Association. 
 
 The publication of this report, says Morel, " infused 
 fresh fire into the movement for Congo Reform." It 
 brought in new helpers and a great increase in popular 
 sympathy, and Morel determined to seize the opportunity 
 to direct this help and sympathy- into an organization 
 which would be able to assist the work of Congo Reform, 
 in a more systematized way, and on a larger scale, than 
 had hitherto been possible. He accordingly set to work 
 to organize such a society. In this he was greatly helped 
 by the co-operation of Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Alfred 
 Emmott, M.P., and others, and on March 23, 1904, at a 
 demonstration at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, he 
 was able to announce the formation of the Congo Reform 
 Association. 
 
 The aims of this Association was the restoration to the 
 natives of the Congo of the rights guaranteed to them by 
 the Berlin and Brussels Acts. " The Congo evil," declared 
 
 2 This was the first report from a consular officer on the Congo pub- 
 lished by the British Government. In the years that followed many 
 other consular reports on the same subject were published, and these 
 continued to throw a flood of light upon the dark places of the Leopoldian 
 domain. Amongst the officials whose reports were published by the 
 Government were Consul-General Cromie, Consul Nightingale, Consul 
 Thesiger, Consul Lamont and Vice-Consuls Armstrong, Beak, Campbell 
 and Mitchell. The principal White Books bearing on the subject are 
 C.D. 2333, 3450, 3880, 4079, 4466, 5860, 6145 and 6606.
 
 102 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 the Association, in its first public manifesto, " has grown 
 to colossal dimensions, and it can only be put an end to 
 by an organized public opinion which shall insist upon 
 the rulers of civilized mankind terminating a wrong 
 which has been allowed to reach its present state in private, 
 but which to-day constitutes a public affront to humanity." 
 The Presidency of the Association was accepted by Earl 
 Beauchamp, K.G., and its supporters soon numbered a 
 great many members of both Houses of Parliament, the 
 principal leaders of the Churches, and many other distin- 
 guished men and women. Amongst those who supported 
 the Association in those early days may be mentioned 
 the names of Mr. John Morley (now Viscount Morley of 
 Blackburn), Lords Aberdeen, Brassey, Tweedmouth, Kin- 
 naird, and Denman, the Bishops of Liverpool, Durham, 
 Rochester, and St. Asaph, Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Sir 
 John Kennaway, M.P., Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., Mr. 
 John Burns, M.P., the Rev. Stephen Gladstone, Professor 
 Bosworth-Smith, Mr. W. R. Cadbury, and Mr. St. Loe 
 Strachey. 
 
 e 
 King Leopold's Tactics. 
 
 In view of the widespread horror and indignation caused 
 by the Consular Report, King Leopold saw that it was 
 time to take some action which might allay the public 
 anger. His first step was to instruct his local officials 
 to hold a " judicial enquiry " into the charges made in 
 the report. This they made some show of doing, but it 
 was an extremely superficial performance, and as such 
 was contemptuously brushed aside by Lord Lansdowne. 
 His next step was to appoint a Commission of Enquiry, 
 composed of a Belgian State official, an official of the 
 Congo, and a Swiss jurist, which proceeded to the Congo 
 to examine into the charges. To this Commission the 
 Foreign Office handed over the report containing the
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 108 
 
 names, dates, and places which had been suppressed in 
 the published copy. The Government also suggested 
 that a British representative should attend the sittings 
 of the Commission. This suggestion was flatly refused. 
 " No precedent," declared King Leopold's mouthpiece, 
 " could be discovered, which could justify the official 
 presence of a person deputed by a Foreign Government 
 to attend a Commission of this character." This refusal 
 was communicated to the Foreign Office on September 
 7th, and was accepted. The upshot of this was as 
 Morel predicted at the time that the Congo Government 
 suppressed the whole of the evidence taken by the Com- 
 mission, and subsequently issued a report, signed by 
 three Commissioners, " which sought ... to attenuate 
 the admissions as to atrocity and general misrule they 
 had no option but to admit." 3 
 
 But in the meantime Morel, foreseeing this result, 
 had written to the missionaries in the Congo, with whom 
 he was in correspondence, urging them to leave no stone 
 unturned to see that the truth was placed before the 
 Commissioners, ,and to be sure to send him a copy of the 
 depositions made before the Commission. This they did, 
 with the result that the Congo Reform Association was 
 able ultimately to publish the evidence suppressed by 
 the Commission. 
 
 At every point visited by the Commission^ where British 
 or American missionaries were resident, evidence of the 
 most appalling character was produced. As the Rev. 
 J. H. Harris and his devoted wife, who subsequently 
 returned to Europe to take an active and important part 
 
 3 Great Britain and the Congo, pp. 131-2. 
 
 4 Although the area of the Congo Free State was almost 1,000,000 
 miles, the Commission only spent three months on the Upper Congo, 
 and not more than six weeks in the rubber districts. It returned to 
 Europe in March 1905, and its report was issued in the following 
 November (see p. 111).
 
 104 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 in the work of the Congo Reform Association, reported 
 at the time 
 
 " The Commission endeavours to get through this slough of 
 iniquity and river of blood, but finding it hopeless, asks how much 
 longer I can go on. I tell them that I can go on until they are 
 satisfied that hundreds of murders have been committed by the 
 
 in this district alone murders of chiefs, men, women 
 
 and little children and that multitudes of witnesses only await 
 my signal to appear by the thousand." 
 
 On June 9, 1904, a second debate took place in the 
 House of Commons. 5 Vigorous speeches were delivered. 
 Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice complained of the " insolent 
 and insulting tone " of the Congo Government's dispatches ; 
 Sir Edward Grey declared that the story of the Congo 
 was " an intolerable one to hear about in relation to 
 contemporary history." Further steps must be taken. 
 " We must run the risk of exciting jealousy and suspicion." 
 He suggested the appointment of consuls " with consular 
 jurisdiction." For the Government, Lord Percy replied 
 that he earnestly hoped that the ConO Government 
 would address itself to the enquiry which it has publicly 
 and solemnly announced." 
 
 " King Leopold's Rule in Africa." 
 
 Meanwhile Morel had been writing hard. No fewer 
 than five pamphlets on the Congo appeared from his 
 pen during the year, viz. The Congo Horrors (reprint of 
 articles from the Hastings and St. Leonards Weekly Mail 
 and Times), The Scandal of the Congo (Richardson), The 
 Treatment of Women and Children in the Congo (Richardson) 
 which was subsequently republished in an American 
 edition The Commercial Aspects of the Congo Question 
 
 5 These debates were henceforward to occur periodically until 1912.
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 105 
 
 (reprint from the African Society's Journal], and The 
 New African Slavery (International Union, London). 
 
 And then came his third important work, King 
 Leopold's Rule in Africa (Heinemann). 
 
 This book constituted the most complete indictment 
 of Leopoldian rule which had appeared up to that time. 
 It was, as the Morning Post remarked, " An amazing 
 book to be written in the dawn of the twentieth century 
 of the Christian era." 
 
 " I have thought," said Morel in his Introduction, " that an 
 effort should be made to explain with some fullness the inward 
 causes leading to those outward effects of which the Congo terri- 
 tories are, and have been for a considerable period, the scene. 
 This I have endeavoured to do by defining the radical distinction 
 between the development of tropical Africa by trade, which in- 
 volves the recognition of native rights in land and forest produce, 
 and the exploitation of tropical Africa through the methods intro- 
 duced, legalized, and upheld by King Leopold, the sole arbiter of 
 and legislator for the destinies of the Congo natives. 
 
 " I have tried to show that a humane, common-sense and just 
 treatment of the native races of tropical Africa by the European 
 Powers reposes upon certain fundamental principles, which, if 
 set aside, must inevitably lead to the adoption of an alternate 
 policy profoundly immoral in itself, maintainable by force alone, 
 and bound in the long run to prove economically and politically 
 disastrous." 6 
 
 The book (466 pages) was divided into five parts. In 
 the first part, which was purely historical, Morel dealt 
 with the Berlin Act and its sequel ; in the second he showed 
 how the Congo State had destroyed legitimate trade on 
 the Congo, and how the system in vogue had led to 
 " Militarism, Murder, Mutilation, and the Traffic in 
 Arms " ; in the third he gave a detailed account of the 
 system as it affected the natives in the various conces- 
 sionaire districts ; in the fourth he dealt with the system 
 as affecting international commercial interests ; in the 
 
 6 See also Chapters IV and V.
 
 106 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 fifth he printed a full account of the debate in the Belgian 
 Chamber in the previous year ; ^ and in the sixth he answered 
 some of the attempts which had been made by the 
 defenders of King Leopold to discredit the Casement 
 Report. Not the least striking feature of the book was 
 the inclusion of actual photographs of natives (including 
 children) who had been mutilated by Congo soldiery. 
 
 Over and over again in this book did Morel hammer 
 in the argument that the solution of the whole difficulty 
 in tropical Africa was the preservation of native rights in 
 the land. 
 
 " The one bulwark of the negro in tropical Africa," he said, 
 " against the worst excesses of European civilization, is the deter- 
 mination of Europe to conserve his rights on his land and on his 
 property. In helping him to develop his property on scientific 
 lines ; in granting him internal peace ; in proving to him that he 
 is regarded not as a brute but as a partner in a great undertaking 
 from which Europe and Africa will derive lasting benefit, Europe 
 will be adopting the only just, right, and practical policy." 8 
 
 He concluded with the following eloquent appeal : 
 
 n. 
 
 " In the name of humanity, of common decency and pity, for 
 honour's sake, if for no other cause, will not the Anglo-Saxon race 
 the Governments and the peoples of Great Britain and the United 
 States, who between them are primarily responsible for the creation 
 of the Congo State make up their minds to handle this monstrous 
 outrage resolutely, and so point the way, and set an example which 
 others would then be compelled to follow ? 
 
 " In that hope, with an ever-present consciousness of inadequacy 
 to portray the greatness of the evil and the greatness of the 
 responsibility, the author submits this volume to the public." 9 
 
 Visit to America. 
 
 In August of the same year Morel received an invitation 
 to address the International Peace Congress at Boston 
 
 7 See p. 96. 8 King Leopold's Rule in Africa, p. 101. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 372.
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 107 
 
 on the subject of the Congo. He was also deputed by 
 the Congo Reform Association, the British and Foreign 
 Anti-Slavery Society, the Aborigines Protection Society, 
 and the International Arbitration and Peace Association 
 to take the opportunity of presenting on their behalf a 
 memorial to President Roosevelt. To America Morel 
 accordingly went and several emissaries of King Leopold 
 went there also. 
 
 Unfortunately for the King, however, the New York 
 American discovered the purpose of these latter gentlemen, 
 and published in its columns the particulars of an amazing 
 plot which had been set on foot with the object of deceiving 
 the American public. King Leopold, it appeared, had 
 been actually financing a great " lobbying " campaign 
 in Washington for the purpose of hoodwinking both the 
 President and Congress. The King .had also paid authors 
 to write grandiloquent descriptions of the great " philan- 
 thropic " work in which the Congo State was engaged, and 
 had handed over to one Californian lawyer alone the 
 sum of 45,000 dollars for " work done " in this connection. 
 Further, by entertaining influential American millionaires 
 at his Court and by granting certain ^concessions to an 
 American Company, he had endeavoured and with some 
 success to influence the big moneyed interests of the 
 States in his favour. 
 
 Mark Twain's " Soliloquy." 
 
 On the other hand, Morel succeeded in enlisting on his 
 side the powerful influence of Mark Twain, who published 
 a most bitter and scathing satire on the subject. His 
 book was entitled King Leopold's Soliloquy, and in it he 
 represented the King as complaining bitterly of the accu- 
 sations made against him by Morel and the missionaries. 
 
 " They remind the world," says Leopold, " that from the earliest 
 days my house has been chapel and brothel combined, and both
 
 108 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 industries working full time ; that I practised cruelties upon my 
 queen and my daughters, and supplemented them with daily shame 
 and humiliations ; that when my queen lay in the happy refuge of 
 her coffin, and a daughter implored me on her knees to let her look 
 for the last time upon her mother's face, I refused ; and that, 
 not being satisfied with the stolen spoils of a whole alien nation, 
 I robbed my own child of her property and appeared by proxy 
 in court, a spectacle to the civilized world, to defend the act and 
 complete the crime. They remark that ' if the innocent blood 
 shed in the Congo State by King Leopold were put in buckets placed 
 side by side, the line would stretch 2,000 miles ; if the skeletons of 
 his ten millions of starved and butchered dead could rise up and 
 march in single file, it would take them seven months and four 
 days to pass a given point.' They go shuddering .around, brood- 
 ing over the reduction of that Congo population from 25,000,000 
 to 15,000,000 in the twenty years of my administration ; then they 
 burst out and call me ' the king with ten million murders on 
 his soul.' " 
 
 Received by President Roosevelt. 
 
 Morel arrived in New York on September 29th, and 
 considerable space was at once given to his mission by 
 the American newspapers. On the following day the 
 New York Evening Post devoted two columns to the 
 subject, and had in its headlines : "At *he same time a 
 lecturer arrives who, it is announced, is in the pay of 
 Leopold of the Belgians." The lecturer referred to 
 was apparently a gentleman who, a few days later, 
 delivered an address at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel entitled 
 " A Bright Chapter in the History of Darkest Africa : 
 The Congo State." Of this lecture the New York Press 
 said : " The entire expense is borne by Leopold, this 
 being probably the first instance on record of a king 
 appealing through the lecture platform to a free people." 
 The day following his arrival in the States, Morel was 
 received at the White House by President Roosevelt, 
 to whom he presented the memorial of which he was the 
 bearer. The interview lasted for fifteen minutes, and was 
 of a private nature. A fortnight later Morel had an
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 109 
 
 interview with the Secretary of State, concerning which 
 the following communication was issued to the Press : 
 
 " Mr. E. D. Morel was received by Secretary Hay, with whom 
 he had twenty -five minutes' conversation. Mr. Morel was authorized 
 to state that the memorial recently handed to the President had 
 made a very favourable impression as regards its strength, its 
 moderation, and the representative nature of its signatures. The 
 subject was being carefully considered by the President and his 
 Cabinet. No doubt existed in the mind of the American Govern- 
 ment as to the motives of the signatories, which were recognized 
 to be of an unselfish and humanitarian character." 
 
 Speech at Boston. 
 
 On October 7th Morel addressed the International 
 Peace Congress at Boston, some two thousand persons 
 being present. 
 
 " The errand," he said, " which has brought me to the United 
 States is a very simple one. It is to appeal to you on behalf of 
 the oppressed and persecuted peoples of the Congo, for whose present 
 unhappy condition you, in America, and we, in England, have a 
 great moral responsibility, from which we cannot escape and from 
 which in honour we should not attempt to escape. . . . 
 
 " It is my privilege to ask you who are met here in the cause of 
 peace whether you will not lend a helping han4 in staying the cruel 
 and destructive wars if the murder of helpless men and women 
 can be dignified by such a name which for ten years have been 
 decimating the Congo people ; whether you will or not give us 
 your assistance in our effort to stop a system of oppression and 
 extortion under which the Congo people are groaning and dying 
 a system through which the great heart of Africa is being laid 
 waste, and beside whose dire results the exploits of so-called Arab 
 slave-dealers pale into insignificance. . . . 
 
 " In appealing to you on behalf of those millions *of helpless 
 Africans, I am appealing to those who primarily and, of course, 
 unwittingly riveted the chains around them. It is a great re- 
 sponsibility that you have. If our duty is clear, surely yours is 
 also clear. The African slave trade has been revived, and is in full 
 swing in the Congo to-day. I ask you to help us to root it up and 
 fling it out of Africa, and just as I have no doubt of the greatness 
 and loftiness of your ideals, so I have no doubt of what your answer 
 will be."
 
 110 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 He concluded his address with the following fine quota- 
 tion from Lincoln : " Let us have faith that the right 
 makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to 
 do our duty, as we understand it." 
 
 Letter from Sir F. C. Selous. 
 
 The following letter from the late Sir Frederick Selous, 
 the famous African traveller and big-game hunter (who lost 
 his life in East Africa during the Great War), which was 
 received by Morel about this time, is worth reproducing : - 
 
 "DEAR MR. MOREL, 
 
 " I have just reached this place on my way home from the 
 wilds of Yukon territory. Certainly you may add my name to the 
 signatories of the ' Memorial to President Roosevelt, President 
 of the United States of America, concerning affairs in the Congo 
 State,' if you wish to do so. Having read most of the articles 
 which you wrote on the subject of the misgovernment of the Congo 
 State in the paper which you kindly used to send me, and having 
 also carefully studied Consul Casement's Report, and having read 
 a great deal that has been written on the other side in defence of 
 King Leopold's administration, I am convinced that the natives 
 of the Congo valley have been more infamously treated during the 
 last fifteen years than ever they were by Arab slave-raiders in earlier 
 times. I trust that you may succeed in enlisting the active sym- 
 pathy of so strong, just and humane a man as President Roosevelt, 
 in your noble efforts to free the black populations of the Congo 
 from a most cruel and iniquitous system of misgovernment. With 
 best wishes for the success of the campaign of mercy on which you 
 are now embarked, 
 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " F. C. SELOUS." 
 
 Morel remained in America for three weeks, leaving for 
 England on October 21st, thoroughly satisfied with the 
 success of his brief but eventful mission. 
 
 Serious Reports from the Congo. 
 
 In March 1905 King Leopold's Commission returned 
 from the Congo. Its report, however, was not issued
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 111 
 
 for some months, and in the meantime the condition of 
 affairs in the Congo rapidly grew worse. " The back of 
 the Commissioners," said Morel, " had hardly been turned, 
 when the rubber saraband, the dance of death, broke 
 out with renewed vigour." I0 Native witnesses who had 
 testified before the Commission against the conduct of 
 the State Government were maltreated, persecuted and 
 imprisoned, and " died like flies." TI The reports received 
 from the Congo, said Lord Percy in the House of Commons 
 on August 4th, " all said that the state of affairs was 
 not better possibly it was worse than before the Com- 
 mission arrived." " There was outrage against the 
 natives," he added, " the lives of the missionaries 
 themselves were in danger, while in several cases there 
 had been attempts to intimidate or to punish those who 
 gave evidence against the Commission." 
 
 Meanwhile the Congo Reform Association was actively 
 organizing meetings in support of its policy, one of the 
 most notable being one which Morel addressed at the 
 Holborn Town Hall on June 7th, when Sir Harry John- 
 ston presided, and the platform included Lord Aberdeen, 
 Lord Beauchamp, Sir Charles Dilke, M.P., Mr. John 
 Burns, M.P., Mr. Herbert Samuel, M.P., and many other 
 distinguished personages. At this meeting Morel made 
 a striking speech, and a resolution was carried which, 
 after condemning the " system of personal rule " estab- 
 lished in the Congo, went on to say that " this meeting 
 
 desires to dissociate its condemnation " of that rule 
 
 
 
 " from any aspersion on the Belgian people," and " invites 
 the Belgian people to take up the administration of the 
 Congo Independent State as a national task, respecting 
 the legitimate rights of the natives to the soil and throwing 
 open the whole of the basin of the Congo to international 
 commerce without undue restrictions." 
 
 10 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 140. " Ibid.
 
 112 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 In November (the month in which the report of King 
 Leopold's Commission was issued) a memorial, signed 
 by a large number of citizens, was presented to Lord 
 Lansdowne when on a visit to Liverpool. In this year, 
 too, Morel read a paper before the Geographical Section 
 of the British Association, on " The Development of 
 Tropical Africa by the White Races : Two Divergent 
 Policies," which paper was subsequently issued as a 
 pamphlet. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey becomes Foreign Minister. 
 
 With 1906 there came the change of Government in 
 this country, and Sir Edward Grey succeeded Lord Lans- 
 downe at the Foreign Office. Morel took the opportunity 
 of addressing a letter to the new Secretary of State, 
 
 " to suggest that pressure should be brought to bear upon the 
 Congo Government to give full publicity to the evidence laid before 
 its own Commission." 
 
 Sir Edward Grey took this line, and repeatedly pressed 
 the Congo Government to publish this evidence. He was 
 met, however, with a point-blank refusal, the last excuse 
 given being that " Mr. Morel had, perhaps, suggested 
 this course (i.e. the publication of the evidence) in the 
 hope that he might discover . . . fresh elements of 
 propaganda against the officials of the Independent 
 State." I2 Thereupon the Foreign Office gave the 
 matter up. 
 
 On February 20th a five days' debate on the Congo 
 question began in the Belgian Chamber, the Congo admin- 
 istration being fiercely assailed by M. Vandervelde, M. 
 Janson (titular Liberal leader), M. Georges Lorand 
 (Liberal), Herr Daens (Flemish Independent), and M. 
 
 " Sir A. Hardinge to Sir E. Grey, April 6, 1906.
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 113 
 
 Coifs (Catholic), the latter stating that " From 1895 on- 
 wards the conspiracy against truth has been organized 
 from top to bottom under well-nigh unbelievable conditions, 
 in order to hide the crimes committed on the Congo." 
 
 A Belgian Tribute to Morel. 
 
 In the course of this debate M. Lorand referred to 
 Morel as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Morel has been represented as the Liverpool merchants' 
 man, the licensed calumniator of the Congo State, and whom our 
 Jingo Press has treated with the same harshness as was exhibited 
 in France towards the defenders of Captain Dreyfus. The informa- 
 tion which I have been able to gather about him, from a large number 
 of prominent colonials, agrees in representing him as a thoroughly 
 honest man and absolutely sincere. This information has convinced 
 me that the Secretary of the Congo Reform Association is truly 
 inspired by humanitarianism, earnest and enlightened principles, 
 guided by a desire for the salvation of the natives, and for the 
 freedom of their commerce, whom he has seen handed over to the 
 horrors of forced labour." 
 
 The Congo administration was defended by the Belgian 
 Government, the work of the Congo Reform Association 
 being especially denounced. This important debate was 
 translated verbatim by Morel and published in book form 
 in May. And as the Congo Government had declined 
 to publish the evidence taken by the Congo Commission, 
 the Congo Reform Association, as already recorded, did 
 the next best thing and published the testimony given 
 by the missionaries and of many native witnesses called 
 by the latter. This was published in pamphlet form, 
 and four large editions were sold. It was also translated 
 into French by Morel, published in Belgium, and sent 
 to every member of the Belgian House and to every 
 Belgian newspaper. 
 
 Leopold's Defence. 
 
 In June the Congo Government, which had set up a 
 so-called " Committee of Reform," issued a number of 
 
 8
 
 114 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 new decrees, accompanied by a manifesto from King 
 Leopold, in which the latter declared : 
 
 " The Congo . . . could only be, and has been, a personal enter- 
 prise. Now there is no more legitimate or respectable right than 
 the right of the author to his own work, fruits of his labour. . . . My 
 rights on the Congo are indivisible. They are the products of 
 My toil, and My expense. . . . The interference which seeks to 
 diminish his (the sovereign's) rights partakes of the character of 
 a veritable usurpation, to use no harsher term. ..." 
 
 This insolent utterance was received with great indig- 
 nation by the British public. The Congo Reform Move- 
 ment was now making remarkable headway, thanks 
 very largely to the energy and enthusiasm of Morel, who 
 in this year alone produced no fewer than eight new 
 pamphlets on various aspects of the question, and began 
 to appear regularly on the public platform. " The wave 
 of indignation," he said, " was sweeping through the 
 country ; great meetings were being held in city after 
 city, town after town." *3 
 
 " In January 1906 the Lord Mayor of Liverpool summoned a 
 citizens' meeting. The Town Hall was crowded to excess, and on the 
 motion of Dr. Chavasse, Bishop of Liverpool, ... a resolution was 
 passed, condemning the system of rule existing in the Congo as 
 ' a revival under worse forms of the African slave trade.' The 
 initiative of the civic authorities of Liverpool was followed by similar 
 action on the part of the civic authorities of our largest cities, and 
 of many towns and boroughs all over the country." M 
 
 Citizens' meetings were held, 
 
 " presided over by the Chief Magistrates and supported by influential 
 residents belonging to varying political camps and religious denomi- 
 nationsChurch dignitaries sitting cheek-by-jowl with Noncon- 
 formist ministers at a period of bitter sectarian strife ; Tory squires 
 and Radical politicians met together in a common determination." '5 
 
 " The national sentiment was reflected in the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment. Lord Lansdowne . . . gave rein to his indignation. . . . 
 
 '3 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 156. '4 Ibid. p. 12. 
 
 '5 Ibid. p. 13.
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 115 
 
 He denounced the Congo system ... as ' bondage under the most 
 barbarous and inhuman conditions, maintained for mercenary 
 motives of the most selfish character.' . . . He spoke firmly in favour 
 of consular jurisdiction. The Archbishop of Canterbury declared 
 that the situation was ' as extraordinary in its character as it is 
 melancholy in its incidents.' In the Commons, fierce denunciation 
 came from all sides. Sir Charles Dilke agreed with Lord Lansdowne 
 in urging consular jurisdiction. . . . Sir Gilbert Parker stigmatized 
 the royal manifesto as ' an extraordinary challenge to Europe and 
 to all civilized peoples.' . . . Earl Percy shared the general ex- 
 asperation." l6 
 
 To all this Sir Edward Grey and Lord Fitzmaurice 
 replied that consular jurisdiction would certainly have 
 a " beneficial " effect. The British Government would 
 wait, but could not " wait for ever." 
 
 "Red Rubber." 
 
 In November 1906 Morel published the book which 
 attained the widest circulation of any of his larger works 
 on the Congo question (it ran into five editions between 
 1906 and 1908) his famous Red Rubber (T. Fisher 
 Unwin), a book which has been described as " one of 
 the most passionate indictments of injustice and appeal 
 for human liberty " ever written in the English tongue. 
 It opens with the following quotation from William 
 Lloyd Garrison : 
 
 " I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice. 
 I am in earnest, 
 
 I will not equivocate ; , 
 
 I will not excuse ; 
 I will not retreat a single inch ; 
 And I will be heard. 
 Posterity will bear testimony that I was right." 
 
 The quotation is characteristic of Morel. It aptly 
 describes his attitude on everything. Some of his friends 
 
 16 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 156.
 
 116 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 may perhaps shake their heads a little sadly when they 
 read it to-day, reflecting that there have been occasions 
 when, if Morel's temperament had been a little more 
 pliable, a little more diplomatic, he might have stood 
 better in the world's eyes ; he certainly would have been 
 spared much pain. But that is Morel all over. Con- 
 vinced himself of the justice of his case, he hurls his defiance 
 at his opponents if necessary, at the whole world. Here 
 lies at once his strength, and the defects of his strength ; 
 an uncompromising courage which makes him ready, in 
 the pursuit of what he believes to be right, to brave storms 
 of unpopularity and abuse, and an impatience of oppo- 
 sition (and this, too, is so very British !) which sometimes 
 causes him to overlook the necessity of dealing tenderly 
 with the prejudices of other Englishmen, who may per- 
 haps be persuaded, but who can never be bludgeoned 
 even by facts into changing their opinions. 
 
 Praised by the " Daily Mail." 
 
 Red Rubber created an enormous sensation. ' The 
 most appalling indictment of personal rapacity, cruelty, 
 expropriation of tefe and labour, maladministration and 
 tyrannical atrocity," said the Daily Mail, " ever recorded 
 on irrefutable proof against any one man in any country 
 or in any age. Contention as to facts has disappeared. 
 The truth in all its international dangers the horror of 
 it all stands out naked" a very generous tribute 
 from the journal whose anti-French policy, as recorded 
 in Chapter III, had been opposed so vigorously by Morel 
 ten years before. " Mr. Morel's gallantry in flinging 
 himself into the fight," wrote Sir Charles Dilke in the 
 Evening News, " will never be forgotten as long as history 
 records the misdeeds of the Congo State." " If there are 
 any who are not yet believers in the reality of the Congo 
 Government's misdeeds," said the Spectator, " Mr. Morel's
 
 THE CONGO REFORM ASSOCIATION 117 
 
 new book may be recommended as a certain means of 
 conviction. To the author more than to any man alive, 
 is due the ventilation of this crime against civilization. 
 He has fought a long, uphill battle against apathy, mis- 
 representation and the power of an unscrupulous purse. 
 And he has been successful. He has made Congo Reform 
 a part of the sworn creed of many of our chief public 
 men." The Evening Standard took the same view. 
 " Mr. Morel," said this journal, " has done more than any 
 man living to expose the foul blot on the reputation of 
 certain Belgian financiers. . . . For every shift and wile, 
 for every specious argument, he is ready with facts and 
 proofs. His new volume, in fact, is a perfect armoury 
 of weapons for the use of English St. Georges in smiting 
 this Leopold Africanus." 
 
 The comment of Le Peuple of Brussels is also interesting. 
 " Mr. Morel," said the Belgian newspaper, " understands 
 clearly the difficult position in which Belgium finds herself 
 in her relations with the Congo State. Annexation by . 
 Belgium appears to him the best solution, because, as 
 he says, it would free Belgium from an intolerable moral 
 situation." 
 
 Belgium Must Annex the Congo. 
 
 By this time the British Foreign Office had come to 
 the conclusion that, as Morel had pointed out in Red 
 Rubber, the best way of solving the problem of the 
 Congo would be for the whole territory to be trans- 
 ferred to the Belgian Government, a proposal which had 
 already been taken up by the Belgian Chamber (March 2, 
 1906). This was the view expressed by Sir Edward 
 Grey to an influential deputation which waited upon 
 him on November 20th, introduced by Lord Monkswell, 
 who had succeeded Lord Beauchamp as President of the , 
 Congo Reform Association. Belgian annexation would,
 
 118 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 said the Foreign Minister, " produce, not a list of 
 reforms for the Congo, but an entire change in the 
 system of government of the country." With this 
 declaration the Congo Reform Movement entered upon 
 a new stage, which will be dealt with in the next 
 chapter.
 
 The question of Belgian annexation Would the system be changed ? 
 Popular agitation Enthusiastic scenes " Wait and see " 
 The Treaty of Transfer Queen's Hall demonstration Foreign 
 Office hesitates Public pressure intensified Sir E. Grey takes 
 firmer line A manifesto to the nation Thanked by Foreign Office 
 The Belgian scheme of reform The Albert Hall meeting The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury takes the chair Great Britain and the 
 Congo An important book Morel's growing distrust of diplomacy. 
 
 THE proposal that the territory hitherto administered by 
 the Congo Free State should be annexed by Belgium 
 now held the field. If such annexation would really, 
 in the words of Sir Edward Grey, bring about " an entire 
 change in the system," well and good. No one would 
 then criticize the proposal. But there were grave doubts 
 as to whether annexation would produce such a " change." 
 Belgian Ministers had repeatedly defended the Congo 
 State against the attacks of M. Vandervelde and his 
 friends. They had stated that the " glorious work of 
 the Congo Administration " was " above all attack," I 
 and had characterized the criticisms which had been 
 passed upon it as calumnies. These Ministers still 
 remained in office. It was therefore uncertain, to say 
 the very least, whether any scheme of transfer devised by 
 these Ministers would really " change " the system. The 
 fear was lest " annexation " might merely perpetuate 
 
 the old vicious Leopoldian policy under another name. 
 
 
 
 1 Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, February-March 1906. 
 
 119
 
 120 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 " What you wish," said M. Vandervelde, addressing the 
 Belgian Ministers in the course of a debate, " is the 
 perpetuation in the future of the system at present 
 existing." a 
 
 To this point Morel and the Congo Reform Association 
 now addressed themselves. Their object was that the 
 British Government should exercise its influence to see 
 that " annexation " should involve " a radical, thorough, 
 comprehensive change of regime " ; the restoration to 
 the natives of their elementary human rights, the re- 
 establishment of legitimate trade, the disappearance of 
 the reign of slavery, shame, and terror." 3 And through 
 their influence resolutions in support of this object poured 
 into the Foreign Office from all parts of the country. 
 
 Public Agitation. 
 
 Early in 1907 the Congo Reform Association issued 
 an Appeal to Parliament : 
 
 " The pressing need," so ran the appeal, " of the present situation 
 is a declaration on the part of Great Britain that annexation, if 
 it is to take place, must be in conformity with the Act of Berlin ; 
 in other words, that it must entail a total reversion of the system 
 which for fifteen years had plunged the Congo peoples in unutter- 
 able misery." 4 
 
 This appeal was warmly backed by the Press, especially 
 by the Times and the Morning Post, which latter journal, 
 all through the campaign, rendered yeoman service to 
 the cause fof Congo Reform, and was one of Morel's 
 staunchest supporters. Public meetings were held all 
 over the country to advocate this policy. A memorable 
 scene was that which was witnessed in the Coliseum 
 
 * Great Britain and the Congo, pp. 177-178. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 172. 
 
 4 The Trade oj the Congo : an Appeal to Parliament, by E. D. Morel 
 Richardson).
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 121 
 
 at Leeds on March 6th, " when four thousand Free 
 Church delegates, at the conclusion of an appeal by the 
 Rev. F. B. Meyer, rising in their seats, solemnly pledged 
 Nonconformity to leave no stone unturned to end the 
 reign of oppression in the Congo." 5 The resolution adopted 
 by the Free Church Council on this occasion was pre- 
 sented to Sir Edward Grey on June 19th by an influential 
 deputation, which included amongst its members Mr. (after- 
 wards Sir Joseph) Compton Rickett, M.P., Dr. Rendel 
 Harris, Dr. Horton, Dr. Clifford, the Rev. J. Scott Lidgett, 
 and Mr. Robert Whyte. In the same month, a memorial 
 was presented to the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell- 
 Bannerman, at Plymouth, signed by the Mayors of that 
 town, of Devonport, and of Exeter, by Lord Clifford of 
 Chudleigh, the Bishop of Exeter, and others, praying 
 that H.M. Government would give their assent to no 
 scheme of Belgian annexation which did not provide 
 " guarantees of a definite and explicit character for a 
 total reversion of the existing system." At a meeting 
 at Hull, says Morel, " held on June 20th, where three 
 thousand people congregated, the citizens of the city of 
 Wilberforce, led by their Mayor and Sheriff, rose to their 
 feet to acclaim the speakers. Such scenes have been 
 witnessed in many places by those who have been privi- 
 leged to participate in this great national movement." 6 
 Northern Convocation passed in both Houses a series 
 of resolutions on the subject on February 28th, the 
 speakers being the Archbishop of York, the Bishops of 
 Wakefield, Durham, Liverpool, and Sodor and Man, 
 Archdeacon Madden, and Canon Smethwick ; and Southern 
 Convocation followed suit on May 3rd, when the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of London, Bir- 
 mingham, and Southwark spoke ; whilst " in November 
 of the same year a striking * Appeal to the Nation ' was 
 
 5 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 15. 6 Ibid. p. 13.
 
 122 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 issued to the Press, signed inter alia by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, the President of the Free Church Council, 
 the Presidents of the National Liberal Association, of 
 the Church Missionary Society, the Lord Mayors of our 
 principal cities, and Sir Harry Johnston." 7 
 
 It was difficult, however, to move the Foreign Office, 
 Sir Edward Grey, anticipating a celebrated phrase of 
 Mr. Asquith's, stating (House of Commons, May 15th) 
 that he intended to " wait and see what the conditions 
 and scheme of annexation " would be. This did not 
 satisfy the Reformers. " In the last debate in the House 
 of Commons," said the Archbishop of Canterbury (House 
 of Lords, July 29th), " Sir Edward Grey spoke of the 
 gruesome unanimity with which we all regarded it. Well, 
 that is a unanimity which ought to lead to something 
 more than grumbling and complaining, than acquiescing 
 in delay." However, on August 1st, in the House of 
 Commons, Sir Edward Grey again declined to " press 
 the matter forward " until he knew " the actual con- 
 ditions " of annexation. 
 
 The Treaty of Transfer. 
 
 He was soon to know them. On December 3, 1907, 
 the Treaty of Transfer was published, " which proclaimed 
 before all the world the fixed determination of the Belgian 
 Government to identify Belgium with the African policy 
 of her King," 8 a treaty, too, which had been signed and 
 sealed by the Belgian Government and by the Congo 
 Government, and which could only be rejected or accepted 
 but not altered by the Chamber. 
 
 The publication of this treaty was greeted with an 
 outburst of public indignation. In January an appeal, 
 signed, amongst others, by the Bishop of London, the 
 Bishop of Kensington, Dr. Clifford, and the Rev. J. Monro 
 
 7 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 17. 8 Ibid. p. 196.
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 123 
 
 Gibson, was sent out from London House to all the 
 clergy and ministers of Nonconformity. " The year 1908 
 opens," so ran the passage in this appeal, " with the 
 prospect of the continued oppression of the Congo races 
 and the prolongation of this systematic outrage, a prospect 
 which must be intolerable to every British subject who 
 realizes the preponderating part played by the British 
 people in the foundation of the Congo Free State." In 
 the following month (February 21st) a great demonstra- 
 tion was held in the Queen's Hall, .which building, said 
 the Daily Chronicle, " was packed from floor to topmost 
 ceiling, and the scene outside before the doors opened 
 was one that is witnessed only on some great national 
 occasion." The Lord Mayor of London, in his robes of 
 office, presided, supported by his Sheriffs, by the Lord 
 Provost of Edinburgh, the Mayor and Sheriff of Hull, 
 some forty members of Parliament, and leading repre- 
 sentatives of the Churches, of literature, and of the 
 professions, and a resolution, moved by Sir John Kennaway, 
 M.P. (Unionist), and supported by Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, 
 M.P. (Labour), and Sir George White, M.P. (Liberal), 
 was passed, declaring that " no schexie of annexation 
 which does not restore to the native population its rights 
 and liberties, and which does not immediately reintroduce 
 freedom of commercial intercourse . . . can be accept- 
 able to the people of Great Britain." " Public opinion 
 in this country," said Lord Lansdowne in the House of 
 Lords (February 24th), " has been more moved^over this 
 question than by almost any question of the kind which 
 I can remember." This was admitted by Sir Edward 
 Grey in the House of Commons two days later, when he 
 observed that "it is not, I think, too much to say that 
 no external question for at least thirty years has moved 
 the country so strongly and so vehemently as this, in 
 regard to the Congo." Indeed it almost seemed, as though
 
 124 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 this public opinion had succeeded in shaking the Foreign 
 Office out of its habitual lethargy, for the Foreign Secre- 
 tary went on to make the following declaration : 
 
 " We agree that it must be a condition precedent to any transfer 
 of the Congo to another authority, that that authority should take 
 it over on terms which will place it in a position to give assurances, 
 and to guarantee that those assurances shall be carried out, and 
 treaty obligations fulfilled." 
 
 Vacillating Policy of the Foreign Office. 
 
 It might have been thought from this that the Foreign 
 Office had at last made up its mind to take definite and 
 determined action, and to inform the Belgian Government 
 that any annexation which took place must " give the 
 Belgian people a free hand ... to inaugurate drastic 
 reforms." 9 Many Belgians desired that such action 
 should be taken. But it was not to be. After this slight 
 show of vigour the Foreign Office again resumed the feeble 
 and vacillating policy it had pursued throughout, and, 
 in spite of all that had happened, and of the unmistakable 
 proofs it had repeatedly received of King Leopold's bad 
 faith, it contented itself with making representations to 
 the Belgian Government as to the reforms it considered 
 advisable, accompanying these with the apologetic state- 
 ment : " H.M. Government merely submit these views for 
 the friendly consideration of the Belgian Government." 10 
 
 " That dispatch," said Morel, " sealed the failure of Foreign 
 Office policy. A Belgian annexation of the Congo on terms per- 
 petuating the old system was henceforth inevitable. The British 
 Government might refuse to recognize annexation when the treaty 
 was voted, but the accomplished fact would have taken place." " 
 
 Yet, in the words of the Times (April 1908), " it would 
 
 9 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 204. 
 
 10 Sir E. Grey to Sir A. Hardinge, March 27, 1908. 
 
 11 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 207.
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 125 
 
 perhaps be better that Belgium should not annex the 
 Congo at all than she should agree to annexation on 
 conditions which would prove a fruitful source of fresh 
 complications." 
 
 In April the third anniversary of the foundations of 
 the Congo Reform Association was celebrated by a great 
 meeting in the Central Hall, Liverpool, the building, 
 with a seating accommodation of nearly three thousand 
 persons, being inadequate to contain the crowd, which 
 overflowed into two adjoining halls. The Lord Mayor 
 of Liverpool presided, and messages of support were 
 received from the Chief Magistrates of a score of towns, 
 and from ninety-two Members of Parliament. In the 
 same month the President of the Free Church Council 
 issued a circular urging the celebration of a special Congo 
 Sunday, which was held in a large number of Noncon- 
 formist churches throughout the country, and towards 
 the end of the year, on the initiative of the Bishop of 
 Liverpool, a " Congo Sunday " was observed throughout 
 the Liverpool district, this example being followed in 
 several other important towns, including Newcastle and 
 Hull. 
 
 Public Pressure Intensified. 
 
 The Treaty of Transfer passed through the Belgian 
 Chamber on August 20, 1908, but, as the " entire change 
 in the system of government " required by the Foreign 
 Office was not yet forthcoming, Sir Edward Grey declined 
 to give official recognition to the annexation,* a refusal 
 which, says Morel, was " treated with absolute indiffer- 
 ence." ia All this delay was, of course, extremely galling 
 to the Reformers, who, after years of public agitation, 
 saw the same abominable system being perpetuated in 
 the Congo, the same barbarities still being practised upon 
 
 11 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 20.
 
 126 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 the helpless natives. The only thing open to them was to 
 intensify the pressure, and this was done in a remarkable 
 series of public meetings held in all parts of the 
 country. 
 
 Citizens' meetings, presided over by the Mayors of the 
 towns in question, were held in great number. " Of 
 other meetings, not officially summoned by the Chief 
 Magistrate . . . there have been thousands of all kinds, 
 great and small, held in the largest available public 
 building ; held in the open air as at the vast gathering 
 of ten thousand Methodists at Mow Cop, whence, from 
 every platform, a resolution was voted and forwarded 
 to the Foreign Office ; held in the humble Baptist chapel. 
 I have spoken to an audience of 1,500 nearly all men 
 in a covered market-place rigged up with benches for 
 the occasion. There have been meetings composed 
 almost entirely of working men. There have been meet- 
 ings where men prominent in social standing, in politics, 
 and in administration have been gathered together. . . . 
 I have seen the Sun Hall in Liverpool, which accommodates 
 four thousand, packed from floor to ceiling." J 3 In fact, 
 between 1907 and 1909 Morel himself addressed something 
 like fifty large gatherings in various parts of the country, 
 in addition to his work of directing the organization of 
 the whole movement, editing a weekly journal, inditing 
 numerous public dispatches to the Foreign Office, and 
 carrying on a vigorous campaign in the Press, dealing 
 with this point and with that, rebutting the arguments 
 contained in the Leopoldian literature, which continued 
 to pour out in a constant flood all over Europe, and helping 
 generally to keep the agitation alive and vigorous in two 
 continents for American interest had been by this time 
 thoroughly awakened and the Government of the United 
 States had despatched its own consular representatives 
 
 J 3 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 14.
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 127 
 
 to the Congo, and had joined its official protests to 
 those of Great Britain. The effort was colossal, and must 
 have involved an enormous strain even upon the untiring 
 energies of the Secretary of the Congo Reform Association. 
 
 A National Manifesto. 
 
 All this had its effect, and in November 1908 the 
 Foreign Office sent a dispatch to the Belgian Government, 
 endorsing for the first time the policy consistently advocated 
 by Morel, and asking for " an immediate amelioration " 
 in the lot of the natives. This dispatch was welcomed 
 by the publication of a national manifesto almost unique 
 in our annals for the character and weight of the signatures 
 attached to it, a document which the Times described as 
 a " spontaneous manifestation of a very unusual kind." 
 This document bore the signatures of Lord Cromer, three 
 other Peers, nineteen Bishops, the best-known leaders 
 of Nonconformity, seventy-six Members of Parliament, 
 seven Lord Mayors, thirty-two Mayors, the Presidents 
 of seven Chambers of Commerce, " thirteen newspaper 
 and magazine editors, representing such divergencies of 
 opinion as can be imagined, for example, between Mr. 
 St. Leo Strachey, Mr. W. T. Stead, and Mr. J. S. R. 
 Phillips " ; the President of the National Liberal Federa- 
 tion, and of men famous in the world of letters, medicine, 
 philanthropy, philosophy, and commerce. 
 
 " Welcoming a Belgian annexation of the Congo," so ran this 
 letter, " we have nevertheless, contended that . . . the special 
 responsibilities incurred by the people of Great Britain . . . make 
 it incumbent upon them to ensure that no settlement for the future 
 government of the Congo shall receive the sanction of this country 
 which does not place the freedom and the just rights of the native 
 population upon a footing of permanent security." 
 
 Shortly after this Morel sent a long memorandum to
 
 128 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 the Foreign Office, for which he was officially thanked 
 by Sir Edward Grey in the following words : 
 
 " Sir E. Grey feels that the exhaustive and closely reasoned memor- 
 andum enclosed . . . will be of great assistance to His Majesty's 
 Government in their efforts to secure the restoration to the natives 
 of their rights." 
 
 A New " Peter the Hermit." 
 
 In the spring of 1909 Morel paid a special visit to 
 France and Switzerland for the purpose of making the 
 motives of the Congo Reform Movement in Great Britain 
 more clearly understood in those countries. T 4 
 
 After conferring with him, the Council of the Inter- 
 national League and of the French League for the defence 
 of the natives of the Congo Basin decided to agree upon 
 a common definition of their aims ; the importance of 
 this, as the Morning Leader remarked at the time, being 
 that for the first time the International League and the 
 French branch of that League were brought into line 
 with the British and American movements. 
 
 On February 25th Morel was received by M. Clemenceau, 
 then Prime Minister, with whom he had a long interview, 
 and on February 27th the Times printed the follow- 
 ing dispatch, dated the previous day, from its Paris 
 correspondent : 
 
 " Mr. E. D. Morel was entertained at lunch to-day by a number of 
 distinguished Frenchmen in the political, colonial and literary world. 
 The guest? included M. Anatole France, M. Joseph Chailley, Deputy 
 for La Vendee and Chairman of the French Colonial Union ; M. 
 Vigouroux, Deputy of the Haute Loire ; MM. Mersimy and Steeg, 
 Deputies ; M. Paul Bourde, Pierre Mille and Felicien Challaye. 
 M. Chailley, in giving the health of Mr. Morel, referred to him 
 
 M The charge had been made on the Continent that the Congo Reformers 
 were trying to work up an agitation under cover of which Great Britain 
 was to annex the Congo, and that Morel was a sort of literary Jameson 
 preparing public opinion with his pen for such a raid.
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 129 
 
 as defending the ideas of human liberty . . . dear to France. . . . 
 So far as it was possible to support his efforts, they desired to do 
 so. M. Chailley then referred to the state of affairs in the French 
 Congo. Mr. Morel, in a improvised reply, said that the British 
 and American movements against Congo misrule were national 
 movements wholly uninspired by Government. It was unthink- 
 able, in his view, that France should dissociate herself from a 
 liberating movement seeking to suppress a detestable policy, foreign 
 to French sentiments. He was well aware of the French Congo 
 difficulty touched upon by M. Chailley. All that he, as an English- 
 man, could say on the matter was to express regret that France, 
 whose magnificent work in her West African possessions proper was 
 understood and appreciated in England, should have been lured 
 into adopting a different standard in the French Congo. Mr. 
 Morel's speech was warmly applauded and the general discussions 
 which ensued showed that the unhappy condition of the French 
 Congo was fully acknowledged in French Parliamentary and Colonial 
 circles, and that the legal difficulties connected with the position 
 of the concessionaires appeared to many present M. Anatole 
 France, however, vigorously dissenting too great to be overcome. 
 . . . Mr. Morel, accompanied by M. Mille, afterwards went to the 
 Ministry of the Colonies, and had an interview which lasted an hour 
 and a half with the Colonial Minister. Mr. Morel does not feel at 
 liberty to make any public statement on the subject. 
 
 " The impression made by Mr. Morel's speech at to-day's luncheon 
 was well summed up by M. Anatole France, who remarked : ' C'est 
 de Part sans le faire expres : on ne voit pas comment c'est 
 fait.' It appears, moreover, that Mr. Morel really succeeded in dissi- 
 pating the doubts cherished in French Colonial circles as to the reasons 
 and motives of British opinion with regard to the methods employed 
 in the Congo.'"'' 
 
 Speaks at the Sorbonne. 
 
 On February 27th Morel spoke at the Sorbonne, his 
 address on this occasion being fully reported in the British 
 Press. The Times (March 1st) closed its report with 
 these words : 
 
 41 The effect of Mr. Morel's words may be estimated by the fact 
 that at the conclusion of his address a resolution was voted 
 acknowledging the disinterestedness of the English movement, 
 and expressing the hope ' that the French Government would 
 take its stand with the British and American Governments.' " 
 
 9
 
 130 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 From Paris Morel went on to Geneva, where he addressed 
 a distinguished audience at the University (March 4th). 
 M. Rene Claparede presided, and Morel's speech, said 
 the Times, made " a great impression." 
 
 " The martyrdom of the Congo races," he said, " exceeds all that 
 the most fertile imagination could conceive as possible in the dawning 
 years of the twentieth century. It is a world-crime, and all civilized 
 peoples must take cognizance of it and arrest it. Switzerland, the 
 country of the Red Cross, has heard the cry of anguish rising from 
 these distant and gloomy forests. She has produced men of courage 
 to proclaim that so colossal an infamy is an outrage upon the human 
 conscience everywhere, and that small countries as well as powerful 
 ones have the right and the duty to protest. I am not sure that 
 the smaller states are not quite specially entitled to make their 
 voices heard, because successful wrong-doing in any part of the world 
 threatens them particularly, encouraging as it does, and must do, 
 lawlessness in Europe. The voice of Switzerland has always been 
 listened to in the councils of the nations. The more earnest Swiss 
 action in this matter, the more efficacious will Swiss influence prove 
 to be. And a crime against Humanity knows no frontiers" 
 
 Further meetings were addressed by Morel at Neuchatel 
 and Chaux-de-Fonds. 
 
 A Modern Knight-errant. 
 
 Shortly after this Continental tour the Spectator (March 
 27th) published an article in which Morel and the famous 
 war correspondent, Mr. H. W. Nevinson, were coupled 
 together under the title of " Our modern Knights-errant." 
 
 " Neither," so ran the article, " has ever been a member of Parlia- 
 ment, and neither has the help of riches or an accidentally great 
 position. For all we know, they both stumbled unintentionally 
 across what provoked their indignation. But once the needed 
 reform had been set before them as a goal to be reached, they did 
 not fail or falter on the journey. They had the constancy of vision 
 of a Shaftesbury. Mr. Morel, as every one knows, founded the 
 Congo Reform Association, which has been a rallying point for 
 years for all who felt the burden of responsibility assumed by 
 Britain when the Congo Free State was created. . . ."
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 131 
 
 And here it may be mentioned that on several occasions 
 at the height of the Congo agitation Morel went over 
 to Brussels to confer with the Belgian Reformers as to 
 the particular action which the situation at the moment 
 demanded. Whilst in the Belgian capital he was invari- 
 ably shadowed by police spies, and he tells an amusing 
 story of how, calling one day upon a well-known Belgian 
 scientist, he was met at the hall door by the distinguished 
 man, who, after glancing nervously up and down the 
 street, hurried him inside, exclaiming in agitated tones, 
 " Have you a revolver ? " On receiving a reply in the 
 negative the scientist shook his head ominously. It 
 is a fact that Morel more than once was the recipient 
 of letters from Belgians threatening him with death. 
 
 On one occasion, when he was being more than usually 
 attacked m the Belgian Press, M. Vandervelde suggested 
 that he should speak at a great Socialist demonstration, 
 offering him an escort of Socialists from the station to 
 the meeting-place. Morel privately consulted the Foreign 
 Office on the matter, not desiring to embarrass the Govern- 
 ment in any way, and, in deference to their unofficially 
 expressed wishes, declined the invitation. 
 
 It must not be thought that the entire Belgian Press 
 was hostile to the cause of the Congo Reformers. During 
 the whole campaign Morel's views were warmly cham- 
 pioned by Le Peuple, the organ of the Belgian Social 
 Democracy, a journal which had the largest circulation 
 of any Belgian newspaper ; by Le Patriote of ^Brussels, 
 the great lay Catholic journal ; and, from the time of 
 its foundation, by La Derniere Heure, a newspaper of 
 Liberal views. 
 
 The Belgian Government's Scheme of Reform. 
 
 In June 1909 Sir Edward Grey issued a further dispatch, 
 in which he described the state of affairs then existing
 
 132 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 in the Congo as " indistinguishable from slavery," and 
 in the following October the Belgian Government at last 
 produced its scheme of reform. This scheme in some 
 respects was unsatisfactory, for although it provided for 
 the abolition of forced labour and the restoration of 
 native rights as from July 1910 in one half of the Congo 
 territory, yet it further prolonged the old system until 
 July 1911 in one section of the remainder, until July 1912 
 in another section, and for an indefinite period in a third. 
 The British Government making no protest, the scheme 
 was forced through the Belgian Chamber as it stood, 
 despite the protests of many Belgian Liberals and 
 of the whole of the Belgian Socialist party, led by 
 M. Vandervelde. 
 
 Although imperfect in these respects, this scheme 
 certainly constituted a great advance along the path to 
 better things, and this success naturally aroused the 
 Reformers to still greater activities. They accordingly 
 organized a giant demonstration at the Albert Hall, at 
 which the Archbishop of Canterbury presided and paid 
 a notable tribute to the Secretary of the Congo Reform 
 Association. r 
 
 " To Mr. Morel," he said, " this country, and tens of thousands 
 outside this country, owe a debt of gratitude larger than they can 
 ever repay, for strenuous years of devotion and self-sacrifice on behalf 
 of what is righteous and just and true." 
 
 This demonstration was followed up by a series of citizens' 
 meetings, addressed by Morel and Sir Arthur Conan 
 Doyle, at Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, 
 Hull, and Plymouth. In April 1910 an important 
 memorial was presented to Mr. Asquith, then Prime 
 Minister, urging the Government to insist upon 
 
 " the total abolition of forced labour for purposes of revenue, 
 coupled with legislation recognizing the rights of native tribes and
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 133 
 
 communities in their land, and the throwing open of the whole of 
 the Congo to normal commercial relations between its inhabitants 
 and the outer world." 
 
 This memorial was signed by 162 members of Parliament, 
 and amongst these it is interesting to note the names 
 of Mr. G. H. Roberts, Mr. Charles Bathurst, Mr. William 
 Brace, Sir William Bull, Sir Henry Dalziel, Mr. Arthur 
 Henderson, and, of course, Sir Charles Dilke. 
 
 " Great Britain and the Congo." 
 
 In the autumn of 1909, just before the publication of 
 the Belgian reform proposals, Morel published his fifth 
 book, Great Britain and the Congo (Smith, Elder & Co.), 
 with an Introduction by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 
 
 In his Introduction Sir Arthur Conan Doyle paid a 
 fine tribute to Morel. 
 
 "Neither Wilberforce," said he, "nor any of those men whose-, 
 names we honour as the protagonists in the fight against the slave 
 trade have been actuated by nobler motives, or have fought harder 
 for the faith that was in them. . . . How heavy already is our respon- 
 sibility can only be appreciated by those who listen to Mr. Morel. ' 
 Had Governments listened to him in the past; the world would have j 
 been better." 
 
 Great Britain and the Congo was, in more ways than 
 one, a very interesting book. In the first place it was 
 very clearly written and arranged, and, taken in conjunc- 
 tion with King Leopold's Rule in Africa, it formed, in 
 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's opinion, " the m*st terrific 
 indictment against a man and against a system which 
 has ever been drawn up." 
 
 Secondly, it appeared at a very important moment in 
 the history of Congo reform. 
 
 " The time has come," said Morel, "when the British nation must 
 decide whether it is in earnest over this Congo question. . . .
 
 184 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 " The nation is faced with a crisis in its moral history. For 
 four years, from ... its leaders in all that makes for the greatness 
 of the nation have poured forth condemnation and denunciation 
 of a legalized iniquity, a system . . . based upon robbery, slavery, 
 and spoliation . . . trampling every principle of freedom, justice 
 and liberty underfoot . . . proclaiming aloud the right of its bene- 
 ficiaries to pile up untold riches from the slave labour of millions 
 of men. 
 
 " The nation has challenged that monstrous claim ... it has com- 
 mitted itself too deeply ... to draw back without dishonour. . . . 
 The nation . . . should be made to understand that the task to 
 which it has set its hand is not completed ; that although the ' Congo 
 Free State ' has passed away, the system of misrule elaborated and 
 enforced by its sovereign is still flourishing. . . . 
 
 "There are people to-day who are giving dangerous and dis- 
 honourable advice to the nation. . . . The false prophets of the creed 
 which waves the flag of international complications when a great 
 wrong requires redress, while justifying war for a coaling station 
 or a goldmine, a sphere of influence or a 10 per cent, interest, are 
 busily and subterraneously at work, with their everlasting appeal 
 to selfish interests, their dismissal of great moral issues as ' sentiment,' 
 their contemptuous depreciation of all that is noble and sound in 
 a nation ; thrusting aside the forces of national consciousness as 
 necessarily irresponsible, uncalculating, unwise, fanatical. 
 
 " But no nation really great . . . thrice armed with the justice 
 of the cause . . . will draw back." J 5 
 
 And after describing in clear and vivid detail the 
 diplomatic history of the relations between the Foreign 
 Office and the Congo from 1896 to July 1909, he concluded 
 
 with these words : 
 
 
 
 " My colleagues and I have done our utmost. We have given of 
 our best. We have appealed to Governments and to statesmen. 
 
 "It is oriiy left for us to appeal to the public opinion which 
 creates Governments and invests statesmen with executive 
 authority." 
 
 Thirdly, this book marked an important transitional 
 stage in the development of Morel's mind and career. 
 More than any book he had previously written did it 
 
 '5 Great Britain and the Congo, pp. 4-7.
 
 THE PEOPLE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE 135 
 
 deal with questions of diplomacy. The Congo Reform 
 Movement and his association with such men as Dilke 
 had brought him in close contact with the Foreign Office 
 and the wider field of international relationships. Over 
 and over again in this book did he show his impatience 
 with " the deadly compromises of diplomacy and the para- 
 lysing influences of indifference and moral flabbiness," 16 
 with the " dry-rot in British diplomacy " *7 and its 
 " inconsistent and tortuous " character, 18 with the 
 " errors " : 9 of the Foreign Office, its " monumental 
 torpidity " 30 and its " lack of accurate information on 
 the side of the bureaucratic machinery of the depart- 
 ment," 2I with the lack of " clearness of vision " 2a on 
 the part of British policy, with the undemocratic character 
 and evil influence of secret diplomacy. 2 3 In a way, there- 
 fore, this book was the direct forbear of his Ten Years 
 of Secret Diplomacy, published three years later under 
 the title of Morocco in Diplomacy. It was a link between 
 Morel the opponent of slavery and Morel the opponent 
 of secret diplomacy. 
 
 16 Great Britain and the Congo, p. xviii. , J 7 Ibid. p. 255. 
 
 18 Ibid. p. 244. '9 Ibib. p. 196. * Ibid. p. 254. 
 
 Ibid. p. 197. " Ibid. p. 238. *3 Ibid. p. 244.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 
 
 Visit to Nigeria Special Correspondent of the Times Nigeria : its Peoples 
 and its Problems Thanked by British officials Warm praise of 
 the British administration A tribute from the Outlook Gratitude 
 of the natives Appointed to West African Lands Com- 
 mittee Work at the Colonial Office Lectures to Royal Society 
 of Arts Sir Percy Girouard's praise " The Treatment of Coloured 
 Races" Address at Church Congress The Great War and Africa 
 The Empire Resources Development Committee Africa and the 
 Peace of Europe Proposed neutralization of non-colonizable Africa. 
 
 THE position towards the close of the summer of 1910 
 was roughly as follows : Forced labour had been abolished 
 and freedom of trade restored in one half of the Congo, 
 whilst in the other half the old system was to continue 
 for varying periods, the British Government in the mean- 
 time taking up a position of " passive resistance " by 
 continuing its refusal to recognize the annexation. In 
 these circumstances the Congo Reform Association 
 decided to make use of any opportunity which occurred 
 to accelerate the process of reform, to test the genuineness 
 of the changes by pressing for the production of consular 
 Reports, and to support the Government in resisting 
 any demand for " premature recognition." Beyond this, 
 however, it felt it could not go especially as King 
 Leopold, the fans et origo of the whole evil business, no 
 longer lived * and had been succeeded by a sovereign of 
 high character, amiable instincts, and transparent sin- 
 
 1 He had died that year (1910). 
 136
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 137 
 
 cerity. This meant a period of relative inactivity for 
 the work, and Morel decided to make use of this welcome 
 interval by paying his first and long-promised visit to 
 Nigeria. 
 
 Visit to Nigeria. 
 
 Nigeria, our largest African protectorate, covering an 
 area equal to that of Germany, Italy, and Holland com- 
 bined, was then in a state of transition. The question 
 of amalgamating Northern and Southern Nigeria at 
 that time separate protectorates was being discussed, 
 and behind this lay much larger problems of native 
 policy. Two schools of thought were at issue. One 
 favoured direct, the other indirect, rule. The first believed 
 in investing British officials with direct powers of inter- 
 fering with the internal administration of the native 
 communities ; the second preferred the course of strength- 
 ening and perfecting the rule of the native authorities 
 themselves, with the European official acting as " guide, 
 philosopher, and friend." Then there was the question 
 of land tenure. Should native customary law be pre- 
 served, or should British law be gradually introduced to 
 replace the native system ? All these questions were 
 under debate, and on the right solutions being reached 
 depended very largely the future welfare of the 
 country. 
 
 Now on all these questions Morel had thought and 
 studied deeply. He had been writing on them for years. 
 He was recognized as one of the greatest living authorities 
 on these subjects, and for some time those British officials 
 (and there wore a great many of them) who favoured the 
 adoption of a liberal and progressive policy towards the 
 natives had been urging him to pay the protectorate 
 a visit and to give the right lead at this important 
 moment.
 
 138 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Special Correspondent of the " Times." 
 
 Armed, therefore, with a commission as Special Corre- 
 spondent of the Times and the Manchester Guardian, 
 Morel started on a journey which was to produce valuable 
 fruit. " I know," wrote Mr. Walter, then proprietor of 
 the Times, " that you will take an independent and im- 
 partial line in the articles which you propose to write. 
 We shall read them with great interest." And here it 
 may be said that, on the subsequent appearance of these 
 articles, the Times gave continuous support in its editorial 
 columns to the views Morel had formulated on Nigeria 
 and its problems. 
 
 These articles attracted wide attention, and were 
 subsequently republished in book form (Nigeria : its 
 Peoples and its Problems, Smith, Elder & Co.). Never, 
 in a sense, had Morel found a subject more congenial. 
 Here was a land of which he had written for years yet 
 had never before seen. Its history he had studied as few 
 living men had done. Its flora and fauna, its products 
 and industries, its native tribes and customs, its scenery 
 through wide reading, and countless conversations 
 with officials, natives, and travellers were almost as 
 familiar to him as those of Britain. Yet until then a 
 personal visit to see these things himself had been denied 
 him. And on coming to this land, so familiar yet so 
 new, he found and this was the finest thing of all men 
 there who for years had been pursuing on the spot the 
 very policy for which he had been labouring with pen 
 and voice in Europe. So naturally he put his whole 
 strength into the task of making the work of these men, 
 and the aims they cherished, as widely known and appreci- 
 ated by the public at home as possible. The result was 
 one of the best books on Africa certainly the best on 
 Nigeria ever published, and one which won for Morel 
 the gratitude of the men who were labouring throughout
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 139 
 
 that great territory for the welfare and prosperity of 
 Nigeria. Amongst Morel's most cherished possessions 
 are letters written to him by many of these British officials 
 thanking him for writing this book. The following are 
 a few typical extracts : 
 
 " I cannot tell you what a great help your articles have been to 
 all those who are endeavouring to secure the interests and welfare 
 of the natives." 
 
 " We can't thank you enough. You are well remembered here. 
 When I spoke of you, and asked the Mallams (Mohammedan chiefs) 
 if they remembered you, they at once said, ' Oh yes ! Bature mai- 
 iou sossiai' (i.e. the white man with the straight eye)." 
 
 " All of us owe you a debt of gratitude." 
 
 " Your book is a joy to read and re-read." 
 
 " Your book stands alone as a weighty and reasoned statement 
 of the problems we have to grapple with." 
 
 " Your valuable and sympathetic support is most helpful, and 
 urges us to greater efforts." 
 
 " I have just got back home, and have been reading your articles. 
 May I tender my sincere congratulations on them, and their, at 
 present, hardly estimable benefit to this country ? " 
 
 " I had the great pleasure the other day of reading your book. 
 I must add my speck to the mass of gratitude and appreciation 
 you must have received. I have been envying you the chance and 
 the power of speaking out fearlessly about the things that we have 
 to skate cautiously round, and you have made such splendid use 
 of that opportunity." 
 
 The book was equally well received by the Press. " Of 
 distinctive value to the student and administrator," 
 said the Times ; "a study in applied anthropology 
 a most fascinating study which we heartily recommend 
 to all who are interested in the problems of Empire " 
 (Morning Post) ; " will undoubtedly be valued by the 
 officials of all civilized Governments dealing . . . largely 
 with the opening up of tropical Africa " (Sir Harry 
 Johnston in the Daily Chronicle) ; " will . . . rank as 
 a standard authority on tropical administration " (the 
 Economist) ; " though humanitarian in principle, the book
 
 140 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 is free from that detestable narrowness of outlook which 
 renders many humanitarian proposals incompatible with 
 colonial progress " (the Academy). Thus ran the reviews. 
 Those readers who have heard Morel accused of possessing 
 an anti-British bias will be surprised to read the following 
 quotation from that highly patriotic weekly, the Outlook : 
 
 " Mr. Morel's book is especially valuable. It is a searching in- 
 vestigation from which the British rulers of Nigeria emerge with 
 honours so thick upon them that we fear some who know what Mr. 
 Morel has said of, and done in, another part of Africa will think he 
 is a mere creature of patriotic prejudice." 
 
 In this book Morel pursued his familiar line of argument 
 regarding the African native. He attacked the school 
 " whose doctrine it is that in the economic development 
 of the country the profits should be the exclusive appanage 
 of the white race, the native's role being that of labourer 
 and wage-earner for all time," 2 and the school which, 
 with the best intentions in the world, desired to " Euro- 
 peanize " and " denationalize " the West African, to 
 bestow upon him " European culture, law, religion, and 
 dress," and to unmake him as an African. " In the form it 
 at present takes," said Morel, " this is not a kindness, 
 but a cruel wrong." 3 
 
 " Between the two schools of thought," he continued, " there is 
 room for a third one which, taking note to-day that the West 
 African is a landowner, desires that he shall continue to be one under 
 British rule, and not with decreasing but with increasing security 
 of tenure . 1 . which sees in the preservation of the West African's 
 land for him and his descendants ; in a system of education which 
 shall not anglicize ; in technical instruction ; in assisting and 
 encouraging agriculture, local industries and scientific forestry ; 
 in introducing labour-saving appliances, and in strengthening all 
 that is best, materially and spiritually, in aboriginal institutions, 
 the highest duties of our Imperial rule : a school of thought whose 
 aim it is to see Nigeria, at least become in time, the home of highly 
 
 * Nigeria, p. xviii. 3 Ibid. p. xix.
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 141 
 
 trained African peoples, protected in their property and in their 
 rights by the paramount Power, proud of their institutions, proud of 
 their race, proud of their own fertile and beautiful land." 4 
 
 " Mr Morel," said Truth, " has, I think, thoroughly made out his 
 case for the civilization of the negro races on their own lines of 
 development, as against the two schools of thought the ' damned 
 nigger ' school, which would make him a hewer of wood and a drawer 
 of water for all time, and those who would make him in a moment 
 a twentieth-century European Christian. Indeed, I have never 
 read a book which puts the point of view of the inarticulate negro 
 races themselves so adequately, temperately, and conclusively." 
 
 Morel received many proofs during his journey of the 
 grateful way in which the articulate African regarded him 
 for his work on behalf of the natives. On his return from 
 Northern to Southern Nigeria he was entertained at a 
 banquet by the native community in Lagos, this function 
 being preceded by a meeting presided over by the senior 
 native member of the Legislative Council and attended 
 by all the leading men of the community. Some of the 
 tributes he received were as unexpected as they were 
 touching. Thus, at Abeokuta, the capital of the Egba 
 country (Southern Nigeria), on visiting the Roman 
 Catholic schools in company with the French Father who 
 directed them, Morel was the recipient of addresses read 
 to him respectively by the head boy and the head girl 
 of the class. At Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, 
 on his return journey, arrangements had been made for 
 a demonstration in his honour in the Wilberforce Hall, 
 over which the Mayor of Freetown was to have presided. 
 Owing, however, to the short period the steamsr remained 
 in harbour, this ceremony did not take place, but Morel 
 had time to confront, in the residence of that venerable 
 negro scholar, the late Dr. Blyden, some forty Mohammedan 
 chiefs, in gorgeous apparel, some of whom had travelled 
 considerable distances to see him, and who had waited 
 
 4 Nigeria, pp. xxi-xxii.
 
 142 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 for days in Freetown for his arrival. By these also he 
 was presented with addresses, to which he had to make 
 a suitable reply. 
 
 Here is an extract from one of these addresses, which 
 is interesting as showing the African point of view : 
 
 " Your labour, Sir, is unique. A fight against your own people 
 for aliens, not even of the same race, inhabiting countries thousands 
 of miles away from you, and that at the risk of losing the goodwill 
 and interest and esteem of your own brethren, is humanly speaking, 
 unnatural. Hence we take it to be from God. And we class you 
 among the few whom He has at all times reserved for Himself 
 to carry out His purpose and maintain His honour among the 
 nations of the world." 
 
 Member of West African Lands Committee. 
 
 In 1911 Morel was invited by the Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies (the Right. Hon. Lewis Harcourt, M.P.) 
 to become a member of the West African Lands Committee, 
 appointed, under the chairmanship of Sir Kenelm Digby, 
 
 , to examine and report upon the system of land tenure 
 prevailing among the native races of our tropical African 
 Protectorates. 
 
 The events preceding the appointment of this Committee, 
 and Morel's part in them, need a word or so of explanation 
 here. 
 
 In their legislation affecting " native rights in land " 
 in the Gold Coast Protectorate the British Government, 
 although laying no claim to the land themselves, had done 
 nothing to prevent the native chiefs alienating it to 
 individual Europeans. Up to 1910 the danger to the 
 welfare of the natives involved by this attitude had not 
 been an appreciable one, as the attraction of the Gold 
 Coast for Europeans had been its gold deposits, and, 
 in leasing to them the right to exploit the mineral wealth 
 
 ' of the country, the native chiefs had not parted with the 
 rights of their people to the land itself. Moreover, a
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 143 
 
 Concessions Court regulated these transactions and ensured 
 native participation in the profits. 
 
 But in 1910 events took place which gave an entirely 
 different complexion to this matter. As a result of the 
 great rubber boom and the increasing demand for vege- 
 table oils, a swarm of speculators descended upon the 
 country, and upon other parts of British West Africa, 
 and, acting more often than not through the medium of 
 certain educated natives in the coast towns, induced the 
 chiefs, in some cases for considerable, in others for insignifi- 
 cant, sums, to barter away the rights of the present and 
 future generations of their peoples over immense surfaces, 
 the chiefs acting in this way sometimes from short-sighted 
 cupidity, but more often than not in entire ignorance of 
 what they were doing. 
 
 Morel's Vigorous Action. 
 
 On becoming acquainted with these facts Morel acted 
 with vigour. In various issues of the African Mail he 
 repeatedly drew the attention of his readers to what was 
 going on, he got into communication with certain enlight- 
 ened African acquaintances, he contrived to get questions 
 asked in Parliament upon the matter, and finally wrote 
 to Lord Crewe, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 " I cannot believe," he said, " that His Majesty's Government, 
 who have given so many proofs of their desire to pursue a just and 
 wise policy towards the native races of West Africa, can be consenting 
 parties to the process whereby the economic future and consequently 
 the social rights of the natives of the Gold Coast are being seriously 
 jeopardized. Nor, I venture to suggest, can a system which, under 
 the spurious plan of ' development,' tends to reduce the native of 
 the Gold Coast from a trader and agriculturist in his own right 
 to the dead level of the hired labourer at one-and-threepence a 
 day, make for the public interest of the dependency or the success 
 of the British administration. ' Development ' of this character 
 may enrich a handful of British company-promoters and share- 
 holders. It must impoverish the protected subject races of Great
 
 144 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Britain in West Africa by paralysing native initiative, progress 
 and production ; lay the basis in this region for economic servitude 
 instead of free expression ; react adversely upon the British indus- 
 tries concerned in supplying the requirements of the West African, 
 and, eventually, threaten the prosperity of the British dependencies." 
 
 To this communication the Colonial Secretary replied 
 that he was alive to the danger, and was requesting the 
 Governor of the Gold Coast to furnish him with a report. 
 
 In the meantime the evil rapidly developed, and with 
 its development Morel redoubled his activity, bombarding 
 the Press with letters and the Colonial Office with incessant 
 representations, and inspiring question after question in 
 Parliament, until at last Mr. Harcourt, who had succeeded 
 Lord Crewe as Colonial Secretary, despatched a special 
 Commission to the Gold Coast to make enquiries. The 
 report of this Commission testified to the accuracy of 
 Morel's warnings and wholly justified his action. 
 
 Work on the Committee. 
 
 By this time Parliamentary interest in the matter had 
 been thoroughly aroused, amongst those taking up the 
 question being Mr. (now Colonel) J. C. Wedgwood, M.P., 
 and, following upon a private deputation to Mr. Harcourt, 
 the Colonial Secretary, as already stated, appointed the 
 West African Lands Committee, Morel and Mr. Wedg- 
 wood being specially invited to serve upon it. In addition 
 to Sir Kenelm Digby, its chairman, the Committee 
 included several high authorities on Colonial Law and 
 Administration, amongst them being Sir Walter Napier, 
 formerly Attorney- General of the Straits Settlements, 
 Sir Frederick Hodgson, an ex-Governor of the Gold Coast, 
 and Sir William Taylor, formerly Resident General of 
 the Federated Malay States. 
 
 The Committee was appointed on June 20, 1912, and 
 was still sitting when the war broke out. By that time
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 145 
 
 the Draft Report had been almost completed, and a Sub- 
 Committee, consisting of Sir Walter Napier, Sir Frederick 
 Hodgson, and Morel, which had been appointed to revise 
 Part II, sat on for six months longer and completed the 
 whole document, which bears their joint signatures. It 
 has not yet been presented to Parliament, but the labours 
 of the Committee have been recorded " for use of the 
 Colonial Office " in four bulky foolscap volumes, two of 
 which, containing the evidence given before the Committee 
 by a large number of witnesses African chiefs from 
 Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia ; 
 officials, merchants, concessionaires, and so on have 
 been placed in the library of the House of Commons. 
 It is to be hoped that one day the British Government 
 will rescue this report from the obscurity to which it 
 was consigned during the war, for not only does it consti- 
 tute what is virtually a charter of native rights for the 
 tropical regions of Africa, but the memorandum by Morel 
 on " the occupation of land by native communities in 
 West Africa " is considered by high authorities to whom 
 it has been shown to be one of the most valuable theses 
 on the administrative policy appropriate to those regions 
 that has ever been penned. 
 
 " The conception," he wrote in this memorandum, 5 " which 
 underlies native policy in British West Africa, and probably through- 
 out the whole of tropical Africa, is that the land is the common 
 inheritance of the whole people, but that the individual is entitled 
 to benefit from his improvements, and enjoys fixity of tenure unless 
 he offends against the State or community. The name which 
 may be most fittingly used in the English tongue to "describe this 
 conception of the part which land plays in the sociology of African 
 peoples is comparatively unimportant. What is important to bear 
 in mind is this governing principle of native ideas, viz. that the 
 land is God-given like air and water, and that every human being 
 is entitled to a share of it in order to sustain life. This is really 
 what is meant when we are told that there is no land without ' an 
 
 5 See also pp. 43 and 44. 
 10
 
 146 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 owner.' It is a symbolism. ... A rigidity is apt to be given to 
 the terms ' communal ownership ' and ' individual ownership ' 
 which is absent from the native conception of land tenure. It 
 is too readily assumed that what we describe as ' individual owner- 
 ship ' is something wholly foreign to the native idea, because 
 individual ownership involves in our eyes the right of the individual 
 to part with his land for ever. But this is to misconceive funda- 
 mentally the real character of native tenure. Short of a right of 
 irrevocable alienation from the community which native custom 
 absolutely forbids, which is, indeed, inconceivable in native eyes 
 the native system of tenure recognizes the existence of private 
 property in land in this sense, that it fully admits perpetuity of 
 tenure vested in groups of individuals families and in the indi- 
 vidual as a member of the family, subject to the authority of the 
 head of the family. It is not a communal system of tenure in our 
 interpretation of the term. Individuals forming part of Family A 
 cannot farm the lands of Family B at their own sweet will and 
 pleasure, which under a system of strict communalism they would 
 be able to do. Just as soon as uncultivated land comes into cultiva- 
 tion it ceases, under the native system, to be communal as we use 
 the word. It becomes to all intents and purposes the property 
 of the human group cultivating it, whose interests under the patri- 
 archal system of society, which is the foundation of the native 
 social structure, are supervised by the head of the group. The 
 latter can only turn an individual out of the plot he is cultivating 
 for an offence against the community. That he can do so proves 
 the ultimate retention of the land in the community. In one sense, 
 therefore, every individual in the family is the possessor of land ; 
 and to that extent there is individual ownership. But the land is 
 not his to dispose of, and merges, at his death, in the family of which 
 he is a unit. In that sense the land is communal, the ' family ' 
 being a section of the wider community. When land is uncultivated 
 the community as a whole is the owner of it, and never ceases to 
 be the owner of it, in the ultimate resort, when sections of it are 
 cultivated by ' families ' ; but the families and the individuals 
 composing each family benefit by their cultivation and are undis- 
 turbed in their tenure unless they offend against the laws of the 
 community. The native system, in fine, is the system towards which 
 people of Western Europe are gravitating with halting footsteps. 
 I can imagine nothing less defendable morally than a policy directed 
 or tolerated by a European administration in Africa which would 
 shatter this native system where it happily exists." 
 
 As will be gathered from a perusal of previous chapters, 
 Morel's view was that the basic principle for the guidance
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 147 
 
 of European administrations in tropical Africa should 
 be the recognition that the land of the country belonged 
 to the people of the country, i.e. to the native population, 
 and that the primary object of such administration should 
 be the preservation and strengthening of that conception, 
 the prevention of the permanent alienation of the land 
 to Europeans or European syndicates, and the taking of 
 such measures as might be necessary to make it impossible 
 for individual nations, under the influence of imported 
 European conceptions of land tenure, to violate their 
 own system by starting the practice of buying and selling 
 land. Such a practice, he contended, would lead to 
 
 " wholesale mortgaging, the grip of the money-lender, the creation 
 of a landless class (which he believes to be the curse of European 
 civilization), with resultant poverty now unknown the inevitable 
 decay of native industries, the conversion of a land-possessing popu- 
 lation into labourers, the crumbling of the native social structure 
 with all its long legacy of misery and chaos. . . . The native system 
 of tenure allows of private property in land, minus the power of 
 sale, and under the native system an arboricultural tropical industry 
 has grown up unparalleled in the world." 6 
 
 Whilst Morel was engaged on this important work certain 
 rumours were circulated by some of *his opponents to 
 the effect that he was using his influence on the Committee 
 in support of a policy which was the exact antithesis of 
 that for which he was, as a fact, strenuously contending. 
 Morel was precluded by his official position from issuing 
 a formal denial of the truth of these rumours, but a way 
 out of the difficulty was found by means of'a public 
 exchange of correspondence with Viscount Harcourt. 
 
 In a letter to Morel, dated October 23, 1915, the 
 Secretary of State wrote : 
 
 " No proposal to transfer the ownership of the land from the 
 native communities to the Crown has ever been made to me by 
 
 6 Memorandum written for the Colonial Office in 1912.
 
 148 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 you ; and I may add that I find it difficult to believe that any one 
 familiar with your record of work in defence of native rights could 
 entertain for a moment the notion that such suggestions could have 
 come from you.'" 
 
 Opposition Aroused. 
 
 Morel, by his activities in connection with this question, 
 naturally incurred the opposition of powerful vested 
 interests. There was the oil and soap interest, for example, 
 which desired to acquire the virtual ownership of the 
 oil-palm districts of the Gold Coast in order to obtain 
 their raw materials at about one-tenth of their cost under 
 the free-trading system by which the natives worked 
 their own forests and sold their produce to competing 
 European merchants, and there were the City interests 
 which had watched with interested and speculative eyes 
 the spectacle of the natives of Ashanti and the Gold Coast 
 converting, by their own unaided activity, great areas of 
 " bush " into cocoa farms, disposing of the fruits of their 
 industry as free men and growing, as a consequence, 
 rapidly wealthier. (The Gold Coast cocoa industry is, 
 indeed, one of the romances of modern times, and a 
 standing illustration of what the African native can 
 accomplish under his indigenous system of land ownership 
 and collective labour. Under this system the Gold Coast 
 has become one of the finest cocoa-producing countries 
 of the world, and this without the aid of European capital 
 with its accompaniments of company-promoting and 
 stock- jobbing in Europe and indentured labour in Africa ; 
 without, in fact, any aid at all, save that provided by 
 the Agricultural Department of the Gold Coast Govern- 
 ment and such model farms as those which Messrs. 
 Cadbury in recent years have established in one or two 
 parts of the country.) To transform this thriving native 
 industry into one controlled and managed by European 
 capitalists and to transform the free native cultivator
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 149 
 
 into a wage-slave that was the plan. Governmental 
 apathy, the covetousness and ignorance of native chiefs, 
 the intrigues of a number of educated natives in the 
 coast towns, the absence of any law prohibiting individual 
 native farmers from parting with their land, and thus 
 breaking up the system of collective ownership which 
 was the basis of native society and its safeguard from 
 disintegration these constituted the avenues through 
 which the vested interests at home hoped to attain their 
 ends. But even the best laid plans of capitalists and 
 financiers " gang aft agley," and when these gentlemen 
 attempted to carry out their schemes they found their 
 path blocked, to their extreme annoyance, by the same 
 obstinate individual who had faced and outfought 
 Leopold II. 
 
 For this annoyance they had some cause, for, shortly 
 after the Committee had begun its sittings, the process 
 of allowing " concessions " of the character described 
 was entirely stopped, whereat one of the financiers con- 
 cerned, apparently confident of his ability to remove the 
 obstruction, sought a personal interview with Morel 
 to whose malign influence he attributed the " blocking 
 process " which he and his friends were experiencing. 
 But alas, even wealth has its limitations, and after a 
 lengthy conversation, in which he completely failed to 
 soften the hard heart of his " persecutor," the financier 
 a prominent politician departed in high dudgeon. 
 Should Morel ever be induced to tell the inner story of 
 the West African Lands Committee it might make curious 
 and instructive reading ! 
 
 Sir Percy Girouard's Tribute. 
 
 In May 1912 Morel delivered a lecture on " Nigeria " 
 before the Royal Society of Arts, for which he was 
 subsequently awarded the Society's Silver Medal. The
 
 150 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 chairman of the meeting was Sir Percy Girouard, for two 
 years Governor of Northern Nigeria. In introducing the 
 lecturer, Sir Percy said (Journal of the Royal Society of 
 Arts, May 10, 1912) that Morel " needed no introduction 
 to a British or indeed any audience. His devotion to 
 African interests, his single-mindedness in contest, and 
 his achievements for African advancement were very 
 well known to all. As a result of his visit to Nigeria a 
 series of brilliant articles appeared in the public Press 
 bearing upon the progress, the past and the future of 
 the two Nigerias. These articles were expanded into a 
 book which certainly was to-day almost a standard 
 treatise upon the mental, moral, and manual work, which 
 had been accomplished in Nigeria, particularly within 
 the last ten years." 
 
 The Treatment of Coloured Races. 
 
 Morel further set forth his views on the treatment of 
 coloured races in a paper read at the Church Congress 
 at Southampton on October 2, 1913. In this paper 
 he urged, as many times before, that the true way of 
 governing tropica'I peoples was to help those peoples 
 to govern themselves. We should not destroy customs 
 and institutions, which, although differing from our own, 
 might be far more suitable to the genius of the peoples 
 concerned. There was " no moral justification " and, 
 ultimately, " no utilitarian advantage," " in depriving a 
 primitive ' people of its natural sources of commercial 
 wealth on the plea that it is not at a given moment 
 sufficiently instructed in mechanical devices to extract 
 the fullest use therefrom for the world's benefit." Nor 
 must we force loans upon the rulers of these peoples 
 " in the interest of cosmopolitan finance, and for the 
 greater profit of armament firms." The " exploitation 
 of the coloured peoples " was " not merely immoral,
 
 THE FUTURE OF AFRICA 151 
 
 but anti-economic." Both the " damned nigger school " 
 and the school which indicted " every form of European 
 commercial enterprise in the tropics as necessarily " fatal 
 to the liberties of the natives were in error. The native 
 should be " a free man, freely utilizing his land and its 
 resources in common with the white man ; his incentive, 
 not coercion, but trade." Further, the old unquestioning 
 ascendancy of the white over the coloured races was 
 disappearing, and the day was approaching when the 
 basis of white rule must rest as greatly " upon consent 
 as upon force." 
 
 Africa and the War. 
 
 Twelve months later came the Great War, and it will 
 be convenient in this chapter to refer to Morel's views 
 on the African problems arising out of the conflict. 
 These views were set forth in a small book entitled Africa 
 and the Peace of Europe (National Labour Press), published 
 in the spring of 1917, and in a speech delivered at the 
 National Liberal Club on April 24th of the same year. Both 
 in the book and in the speech he alluded to the danger that 
 European politicians, in an effort to reduce the financial 
 burden of the war, might " succumb to the temptation 
 of exploiting the labour of the coloured races," and he 
 vigorously attacked the proposal put forward by the 
 Empire Resources Development Committee " to vest in 
 the State the land and the products of the land of British- 
 protected Africa, both of which belong . . . t*o the Afri- 
 can communities concerned ; and to utilize, through the 
 media of large joint-stock corporations, African labour 
 for the relief of the British tax-payer." 7 
 
 " Here," he said, " we have a direct appeal for the 
 appropriation by the British State of the land belonging 
 to African peoples, for whom the British State is 
 
 7 Preface to Africa and the Peace of Europe.
 
 152 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 trustee, and for the exploitation of its resources by the 
 British State in order to reduce the War Debt . . . 
 and, incidentally, to secure handsome returns for capital 
 invested. Particular stress is laid upon the natural 
 wealth of British West Africa in the produce of the oil- 
 palms, of which it is said that they are our property, and 
 an asset to be worked for the Empire." 8 
 
 " It is a proposal," he exclaimed, " to set the clock 
 back three hundred years. ... It is the suggested 
 application to British tropical Africa of the identical 
 principles which formed the juridical basis of the policy 
 inaugurated by Leopold II on the Congo." 9 And again : 
 ** For the British State to step in and claim the whole 
 of the land of British West Africa and what it produces 
 would be an act of expropriation comparable only in 
 recent years to the Leopoldian regime. . . . This scheme 
 comes before us backed by immense vested interests." I0 
 And he warned his hearers that they were " up against 
 the biggest thing " they had ever tackled. " Mr. Morel's 
 attacks," said Sir Harry Johnston, writing in War and 
 Peace, " are justified on the insidious projects recently 
 circulated by which, through victory in the war, negro 
 Africa virtually becomes enthralled by small or secret 
 bodies of men in Britain, France, Belgium, and Portugal, 
 and the commerce of the world outside those Powers has 
 little or no chance of fair treatment in one of the most 
 productive areas of the world's surface." 
 
 To any one such as Morel, deeply interested in the 
 welfare of the African native and in problems of colonial 
 administration, one of the most heartbreaking sides of 
 the European war, and one which naturally was little 
 known to the general public, was the introduction of the 
 world-conflict into tropical Africa. 
 
 8 Africa and the Peace of Europe. 9 Ibid. 
 
 10 Speech at the Anti-Slavery Society meeting.
 
 153 
 
 " Native tribes," said Morel, " have been dragooned and suborned 
 into taking sides with this or that belligerent, and helped with 
 modern rifles. Inter-tribal warfare, with all its crude horrors, has 
 been revived on a far more comprehensive scale. . . . The resources 
 of entire districts have been ruthlessly destroyed, to prevent the 
 enemy obtaining supplies. . . . Devastation, massacre and ruin have 
 characterized the importation of European animosities into primitive 
 Africa. The work of years has been undone. And it is with feelings 
 bordering upon anguish that officials whose conception of the white 
 man's duties to the African, and the value of the white man's moral 
 example in dealing with these primitive and semi-primitive peoples, 
 was a high one, contemplate the wreckage of their earnest labours. 
 As for the psychological effect upon the African's mind ... of the 
 killing of white men (those semi-supernatural beings) by Africans 
 in Africa, at the instigation of other white men, and with weapons 
 furnished them for the purpose prowesses which henceforth will 
 be the theme of African camp-fires and chronicled in the message 
 of African drums well, ask any experienced African administrator, 
 and if he is disposed to speak his mind freely to you, you will appre- 
 ciate perhaps the sort of ingredients stirring in the devil's cauldron 
 which the folly of Europe has brewed in Africa." Il 
 
 Proposed Neutralization of Non-Colonizable Africa. 
 
 In Africa and the Peace of Europe Morel put forward 
 certain proposals which he believed would " lay the 
 foundation of such an international treatment of the 
 African problem as will eliminate one of the active causes 
 of European unrest " and at the same time spare the 
 African natives from any repetition of the scenes referred 
 to in the preceding paragraph. 
 
 " The means to this end," he said, " are plainly indicated. They 
 would consist in neutralizing the greater part of Africa, and in 
 internationalizing commercial activites within the neutralized area. 
 
 " By neutralization I mean the removal of the greater part of 
 Africa, by mutual consent, from the operations of European war. 
 
 " By the internationalization of commercial activities I mean that, 
 irrespective of the distribution of sovereign rights, the nationals 
 of all European states shall be entitled to compete on equal terms 
 in every form of commercial activity throughout the neutralized 
 area." I3 
 
 11 Africa and the Peace of Europe, p. 69. l "- Ibid. p. 70.
 
 154 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Roughly speaking, the territory Morel proposed to 
 neutralize covered the whole of non-colonizable Africa. 
 In fact it covered the whole of Africa with the exception 
 of Egypt, Tripoli and Tunis, Algeria, Morocco and the 
 Spanish Soudan (Mauretania) in the north, Abyssinia 
 in the east, and the Union of South Africa and German 
 South-West Africa in the south. And, besides being 
 neutralized, Morel proposed that the whole of this vast 
 area should be a Free Trade zone, that, as far as commercial 
 activities were concerned, every nation should have equal 
 access to it. Such an arrangement, he suggested, should 
 be secured by a " collective guarantee, in which the 
 United States and all the European Powers, belligerent 
 and neutral, should participate." " And if the South 
 American Powers," he added, " and the great independent 
 Asiatic Powers Japan and China were brought in 
 also, it would be all to the good." J 3 
 
 " Of this I am profoundly convinced," he said, " a 
 solution of the African problem on some such lines . . . 
 is an essential ingredient in the mortar required to lay 
 the structural foundations of a lasting peace in Europe " ; T 
 and he further urged that a Charter of Native Rights 
 should be drawn up, which " could be subscribed to by 
 all the Powers," and which would help to safeguard the 
 interests of the native races of Africa. 
 
 1 3 Africa and the Peace of Europe, p. 72. 
 
 '4 Ibid. p. 96. Morel's views expressed in this book on the future 
 of the German African colonies are more properly dealt with in 
 Chapter XXI.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 VICTORY 
 
 Public presentation A representative gathering The Bishop of Win- 
 chester's letter Tributes from Lord Cromer, M. Vandervelde, 
 M. Pierre Mille, M. Felicien Challaye, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 
 and others Morel's reply A strangely significant utterance 
 Reforms conceded " We have won, gentlemen " Triumph of the 
 Reform Movement The native freed Final meeting of the Asso- 
 ciation Glowing tributes to Morel The Archbishop of York 
 Lord Aberdeen Sir Valentine Chirol Sir Gilbert Parker The 
 Bishop of Winchester Dr. Clifford Sir Harry Johnston The 
 Rev. Scott Lidgett The Earl of Mayo " Invaluable services to 
 the British people " Robert Donald of the Daily Chronicle The 
 Morning Post The Daily News The Evening Standard Compared 
 to Wilberforce Morel's three motives : Native Rights, Freedom of 
 Trade, Peace " A great peace crusade " An impressive speech. 
 
 IN July 1910 a letter signed by Lorfl Cromer appeared 
 in the Press announcing the formation of a Committee 
 consisting of Dr. Talbot (then Bishop of Southwark, 
 now Bishop of Winchester), the Rev. Silvester Horne, 
 M.P., Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir William Crossley, 
 M.P., and Lady Frederick Cavendish for the purpose 
 of organizing a public presentation to Morel in recognition 
 of his efforts in the cause of humanity. 
 
 The appeal was warmly supported by Press and public, 
 and the presentation was made at a public luncheon in 
 the Whitehall Rooms on May 29, 1911. 
 
 It was a remarkable gathering. In the absence, owing 
 to illness, of the Bishop of Winchester, Lord Cromer 
 presided over an assembly which, as the Daily News 
 
 155
 
 156 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 remarked the next day, " was strikingly representative 
 non-party, unsectarian, international." 
 
 " Its representative character," said another journal, 1 was what 
 struck one most about the meeting. It was a gathering not only 
 of all parties and all creeds in the country, but of many nations. 
 Wherever one turned one saw some face well known in public 
 life. Literature was represented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, . . 
 Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., Mrs. John Richard Green, Sir Percy 
 Bunting, Mr. St. Loe Strachey, Anthony Hope Hawkins, Mr. 
 Stead and Silas Hocking. The Mayor of Birkenhead was resplen- 
 dent in his chain of office. The Churches added their tribute through 
 Bishop Taylor Smith, Canon Barnett, the Rev. Silvester Home, M.P., 
 Dr. Scott Lidgett, and many others too numerous to mention. 
 Politics, the Press, Commerce, were all well represented. Other 
 countries sent distinguished guests. Belgium sent the eloquent 
 Labour leader Emile Vandervelde ; France sent Pierre Mille, 
 President of the International Congo League, and Felicien Challaye, 
 of the French Congo League. Germany, Switzerland and the United 
 States were all present in their representatives. Africa joined in 
 the demonstration, four or five ebony faces adding a picturesque 
 touch of colour to the occasion. . . ." 
 
 A Hero's Work. 
 
 Prevented by illness from presiding at the luncheon, 
 the Bishop of Winchester sent an eloquent letter : 
 
 " I should have counted it," he writes, " as one of the most genuine 
 honours of my life to fill that chair. I do not expect ever to have 
 a second quite like it. . . . 
 
 " I believe Mr. Morel to have done a hero's work, with a hero's 
 motive and a hero's courage, and across difficulties which make 
 a hero's task never more difficult than in our complex modern 
 day. ... I am not ashamed to believe and say that for a great 
 moral emergency the providence of God gave us the man. 
 
 " With unswerving zeal Mr. Morel followed up and tracked out 
 the facts. With incredible patience and unblundering thoroughness 
 and skill, without shrinking from the weariness of constant insistence 
 and repetition, with untiring use of a pen which cut like steel through 
 pretences and evasions and falsehoods, he compelled us to hear 
 and understand and judge, he fought his way through to the 
 attention of the slow but honest conscience of the nation. 
 
 * The Baptist Times, June 2, 1911.
 
 VICTORY 157 
 
 " In doing this, he ran tremendous risks : risks of life and of the 
 means of living, risks of reputation and position, far greater than 
 are publicly known or can be publicly said. He had against him 
 enormous material forces, and forces whose moral unscrupulousness 
 has become a byword. He had against him, too, all the weight 
 of inertia, preoccupation and indifference, international and 
 other. 
 
 " We ourselves, who applaud him to-day, were watching him 
 carefully for the signs of the fanatic or the intriguer. These signs 
 we never found. . . . We perceived that he not merely described 
 atrocities, or denounced crimes, but that he kept steadily before 
 him an ideal sound, practical, truly commercial, but above all 
 really just, of European conduct to the races of Africa. We saw 
 that his antagonism was not to this or that abuse, but to a system 
 which was in every respect the defiant opposite of what his conscience 
 and reason taught him to regard as alone possible and tolerable for 
 the civilized action of Europe to-day. . . . 
 
 " His was a great achievement. ... It was, as I believe, one of 
 those achievements which become part of our permanent moral 
 capital. The world's battle against slavery is not yet fought out 
 . . . the forces of cruel and selfish exploitation will not easily 
 be curbed or trodden under. God grant us Morels from time to 
 time to fight them, as this one has been fought, ... by the friend 
 to whom I desire to join you and our welcome guests from abroad 
 in toasting with affection and honour." 
 
 Lord Cromer's Tribute. 
 
 
 " Mr. Morel," said Lord Cromer in the opening speech, 
 
 " has stormed the citadel, not only of British but of 
 European opinion. Without his indomitable energy, 
 without his perseverance, without his disinterestedness 
 and his unbounded enthusiasm, it is perhaps open to 
 considerable doubt whether the reform of the Congo 
 would have been taken in hand at all." 
 
 But perhaps the most noteworthy of the tributes to 
 Morel's work on this occasion were those paid by M. Emile 
 Vandervelde, the leader of the Belgian Socialist party, 
 and two Frenchmen, M. Pierre Mille, President for 
 France of the International League for the Defence of the 
 Natives of the Congo Basin, and M. Felicien Challaye,
 
 158 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 President of the French League for the Defence of the 
 Natives of the Congo Basin. 
 
 The speeches of these three distinguished visitors, so 
 far as they relate to Morel's central contention in his long 
 campaign against the concessionaire system in tropical 
 Africa, have already been referred to. 2 The following 
 extracts, which are of a more personal nature, have not, 
 however, been given before : 
 
 " It is with all my heart," declared M. Vandervelde, " that I 
 associate myself with you to render homage to E. D. Morel, in the 
 name of my country, which is beginning to do him justice, and in 
 the name of the natives of the Congo also. . . . 
 
 " It will perhaps be the best and most honourable remembrance 
 of my life to have been at his side, to have shared with him in some 
 part the attacks, the outrageous charges, the calumnies with which 
 he has been deluged. . . . 
 
 " If I have done anything, it has been through following his 
 advice and being inspired by his example. . . . 
 
 " To-day we salute Morel as the organizer of victory, the pioneer 
 workman ; he who was already striving while others slept, he who 
 compelled the blind to see, the deaf to hear, he who has saved 
 the peoples of the Congo by appealing incessantly, indefatigably to 
 the conscience of the civilized world. Thanks, Morel, in the name 
 of Belgium ! Thanks in the name of the natives ! " 
 
 " There are friendships," said M. Pierre Mille, " which include 
 both respect and adnuration. The friendship I have for Morel 
 is of that kind. ... I have admired his great heart, his generosity, 
 his disinterestedness, his magnificent energy ; and I have admired, 
 also, the country to which he belongs. In England, when a man 
 stands up against injustice and crime, you do not meet with individuals 
 who, acting for I do not know what vile personal interests, accuse 
 him of being venal. You find still less in this country idiots to believe 
 in it. ... I salute Morel because he has been the heroic promoter 
 of a great huoian work. I salute England. ... I console myself a 
 little with the thought that in the veins of Morel there flows some 
 French blood." 
 
 A most eloquent tribute was that paid to Morel by 
 M. Felicien Challaye : - 
 
 " I am happy to bring to him," he said, " the homage of France, 
 of the better France. The qualities which he has shown in this 
 
 2 See Chapter V.
 
 VICTORY 159 
 
 struggle are amongst those which are most calculated to impress 
 the French spirit, such as the centuries have formed it. The 
 France of St. Louis can salute this apostle of the latest of the crusades ; 
 the France of Corneille can exalt his heroism, classic in its nature ; 
 the France of the Revolution can acclaim this great revolutionary 
 who succeeded in suppressing from the map of the world a State, 
 a tyranny, a despotism the most odious of tyrannies, the most 
 abject of despotisms ; Napoleonic France can applaud the courage 
 which he showed in this struggle and in this labour ; the France of 
 the twentieth century must admire in him the harmony of the 
 qualities which appeal to us to-day as the highest of human virtues, 
 the love of truth, and the passion for justice." 
 
 A Significant Speech. 
 
 Following upon speeches by Mr. Alfred Emmott, M.P. 
 (now Lord Emmott), the Rev. Silvester Home, Mr. 
 Fabian Ware, editor of the Morning Post who said of 
 Morel : "I have never seen such a fighter. . . . There 
 is no position in diplomacy that Mr. Morel could not 
 fill with distinction " M. Rene Claparede, and Herr 
 Ludwig Dueus, Presidents respectively of the Swiss and 
 German Leagues for the Defence of the Natives of the 
 Congo Basin, and Mr. Robert Whyte, of the American 
 Presbyterian Missionary Society, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
 presented Morel with a cheque for 4,00,0 guineas and a 
 bronze statuette of a Congo chief by Mr. Herbert Ward, 
 and Mrs. Morel with a jewel and a portrait of her husband 
 by Mr. William Rothenstein. 
 
 In returning thanks Morel used words which later 
 events have touched with a strange significance : 
 
 " We are all watching to-day," he said, " the advance the 
 astounding advance if we cast our minds back but a few years 
 of a great ideal which seeks to substitute something more Christian 
 and more rational than the sword as the arbiter of disputes between 
 various sections of the white race beginning with the two great 
 sister nations. Some may think its eventual realization impossible. 
 Others will feel that its progress is swaying vast and, for the most 
 part, silent masses of men as perhaps they have never been swayed 
 before, with a common hope and a common longing. None will
 
 160 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 deny that the subject has now become one of world-wide discus- 
 sion, not among idealists or enthusiasts only, but among practical 
 statesmen. 
 
 " That in itself is a very wonderful thing, and if this wonderful 
 thing has come about, is it not possible, I would ask, for an actual 
 understanding to be reached affecting many millions of another race 
 for whose destinies the white race is responsible, and presenting 
 infinitely fewer difficulties to realize ? " 
 
 The Future of Tropical Africa. 
 
 Turning to the future of tropical Africa, Morel 
 said : 
 
 " Between the White Nile and Zanzibar, between Zanzibar and 
 Senegal, between the Sahara and the Gulf of Guinea, lies that 
 vast belt of Equatorial Africa which must emphatically be considered 
 the black man's country. 
 
 " This enormous region, as large as Europe, has two peculi- 
 arities. . . . 
 
 " It is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, storehouses of vege- 
 table riches in the world. Its people are on the whole . . . the 
 most helpless in the world in the face of modern engines of 
 coercion. 
 
 " Victims for several centuries of the oversea slave trade, they 
 are to-day threatened by the same evil in inverted form. The modern 
 agency . . . aims at their enslavement in their own homes, starting 
 from a basis of confiscation of their land, proceeding to claim the 
 products of that land, and concluding by a claim to dispose of the 
 labour of the country. 
 
 " We have seen these agencies, pushed to the full length of their 
 logical sequence, at work in the Congo. . . . The Congo became a 
 forcing house for the propagation of poisonous seeds, seeds which 
 the wind carried hither and thither. . . . 
 
 " For the time being the evil has been checked, its most revolting 
 excesses, 1 hope, altogether destroyed. But it is not killed, and 
 may be expected to work more subtly in the future. I do not 
 think . . . we can fail to detect a revival among much material 
 prosperity, perhaps on account of it of the slave spirit in dealing 
 with the coloured races. . . . 
 
 " I suggest that the time has come when public opinion should . . . 
 bring organized pressure to bear upon those Governments who be- 
 tween them control the destinies of tropical Africa, with the object 
 of securing that certain broad lines of policy be laid down for the
 
 VICTORY 161 
 
 government of these vast regions. I suggest that ... a Charter of 
 Rights for the unrepresented millions of the African tropics should 
 be drawn up. . . ." 
 
 In Morel's view the peoples of Europe should take the 
 lead in bringing about an International Conference 
 
 " based, not upon pious resolutions hiding political ambitions, 
 but upon practical common sense, upon a sentiment of responsi- 
 bility, with the acquired knowledge of what constitutes for these 
 African peoples, socially, economically and humanly, the just and 
 the indispensable. . . . 
 
 " If this thought . . . found an echo in the minds of the many 
 men of eminence and influence here to-day, the cause of human 
 peace, happiness and progress might be extended to a field where 
 its pressure in constructive form is very greatly needed." 
 
 " We have Won, Gentlemen." 
 
 Gradually the incessant agitation of years was doing 
 its work. One by one the reforms demanded by Morel 
 and his devoted co-workers were being conceded. One 
 by one the evils which had oppressed the Congo for so 
 long were crumbling away. By May 1913 3 very little 
 was left to be done. The entire Leopoldian policy had 
 been completely abandoned. The atrbcities had ceased. 
 The Concessionaire Companies had either vanished or 
 had been reduced to impotence, and with their disappear- 
 ance the swarms of irregular levies which had terrorized 
 the countryside had also gone. A responsible Govern- 
 ment had replaced an irresponsible despotism. The 
 rubber tax had been abolished. Freedom of teade over 
 the greater part of the territory had been restored, and 
 the right of the natives to free access to the land for the 
 purpose of gathering its natural products had been con- 
 ceded. One or two further points were yet to be secured, 
 
 3 In this month Morel xrae invited to give an address on the govern- 
 ment of tropical Africa at the New University, Brussels, and did so. 
 M. Vandervelde presided. 
 
 11
 
 162 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 and an influentially signed memorial was sent to Sir 
 Edward Grey urging that the natives should also be 
 entitled to free access to the land for the purpose of 
 cultivating products such as 
 
 " cocoa, rubber, cotton, ground-nuts, maize and other tropical 
 produce." 
 
 A few more months of work, a little more diplomatic 
 correspondence with the Foreign Office, and the further 
 matters at issue were conceded, so that, on April 25, 1913, 
 Morel was able to declare that " in view of the immense 
 and steady improvement " which had taken place, the 
 Congo Reform Association would no longer be justified, 
 in his opinion, in opposing the official recognition by the 
 British Government of the annexation. 
 
 " We have won, gentlemen," said he, addressing the 
 Executive Committee of his Association. " We have 
 won a victory which, in my humble opinion, has saved 
 the African tropics from a permanent yoke of slavery, 
 greatly improved for good the administration of all 
 responsible Governments in that part of the world, and 
 rescued generations yet unborn from a cruel and de- 
 structive fate." 
 
 " We have achieved what we started out to accomplish," 
 said Sir Gilbert Parker at the same meeting. " We have 
 got at least decent government on the whole for the natives 
 of the Congo ; we have got freedom from slavery and 
 from a tyranny which one may not improperly call a 
 bloody and a cruel tyranny, and in that view ... I 
 strongly support Mr. Morel's suggestion and advice that 
 we do no longer withhold our approval of the recognition 
 of the annexation." 
 
 Following this the British Government decided to 
 recognize officially the Congo as a Belgian colony, and 
 in announcing this decision to the House of Commons
 
 VICTORY 163 
 
 (May 29, 1913) Sir Edward Grey said : " In making the 
 announcement ... we are happily in a position of doing 
 what is morally right and justifiable, as well as politically 
 expedient. It is not always that these two things go 
 together, but I have always hoped that this long chapter 
 of complaint and trouble in connection with the Congo 
 would be closed in some such way as it has been closed 
 to-day." 
 
 The Final Meeting. 
 
 On July 16, 1913, at the Westminster Palace Hotel, 
 the final meeting of the Congo Reform Association was held. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., presided over a notable 
 assembly, which included the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 the Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Cromer, whilst mes- 
 sages of congratulation were received from many of the 
 most distinguished men in Britain, France, and Belgium. 
 Of these the following four may be quoted : 
 
 The Archbishop of York. " I cannot allow the opportunity 
 to pass without sending a word of deep gratitude to you for your 
 courageous and persistent advocacy of the claims of the natives 
 of the Congo. ... It will be a lifelong satisfaction to you to know 
 that it was given to you to do a work so remarkable on behalf of 
 justice and humanity." 
 
 The Earl of Aberdeen, Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland. " The fare- 
 well proceedings of the Association will surely and rightly consist 
 largely in an offer of a tribute of homage to the man who above 
 all has been the stimulating and guiding force in the movement. 
 He has thus earned a notable place in the true roll oJ fame, and 
 the name of E. D. Morel will be held in grateful admiration and 
 esteem with the permanence that no titular distinction could 
 secure." 
 
 Sir Valentine Chirol of the " Times." " I shall always feel 
 proud to have been able to lend a helping hand, in however small 
 a way, to the admirable work which you undertook with much 
 unselfish devotion, and carried to a successful issue with such 
 conspicuous ability and untiring energy."
 
 164 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Sir Edward Russell of the Liverpool " Daily Post" " There is 
 no one who has a higher idea of your work, or of the heroism and 
 power with which you have pursued it to a successful result. ... I 
 hope the meeting will be a most triumphant memorial of what has 
 been a magnificent victory over extraordinary and peculiar powers 
 of darkness." 
 
 Tributes to Morel. 
 
 It is difficult in such a book as this to convey at all 
 adequately to the reader the remarkable nature of the 
 tributes which were paid to Morel on this occasion by the 
 distinguished speakers. One can but quote a few of 
 them without comment. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P, " I believe that through the movement 
 fostered and controlled by this Association, with a sanity that is 
 not always displayed in such movements, there has been revealed 
 to the consciences of the nations of the world a new and vivid 
 sense of the duty of civilized Governments to native races whom 
 they force or invite into the paths of civilization. . . . But the 
 sanity of the method which has produced this result had its origin 
 in the work of our friend, and the friend of humanity, Mr. E. D. 
 Morel." 
 
 The Bishop of Winchester. " We have learned . . . that there 
 is in the conscience of humanity, and may I hope and believe more 
 especially in the conscience of British humanity, an immense 
 latent force for zeal, and for truth and humanity, and justice, that 
 wants focusing and precipitating. 
 
 " And to do that, what is wanted is the action of a leader of men, 
 who will bring to it devotion, unswerving diligence and industry, 
 the great power of patiently and vividly interpreting to his fellow- 
 men what the real issues are, and who will hold on his way in 
 spite of calumny, in spite of resistance when the cause seems to 
 gain nothing, as well as when the cause has hopes of winning. 
 We have found such a man in this cause. We believe that God 
 raises up such men from time to time. Such men are needed, and 
 we found him for this agitation, this reform, this movement which 
 has been brought to a conclusion. In thanking God for that, 
 we thank the man to whom, I believe, under God, we owe it 
 E. D. Morel." 
 
 Dr. Clifford. " Eternal vigilance is the price of human progress, 
 and it is only as we raise men, or rather, shall I say, as God raises
 
 VICTORY 165 
 
 men like Mr. Morel, heroic in temper, persistent in industry, saga- 
 cious in planning, persuasive in advocacy, indomitable in pluck, 
 that it is possible for the evils that afflict humanity to be removed." 
 
 Sir Harry Johnston. " The great value of his work has not only 
 been the soul that he put into it, and the passionate declamation 
 that he made in speech and writing, but the great accuracy of his 
 statistics. . . . What this David beat down this Goliath with was 
 the unanswerable accuracy of the facts that he collected to prove 
 his case. . . . Mr. Morel, among other services he has rendered, has 
 brought home to us as a matter of African policy that the best and 
 most profitable way of developing all these regions is to develop 
 them through the races that naturally inhabit them." 
 
 The Rev. Scott Lidgett. " It has been great for this man to arrest 
 the British public . . . and to arouse its conscience, and to secure 
 that welding together of churches and parties and of all those who 
 love the well-being of humanity, in a way that has been unprecedented, 
 I think, since perhaps the time when Wilberforce embodied the con- 
 science of England generations ago. . . . We thank God for such 
 a gift to the twentieth century as Mr. Morel. We trust in God's 
 providence that there is some yet greater work, if it be possible, 
 for him to do to keep alive this great fire which he has kindled and 
 to win upon new fields of service the endless gratitude of those who, 
 but for the tenderness of his heart and the chivalry of his character, 
 were ready to perish." 
 
 The Earl of Mayo. " Mr. Morel is a fine speaker, a good fellow 
 and a hard worker. I must say that if I was in a tight corner any- 
 where I should like to have a man like Mr. Morel alongside me. ... I 
 hope to meet him in some other sphere, and that he will turn his hand 
 to bettering the condition of some other peoples throughout the 
 world in the same way that he has benefited the Congo natives." 
 
 Mr. T. L. Gilmour of the " Morning Post." " The first great 
 London daily paper which took up this Congo question was the 
 Morning Post. ... It was my good fortune ... to bring together 
 Mr. Morel and the man who at that time was in coirtrol of the 
 policy of that paper, Mr. Oliver Borthwick, the only son of Lord 
 Glenesk. . . . After Mr. Morel had left, I naturally had a conversa- 
 tion on the subject with Mr. Borthwick, and . . . what he said 
 was this : ' Here is a big sane man with a good case, and we must 
 support him.' . . . How is it that Mr. Morel was able ... to obtain 
 the support of a paper which ... is not, I think, . . . influenced by 
 sentimental considerations ? It was because ... he was so particular 
 in always seeing that his facts were accurate. He did not approach 
 this question from the sentimental point of view, but from the point
 
 166 THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 of view of statesmanship, and I venture to think that the real 
 service which Mr. Morel has rendered to the British people is not 
 limited by his services in connection with the Congo, but extends 
 to a much wider field.'' 
 
 Mr. Robert Donald, editor of the " Daily Chronicle." 4i I think 
 that one of his (Mr. Morel's) greatest achievements was when he 
 created enthusiasm for his cause in newspaper offices, which are 
 generally full of cynics. ... As far as the Press of this country 
 is concerned, it had never a better leader or a nobler cause." 
 
 The Rev. C. Wilson, secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. 
 " I think I may venture on behalf of the missionaries to say that it 
 is not a vain hope that as enlightenment spreads in the Congo 
 the people of Africa may come to realize that in the history of their 
 land God raised up a great friend of Africa, the man to whom in 
 this resolution we express our thanks." 
 
 Morel's " Invaluable Services ... to the British 
 People." 
 
 Thus amidst the plaudits of distinguished men and 
 women was Morel in July 1913 thanked for his " invaluable 
 services . . . not only to the natives of the Congo, but 
 to the British people " ; thus, amidst well-nigh universal 
 praise from Press and public, was " one of the most 
 remarkable movements that has ever been witnessed in 
 this country " to quote the Morning Post brought 
 to a triumphant conclusion. 
 
 " The Congo Reform Movement," continued the Morning Post, 
 " was concerned with a very grave and far-reaching issue. What 
 was really at stake was the whole relationship between the govern- 
 ing nations of Europe and the subject races committed to their 
 charge. Had the system set up by the Congo Free State been 
 allowed to survive, it must in the end have infected with its taint 
 the colonial policy of every Great Power. Sooner or later the 
 example of the ruthless exploitation of the natives of the Congo 
 Basin, in the interests of their foreign rulers, would have been 
 imitated elsewhere, and there would even have been a lowering of 
 the standards of those nations which did not succumb to the worst 
 temptations. It is no exaggeration to say, then, that the Congo 
 Reform Association has done a great work in upholding the
 
 VICTORY 167 
 
 ideals of civilization and in rousing the conscience of Europe to 
 realize the duties which every colonizing Power owes to its subject 
 races." 
 
 Compared to Wilberforce. 
 
 From the numerous editorial tributes which were paid 
 to Morel by the Press, we extract two which seem to be 
 of especial interest. This is from the Daily News and 
 Leader : 
 
 " The history of [the Congo Reform Association] is largely the 
 history of the courage and determination of one man. ... It was Mr. 
 E. D. Morel, who will be remembered as having roused the conscience 
 of Europe on the subject, and destroyed the most hideous traffic 
 of modern times. . . . For a long time he fought the battle against 
 Leopold almost single handed. He founded the Congo Reform 
 Association, and through that instrument he forced the subject 
 on the attention of Europe, compelled Leopold to yield, brought 
 about the annexation of the Congo region by Belgium, and succeeded 
 in abolishing the system of forced labour with all its horrors of 
 blood and misery. It is an achievement which will give him an 
 enduring place among the great deliverers of mankind. But it will be 
 asked with some bitterness why it was left to a private citizen to 
 right a gigantic wrong, which was known to every Foreign Minister 
 in Europe." 
 
 And here is the authentic voice of the JZvening Standard : 
 
 " Every single word spoken in praise of Mr. Morel at the last 
 meeting of the Congo Reform Association, which he founded, was 
 thoroughly deserved. By his untiring pertinacity in face of a 
 solid wall of obstruction he has made life tolerable, and even happy, 
 for scores of thousands of Congolese who were living in a Gehenna. . . . 
 Thanks to him, natives are no longer torn from their villages and 
 dragged off to labour on the railway, and in the gol^-mines. For 
 the crime of not getting enough rubber they are no longer lashed 
 with the chicotte of raw hippo hide, with edges like knife blades, 
 or packed into rooms like the Black Hole of Calcutta, till their 
 friends bring in enough rubber. Women are no longer forced to 
 walk forty or fifty miles immediately after childbirth, and their 
 husbands do not have their hands lopped off for the same ' crime.' 
 Mr. E. D. Morel, by stirring up the public conscience, has altered 
 all that, and HIS NAME SHOULD GO DOWN TO POSTERITY WITH THAT 
 OF WILBERFORCE."
 
 168 
 
 It was indeed " roses, roses all the way " for Morel in 
 July 1913. One wonders whether, as he sat and listened 
 to the praises showered upon him, any thought of Brown- 
 ing's poem, and its moral, ever passed across his mind. 
 There is no indication of it in the expressive speech which 
 he made on this occasion, a speech which shows clearly 
 the three main motives which animated him Native 
 Rights, Freedom of Trade, Peace. 
 
 " The native of the Congo," said he, " is once more a free man. 
 His elementary human rights have been restored to him. He 
 is free once more to gather the natural products of his soil, and to 
 dispose of them in legitimate trade. He is free to cultivate his land, 
 both for his own sustenance and for the planting of products of 
 economic value for his enrichment. The rubber tax ' the blood 
 tax ' has been abolished. . . . 
 
 " Freedom of trade has been reintroduced throughout the Congo 
 and thousands of natives who have fled to the recesses of the forest 
 to escape their tormentors are flocking back to their old settlements 
 on the river bank." 
 
 A Great Peace Crusade. 
 
 And just as in his speech at the public presentation 
 two years before he had spoken of the coming of the 
 great ideal which sought to " substitute something more 
 Christian and more rational " for the arbitrament of 
 the sword, so on this final occasion he closed with these 
 solemn and significant words : 
 
 " And so the curtain rings down on our endeavours. In one 
 sense this crijsade, waged amid the strife of pens and the clamour 
 of voices . . . has been a great peace crusade. We have fought 
 war dreadful war war which invaded every village in the Congo 
 and affected every home in every village, and every human unit 
 in every home : war against men, women and little children. Per- 
 manent war. War not waged to vindicate the prestige of the white 
 race, war not waged to restore order or to punish crime, but war 
 waged as a system primarily for the enrichment of a handful of 
 individuals. War which filled the sombre equatorial forest with 
 daily and unspeakable tragedies. And, I would add, war which
 
 VICTORY Ifld 
 
 was known, which had long been known, the purpose of which had long 
 been known, in every Foreign Office in Europe before we knew of it. 
 Yes, it is true, and it should be said to-day that what all Europe 
 should have taken in hand, what it was the duty of all Europe 
 to have taken in hand, and what Europe did not even attempt 
 to take in hand, this Association, rising as a small cloud on the horizon 
 of a tyrant's will, and gathering the force of a tornado which swept 
 him from his African throne this Association has been, in a large 
 measure, able itself to accomplish. 
 
 " And now that our work as an Association is done, I think we 
 can take leave of one another as we part to-day, not again to re- 
 assemble, with the consciousness that each one of us has done his 
 best to play his allotted part ; with the consciousness that we have 
 all worked together for a common purpose, with unselfishness of 
 aim ; that during this our long companionship in arms we have 
 garnered into the chambers of our hearts some precious seeds of 
 charity, of inspiration and of hope, and that, under the providence 
 of God, we have struck a blow for human justice that cannot and 
 will not pass away."
 
 PART III 
 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 CO-OPERATION OR CONFLICT 
 
 Belief in international co-operation Opposes war with France in 1898 
 Always anti-Jingo But dubbed a pro-Frenchman And praised 
 as a super-patriot Growing distrust of secret diplomacy Criticizes 
 Foreign Office methods A dangerous bureaucracy The shadow 
 of war Was an Anglo-German conflict inevitable ? Morocco in 
 Diplomacy. 
 
 As we have seen, in perusing the earlier chapters of this 
 book, Morel has always been imbued with a firm belief in 
 the virtues of international co-operation, and therefore, 
 as a natural consequence, with a profound detestation of 
 war as a method of " settling " national differences. As 
 far back as 1898, when a young man of twenty-five, he 
 opposed with all his strength the forces which were seeking 
 to drive Britain and France into armed conflict on the subject 
 of West Africa. 1 When the Daily Mail was threatening 
 to " roll France in mud and blood " Morel stood out against 
 the clamour, and, whilst admitting, and indeed demonstrat- 
 ing, the general nature of the grievances under which British 
 interests were labouring as the result of French policy in 
 West Africa, he, at the risk of being dubbed a " pro-French- 
 man," pleaded for a calm consideration of these matters 
 and pointed out that the difficulties in question could more 
 easily be removed by the exercise of a little reason and 
 moderation on both sides. " Quite so," some of his opponents 
 may remark, " always against Britain. The friend of 
 every country but his own ! " Not at all. For at the very 
 
 1 See Chapter III. 
 173
 
 174 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 time that he was opposing the Jingoes in this country who 
 were clamouring for war with France over West Africa 
 he was also opposing the French Jingoes or Chauvinists 
 who were instrumental in sending Major Marchand to Fashoda 
 an act, in Morel's opinion, of pure aggression. And, as has 
 been mentioned, so highly did he, in his book on Nigeria, 
 praise the work of the British administrators there, that 
 the Outlook was actually concerned lest some people should 
 think him " a mere creature of patriotic prejudice." No, 
 to Morel, as to others, a just and honourable peace has 
 ever been one of the " highest of British interests " ; indeed, 
 he would probably extend this statement and say that 
 it is one of the highest interests of civilization. So it is 
 not strange that on the triumph of his twelve years' labour 
 in the cause of Congo Reform he should have chosen 
 the very moment of victory to declare, in the presence 
 of many of the highest in the land, that that campaign, 
 in his opinion, was " a great peace crusade." 
 
 Growing Distrust of Secret Diplomacy. 
 
 In the course of his work for a greater international 
 co-operation in the business of the world, and in particular 
 through his labours for Congo Reform, Morel naturally 
 came into " close contact with the methods of international 
 diplomacy, and with the proceedings of diplomats." 
 
 " The experience," he said, " of pursuing a specific aim and 
 steering a single course, in season and out of season, for eleven years 
 on end, through the tortuosities of diplomatic shuffling, of removing 
 one obstacle only to find another in its place, of personal intercourse 
 with diplomatists here and elsewhere, with journalists in their 
 councils and obedient to their will, with permanent officials, Ministers 
 and politicians, and with the flotsam and jetsam which crowd the 
 diplomatic corridors this experience gave me an insight into the 
 workings of what is called ' diplomacy ' granted, I think, to few 
 men outside the ring and not to all within it." * 
 
 * Personal Foreword to Truth and the. War, p. 37.
 
 CO-OPERATION OR CONFLICT 175 
 
 And we have seen, as the Congo Reform Movement 
 developed, and as Morel was brought at so many points 
 into intimate relations with the Foreign Office, how he 
 became more and more deeply dissatisfied with the spirit 
 by which that great department of the State was animated, 
 and with the methods by which it conducted its work. 
 That is why his book Great Britain and the Congo is 
 of such special interest to all who wish to understand the 
 secret and the consistency of Morel's career. He had seen 
 at close quarters the workings of secret diplomacy, and 
 the sight appalled him. He saw how divorced the Foreign 
 Office was from the great sincerities of existence. 
 
 In a striking passage he held up to scorn the official picture 
 " of anxious Ministers, holding innumerable and mysterious 
 strings of the greatest delicacy ; of a Government depart- 
 ment harassed, but steeped in wisdom, searching with saga- 
 cious eye the by-ways of world-politics, bending a penetrating 
 gaze upon the mystic recesses of dark intrigue, moving 
 only when assured of absolute success, loftily indifferent, in 
 the profundity and all-embracing sweep of its trained outlook, 
 to these rash and clamorous voices from outside, beyond 
 the pale of official sapiency." 3 He made it clear that, 
 in his opinion, this picture was false in every detail, and 
 that secret diplomacy, instead of being steeped in wisdom, 
 straightforward, and incapable of error, was in reality, 
 narrow, ill-informed, tortuous in its methods, and continually 
 making the most fatuous and humiliating mistakes. Such 
 was the opinion, right or wrong, he had already^ in 1909, 
 formed of secret diplomacy. 
 
 " It was given me to see behind the veil," he wrote six years 
 later, " and to realize how utterly at the mercy of a bureaucracy 
 working in darkness and in secrecy were the peoples, not of Africa 
 only, but of Europe ; a bureaucracy rooted in obsolete traditions, 
 badly informed, out of touch with and supremely indifferent to 
 
 3 Great Britain and the Congo, p. 245.
 
 176 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 the human pulse, cynically and openly contemptuous of moral 
 conduct, deeming the finest of arts the art successfully to lie, living 
 in a world walled round by narrow prejudices, and absorbed in the 
 prosecution of rivalries for the attainment of objects bearing not 
 the remotest relation to the well-being or fundamental needs of 
 the masses, whose destinies that bureaucracy held in the hollow 
 of its hands." 4 
 
 The Shadow of War. 
 
 Further, as public feeling in support of Congo Reform 
 deepened and grew in volume, Morel became aware that 
 the reluctance of the Foreign Office to move in the direction 
 towards which public opinion was urging it was due in 
 some considerable measure to the fear lest action on its 
 part should disturb, with disastrous consequences, the 
 delicate balance of international relationships. " If this 
 question," said Sir Edward Grey (May 27, 1909), " were 
 rashly handled it might make a European question compared 
 to which those which we have had to deal with in the last 
 few months might be child's play."s Across the fair land- 
 scape of the Continent there lay a great shadow the shadow 
 of impending conflict between the two great armed alliances 
 into which Europe was then divided a shadow which seemed 
 to be growing slowly deeper. Already, in 1909, there were 
 people who declared that war between England and Germany 
 was, sooner or later, " inevitable." Morel recognized the 
 existence of the forces which were making for an international 
 conflict, and determined to combat them. The prospect 
 of such an outbreak appalled him. It would, as he clearly 
 saw, set 'back the clock of civilization for a century. " I 
 believe," said he, writing on February 29, 1912, " that 
 no greater disaster could befall both peoples, and all that 
 is most worthy of preservation in modern civilization, 
 than a war between them." 6 But was such a war " inevit- 
 
 4 Personal Foreword to Truth and the War, p. xxxvii. 
 
 5 Quoted in Great Britain and the Congo, p. 238. 
 8 Introduction to Morocco in Diplomacy.
 
 CO-OPERATION OR CONFLICT 177 
 
 able " ? What were the forces which were making for 
 international enmity in Europe ? From what situation 
 did they arise, and could their course be diverted ? These 
 were some of the questions which Morel, as soon as his 
 Congo work was accomplished, set himself to answer. The 
 first outcome of his investigations was a series of important 
 articles in British and French newspapers and magazines 
 (including five articles entitled " How Wars are Made " 
 in the Daily News, October 1911), and following upon these 
 there came his book, Morocco in Diplomacy (Smith, Elder & 
 Co.), which appeared in the spring of 1912. 
 
 12
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 
 
 An attempt to avert war The Moroccan question The secret clauses 
 of 1904 The crisis of 1905 The Kaiser's visit to Tangier Press 
 agitation The fall of Delcass^ The Act of Algeciras and its 
 sequel Fez and Agadir The crisis of 1911 The Mansion House 
 speech Public opinion at fever-heat Morel criticizes Foreign Office 
 " A satire upon civilization " Embittered feeling in Germany 
 " Is there a way out ? " Morel's three suggestions No secret 
 commitments The position of Germany " The only sound policy " 
 An unheeded warning. 
 
 Morocco in Diplomacy was written in the hope of 
 averting a European war. 
 
 In 1911, over the question of Morocco, the Great Powers 
 had been brought, to the edge of the abyss. They had 
 caught a glimpse of its infernal depths, and, shivering, 
 had drawn back for a little space. 
 
 But the peril remained. The forces which had driven 
 the nations so far on the road to destruction were still 
 active. Presently, if something were not done to 
 counteract them, they would succeed and the war 
 would ensue. 
 
 This, at any rate, was Morel's view, and for this reason 
 he wrote his book. It was written, he said, three years 
 later (December 1914), 
 
 " in the hopes of helping to avert a catastrophe such as has now 
 overwhelmed us. It was a chapter of the mistaken policy which 
 already in 1911 had made the present European war a threatening 
 
 176
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 179 
 
 possibility. It was a passionate and hopeless appeal to get that 
 policy abandoned while it was still time." l 
 
 And in another place he wrote : 
 
 " The investigation " (of the Morocco question) " conveyed the 
 certainty, at any rate to the investigator, that after the words that 
 had been uttered and the facts that had transpired, a European war 
 in the near future, a war which would involve the British people, 
 was virtually inevitable unless certain things occurred. The 
 only possible way to save the situation, so it seemed to me, was by 
 making the true facts known to the British public, in the hope that 
 the publication of them might lead to a revulsion of feeling, and to 
 a clearer comprehension of the German case, and thereby provok- 
 ing a full and frank discussion in Parliament as to the real character 
 of our official relations with France, and therefore, contingently 
 with Russia, to whose Government official France was bound in 
 a military and political alliance. To these ends ... I published 
 . . . Morocco in Diplomacy . . . and in writing it I believed that 
 I was performing a useful and patriotic if somewhat painful task. 
 My objects were not misjudged at the time, even by those who 
 disagreed with the deductions I drew from the marshalling of facts, 
 which to this day remain absolutely unchallenged." a 
 
 And the book itself was dedicated 
 
 To Those 
 
 Who Believe the Establishment of 
 Friendlier Relations between 
 
 France and Germany 
 
 To be essential to the Prosperity and Welfare 
 
 Of the British and German peoples and to the 
 
 Maintenance of the World's Peace 
 
 And to 
 
 Those who are persuaded that the acceptance of 
 national liabilities towards Foreign Powers by 
 Secret Commitments withheld from the British 
 People, is both a menance to the security of the 
 State and a betrayal of the National trust. 
 
 1 Preface to the first edition of a reprint of Morocco in Diplomacy, 
 published under the title of Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy : an Unheeded 
 Warning (Nat. Lab. Press, Ltd. 1915). 
 
 Personal Foreword to Truth and the War (Nat. Lab. Press, Ltd. 1916).
 
 180 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 The Morocco Question. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible in the course of a short chapter 
 to give anything like an adequate summary of the facts 
 and conclusions put forward, in a highly detailed and elaborate 
 form, in this important book. It is necessary, however, 
 in order to make Morel's position intelligible to those who 
 have not studied his writings, and who perhaps are not in 
 agreement with his present political attitude, to say some- 
 thing about the Morocco question as viewed by him in 
 Morocco and Diplomacy, giving the salient facts there 
 presented as far as possible in his own words. 
 
 The story of this question begins in the year 1880, when 
 an International Conference, in which Britain, France, 
 Spain and Germany took part, was held at Madrid, and 
 it was decided that all nations should in future enjoy equality 
 of treatment in Morocco. Years went by, and then, in 
 1901, some tension, owing to frontier difficulties, having 
 arisen between France and Morocco, the Sultan of Morocco 
 sent a mission to Paris, and an agreement was drawn up 
 between the two countries, based upon " respect for the 
 integrity of the Shereefian Empire on the one hand and, 
 on the other, an improvement in the situation affecting 
 the close neighbourhood between them." 3 
 
 In spite of this agreement, however, the French Foreign 
 Minister (M. Delcasse), in the very same year secretly pro- 
 posed to Spain that the two countries should divide Morocco 
 between them, but the British Government, getting to hear 
 of this, put pressure upon Spain, and the negotiations were 
 broken off. 4 
 
 The Secret Clauses. 
 
 In 1904, the relations between Britain and France having 
 improved and deepened into the entente cordiale, the two 
 
 3 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 15. 
 
 4 These facts were not revealed until 1911, ten years later.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 181 
 
 Powers made a joint public declaration on the subject 
 of Morocco and Egypt, the first two articles of which con- 
 tained the following sentences : 
 
 " His Britannic Majesty's Government declare that they have 
 no intention of altering the political status of Egypt." 
 
 " The Government of the French Republic declare that they have 
 no intention of altering the political status of Morocco." 
 
 But there was also a secret article which ran : 
 
 " In the event of either Government finding itself constrained 
 by the force of circumstances to modify the policy in respect to 
 Egypt and Morocco the engagements which they have undertaken 
 (in other articles) remain intact." 
 
 This was in April. In the following October another 
 public declaration was made, this time by France and 
 Spain. This was to the effect that both Powers 
 
 " remain firmly attached to the integrity of the Moorish Empire 
 under the sovereignty of the Sultan." 
 
 But on the very same occasion the two Powers entered 
 into a secret convention (of which the British Government 
 was cognizant) arranging for the future'partition of Morocco 
 
 " in case the continuance of the political status of Morocco and 
 the Sliereefian Government should become impossible or if, owing 
 to the weakness of that Government and to its continued inability 
 to uphold law and order, or to any other cause, the existence of which 
 is acknowledged by both parties, the status quo can no longer be 
 maintained." 5 s 
 
 For some reason or other M. Delcasse neglected to give 
 official notification to Germany of these two public declara- 
 tions, 6 and he then " suddenly pitched a veritable cargo 
 
 5 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 60. 
 
 6 The secret clauses, of course, were not notified to any one. They were 
 first published to the world, in Le Temps and Le Matin, in November 
 1911, seven years later!
 
 182 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 of reforms at the head of the Sultan, and peremptorily 
 demanded immediate compliance." 7 
 
 The Crisis of 1905. 
 
 In the meantime Germany's suspicions had been 
 aroused, partly owing to indiscretions in the Paris 
 Press hinting at the existence of the " secret articles," 
 and, on March 31, 1905, the Kaiser visited Tangier, and 
 in a speech to the Sultan's representatives made the 
 following declaration : 
 
 " I am determined to do all that is in my power to safeguard 
 efficaciously the interests of Germany in Morocco. I look upon 
 the Sultan as an absolutely independent sovereign." 8 
 
 " At the same time," 9 says Morel, " the Sultan, doubtless 
 at Germany's suggestion, issued a Note to all the signatory 
 Powers of the Madrid Convention, suggesting a further 
 International Conference upon the affairs of his country 
 and Europe's connection therewith. This the German 
 Government promptly accepted." I0 
 
 Now the British public knew nothing about the above- 
 mentioned secret cl'auses. They therefore looked upon the 
 Kaiser's declaration as an attempt " to break up the Anglo- 
 French Entente." Ir The newspapers the Times in par- 
 ticular worked up a violent agitation, " incited," said 
 Morel, " both in England and France, by the * diplomatic 
 machine ' concerned in working for the execution the secret 
 arrangements of 1914." Ia " M. Delcasse was represented 
 as the unhappy victim of German resentment for the leading 
 part he had played in concluding the Anglo-French general 
 settlement." *3 " Germany's right to a say in the Moroccan 
 settlement is scornfully denied. The idea of a Conference 
 
 7 Truth and the War, p. 77. 8 See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 75. 
 9 As a fact on May 30th. I0 Truth and the War, p. 77. 
 
 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 77. Ibid. p. 76. '3 Ibid. p. 78.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 183 
 
 is violently opposed." M " Its object," said a Paris dispatch 
 in the Times (May 2nd), " could only be to revise or stultify 
 the agreement recently concluded by France, and to give 
 Germany a voice in matters with which she had nothing 
 to do." '5 
 
 Eventually, on June 7, M. Delcasse, who had been resisting 
 the idea of a Conference, was overruled by his colleagues 
 in the French Cabinet, and resigned, his fall being erroneously 
 attributed, in the British Press, to a German ultimatum 
 and " the Sultan's suggestion for a Conference, advised 
 by the Germans, was accepted, first by Italy, then by Austria, 
 then by the other Powers in succession, and, finally, by 
 France and Britain." l6 
 
 The Act of Algeciras. 
 
 The Conference met at Algeciras in February 1906, 1 ? and 
 eventually, after protracted discussions, an Act was drawn 
 up " in the name of God Almighty," based " upon the three- 
 fold principle of the sovereignty and independence of His 
 Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his dominions, and 
 economic liberty without any inequality," l8 conferring 
 " certain strictly limited police powe?s upon France and 
 Spain " J 9 and providing " for the international capitalization 
 of certain European enterprises in Morocco." 20 This Act 
 of Algeciras was finally ratified on June 18, 1906. " The 
 integrity of Morocco," said Morel, " and the independence 
 
 J 4 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 78. 
 
 '5 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 79. 
 
 16 Ibid. p. 90. 
 
 J 7 It was at this time, as revealed to the House of Commons on August 3, 
 1914, that Sir Edward Grey was approached by the French Ambassador 
 in London and consented to the initiation of the famous secret " con- 
 versations " between France and England. But this fact, of course, 
 was not known to Morel at the time he wrote Morocco in Diplomacy. 
 
 18 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 27. 
 
 J 9 Truth and the War, p. 79. 
 
 - Ibid.
 
 184 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 of its Government had been solemnly proclaimed by the 
 Powers." 2I 
 
 The story of the succeeding five years, as related by Morel 
 in Morocco in Diplomacy, is complicated by a vast mass 
 of detail, most interesting indeed to those who wish to 
 study the history of the Morocco crisis, but impossible 
 to compress within a short compass. Morel's view was 
 that, during these years, " the French Imperialists treated 
 the Algeciras Act like waste paper," and that " they proceeded 
 systematically to conquer and absorb Morocco by direct 
 military action and piecemeal occupation, 22 by fomenting 
 internal discord, and by financial combinations which 
 strangled the revenues of the Moorish Government " 2 3 
 whilst " every step they took was applauded, and every 
 criticism thereon in Germany was denounced, by the offi- 
 cially inspired British Press." 2 4 And this view he supported 
 with an amazing body of evidence, pieced together with 
 great care from various sources and fully " documented," 
 as the French would say, by references in every case to the 
 authorities from which his facts and quotations were taken. 
 It is this habit of his of carefully verifying his quotations 
 and painstakingly giving in every instance the sources 
 of his information, that helps to make Morel so impressive 
 a controversialist and his books of such value even to those 
 who may not follow him in all his conclusions. 
 
 Fez and Agadir. 
 
 In the meantime, as a result of the treatment recorded 
 
 11 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 33. 
 
 M In 1907 French troops occupied Udja, Casablanca, Rabat and other 
 Moorish districts. (See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, pp. 38-39.) 
 
 3 By 1910 the Sultan owed 6,530,000 to an International Syndicate, 
 secured upon the whole of the Moorish customs. The greater part of 
 this loan was literally forced upon the Sultan, and tho agreement was 
 only accepted by him after an ultimatum from France. (See Ten Yeart 
 of Secret Diplomacy, p. 40.) 
 
 * Truth and the War, p. 80.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 185 
 
 above, the condition of affairs in Morocco was rapidly grow- 
 ing worse. " With resources mortgaged to international 
 finance . . . ; rent by internal disturbances and civil war ; 
 its territory violated ; its coffers empty ; its subjects ground 
 with taxation ; compelled to perpetrate abuses in order to 
 sustain itself and feed its troops ; intrigued against by the 
 French on every hand ; harassed with incessant demands 
 for apologies and reforms and compensations ; its prestige 
 irrevocably impaired ; with French expeditionary columns 
 foraging in every direction from their base in the Shawiya ; 
 the Moorish Government fell to pieces, while the country 
 itself sunk into bloody chaos." 2 5 In 1919 the blow fell. 
 Fez, the capital, was reported to be besieged by the insurgents. 
 The familiar cry, " Women and children are in danger " 
 (as in Johannesburg in 1895), went up ! At all costs they 
 must be saved. Thereupon a French army, 30,000 strong, 
 marched upon the city (with the publicly expressed approval 
 of Sir Edward Grey), met with little or no opposition en 
 route, entered Fez, and there despite promises to withdraw 
 " after succouring the menaced Europeans " remained. 
 And then it was discovered, as afterwards related by the 
 well-known French publicist, M. Francis de Pressense, 
 that there were no women or children in danger at all, and 
 that "at no moment had the safety of Fez and its inhabi- 
 tants been seriously menaced." 26 The whole story was 
 a farce ! But a farce bringing tragedy in its train. For 
 in Fez the French army remained and further French troops 
 were poured into the country. Spain, too, " getting increas- 
 ingly uneasy at the prolongation of the French military 
 occupation " 2 7 sent strong military forces into Moorish 
 territory, and on July 3rd, the German gunboat Panther 
 cast anchor in the roadstead of Agadir. 
 
 Z 5 Ten Years ctf Secret Diplomacy, p. 104. 
 
 26 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplotnacy, pp. 107-8. 
 
 '7 Ibid. p. 105.
 
 186 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 The Crisis of 1911. 
 
 In despatching the Panther to Agadir, the German Govern- 
 ment informed the signatory Powers of the Act of Algeciras 
 that the ship had been sent to protect " German interests 
 in the territory in question." The announcement went 
 on to say that " as soon as the state of affairs in Morocco 
 has resumed its former quiet aspect the ship charged with 
 this protective mission shall leave the port of Agadir." 
 In France it " was regarded," said M. Marcel Sembat, 
 " by a large portion of the Press as expressing, not any 
 hostile feeling or desire, but a wish to talk matters over." 28 
 But in this country it provoked an immediate crisis. It 
 was even widely stated and believed that it was an attempt 
 on the part of Germany to seize a naval base on the Atlantic 
 coast of Morocco, although in Morel's opinion there was not 
 the slightest evidence to show that that country ever had 
 any such intention. The Times was particularly hostile. 
 Sir Edward Grey sent for the German Ambassador and 
 told him that " a new situation had been created " and 
 that the British Government " could not recognize any 
 new arrangement that might be come to without it." 2 9 
 And Mr. Asquith, in 'the House of Commons, after expressing 
 himself confident that " diplomatic discussion " w r ould find 
 a solution of the question, went on to say that " in the 
 part we shall take in it we shall have due regard to the 
 protection of those interests and to the fulfilment of our 
 treaty obligations to France, which are well known to the 
 House." 3 
 
 A few days later negotiations on the subject were opened 
 between France and Germany. 
 
 " The basis," said Morel, " was that Germany and France 
 would negotiate direct without the intervention of third 
 parties, as they had done in February, 1909, and as France 
 
 28 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 128. 
 *9 Ibid. p. 128. 30 Ibid. p. 123.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 187 
 
 had negotiated in 1904 direct with Britain and then with 
 Spain : that Germany would recognize an unqualified 
 French Protectorate over Morocco, subject to (a) binding 
 guarantees as to the permanance of the open door for trade 
 coupled with securities for open tenders in the construction 
 of public works, (b) territorial compensation in the French 
 Congo with reciprocal exchange of German West African 
 territory." 3 1 
 
 The Mansion House Speech. 
 
 Suddenly, on July 20, in the midst of the negotiations, 
 the Times declared, in a violent leader, that the German 
 demands for territorial " compensation " were outrageous. 
 " German statesmen," it said, " must know perfectly well 
 that no French Government could for a moment entertain 
 them. They must know equally well that no British Govern- 
 ment could consent to suffer so great a change to be made 
 in the distribution of power in Africa, even were a French 
 Government to be found feeble enough to sanction it." 32 
 It was also suggested in a dispatch from its Paris corre- 
 spondent, that a Franco-German reconciliation might be 
 in the air, and " that the political consequence of a settle- 
 ment on this scale would be too far-reaching, and that, 
 quite apart from the question of Anglo-French relations, 
 it would mean the death-blow to the Russian Alliance." 33 
 The next day Sir Edward Grey sent for the German Ambas- 
 sador, said that he had been " made anxious by the news 
 which appeared the day before as to the dema*nds which 
 the German Government had made on the French Govern- 
 ment," and hinted that it might be necessary to " take 
 some steps to protect British interests." 34 The interview 
 was a somewhat heated one, the German Ambassador 
 
 J 1 Ten Yearstof Secret Diplomacy, p. 131. 
 
 3 2 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 142. 
 
 33 Ibid. p. 140. 34 Ibid. p. 142.
 
 188 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 protesting that Sir Edward Grey " seemed to be applying 
 two standards," one for France and another for Germany,35 
 and that evening Mr. Lloyd George went down to the 
 Mansion House and made the famous speech in which he 
 said : 
 
 " I believe it is essential in the highest interests, not merely of 
 this country but of the world, that Britain should at all hazards 
 maintain her place and her prestige amongst the Great Powers 
 of the world. ... I would make great sacrifices to preserve peace. . . . 
 But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace could 
 only be preserved by the surrender of the great and beneficent 
 position Britain has won by centuries of heroism and achievement, 
 by allowing Britain to be treated as if she were of no account in 
 the Cabinet of Nations, then I say emphatically that peace at that 
 price would be a humiliation intolerable for a great country like 
 ours to endure." 3* 
 
 This speech aroused the greatest excitement. It was 
 interpreted on all sides as amounting to a threat of hostilities. 
 The Times on the following day compared Germany to 
 " Dick Turpin." A furious Press campaign followed. 
 " Public opinion in all three countries," said Morel, " reached 
 fever-heat, and for a few days war seemed imminent." 37 
 " In France it subsided as soon as it arose, French diplomacy 
 having secured its end. But it raged in England for three 
 months, German resentment and bitterness growing as it 
 progressed not against France, but against Britain, and 
 concentrating upon the obvious torch which set light to 
 the edifice, viz. the attitude of the British Foreign Office as 
 crystallized in the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 who, of course, was merely used by Sir Edward Grey as 
 the latter's mouthpiece." 3 8 
 
 35 Quoted in Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 143. 
 
 3 6 This speech was made after consultation with the Prime Minister 
 and Sir E. Grey, but not with the other members of the Cabinet. (See 
 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 143.) 
 
 37 Truth and the War, p. 84. 
 
 3* Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 146.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 189 
 
 Morel Criticizes Foreign Office. 
 
 In Morocco in Diplomacy Morel severely criticized 
 the attitude of the British Foreign Office in this matter. 
 He argued that Germany had made no " demands " in the 
 sense used by the Foreign Secretary. What had happened, 
 he said, was this : certain negotiations were taking place 
 between Germany and France " whereby Germany had 
 undertaken to recognize a French Protectorate over Morocco, 
 subject to economic guarantees," 39 and as a return for this 
 she had asked for, not demanded,* certain territorial com- 
 pensations in the French Congo. In exchange for this 
 latter territory she had also expressed her willingness to 
 cede Togoland and a part of the Cameroons to France.4 1 
 In spite of this, said Morel, Sir Edward Grey, on July 21st, 
 " adopted a course of action which in the ultimate resort 
 very nearly brought about a rupture with Germany 
 which would have meant a European war." 42 The result 
 of Mr. Lloyd George's speech was that 
 
 " an exceedingly stiff interview took place between Sir Edward 
 Grey and the German Ambassador on the 24th . . . both countries 
 stood on their ' dignity ' the word is Sir Edward Grey's, not mine. 
 In view of the Lloyd George speech, which the German Govern- 
 ment looked upon as a threat, that Government declared it could 
 not authorize Sir Edward Grey to make public use of the pledge 
 given on the 12th to the effect that Germany had no territorial 
 designs on Morocco. German public opinion, the German Govern- 
 ment argued, would look upon such a declaration at that moment 
 as a retreat before a British menace. Sir Edward Grey, for his 
 part, could not, in view of the very stiff tone adopted by the German 
 Ambassador, condescend to give any public explanation as to Mr. 
 Lloyd George's speech. Such an explanation would not have been 
 compatible with the dignity of Great Britain." 43 
 
 39 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 149. 
 
 4 The phrase used was " Voici ce que nous demandons," which, said 
 Morel, " does not mean ' this is what we demand,' but 'this is what we 
 ask.' " (See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 149.) 
 
 4' See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 149. 
 
 4* Ibid. p. 154. 43 Ibid. pp. 157-8.
 
 190 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 " Both Governments . . . stood on their dignity," commented Morel, 
 " and millions of men and women who knew nothing of the whole 
 miserable business, the vast majority of whom could certainly not 
 have pointed out Morocco on the map, were on the verge of being 
 precipitated into all the horrors, all the miseries and privations 
 and losses, of a great war as a result thereof. Could there be a 
 more scathing satire upon ' civilization ' ? Could there be a greater 
 travesty of human government ? Do not all the proposals for 
 preventing such a state of affairs, such as greater publicity on 
 foreign questions, greater public control of the diplomats, the break- 
 up of the caste system in diplomacy, and so forth, immature, and 
 incomplete, and unthought-out as they may be, appear the very 
 embodiment of common sense as compared with that state of affairs 
 itself? "44 
 
 Embittered Feeling in Germany. 
 
 Eventually, as every one knows, war, on this occasion, 
 was averted. It was averted, in Morel's view, by the pacific 
 elements in the French Government, the British Government 
 and the German Government, headed respectively by M. 
 Caillaux (then Premier), Lord Morley, and the Kaiser.45 
 The negotiations between France and Germany continued, 
 and reached a solution in November, when a convention 
 was drawn up by which Germany recognized a French 
 Protectorate over l^Lorocco ; France agreed to preserve 
 the open door for trade and capital investments in that 
 country ; Germany received a considerable portion of 
 the French Congo and France received a small portion of 
 the German Cameroons.4 6 
 
 But although war was averted great mischief had been 
 done. 
 
 " The whole of Germany," said Morel, " without distinction of 
 party or class, was rocking and seething with indignation at what 
 it regarded as an insulting and unwarrantable interference on the 
 part of Great Britain in the negotiations with France, as an arrogant 
 British embargo upon Germany acquiring territory in Equatorial 
 
 44 See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p r 157. 
 
 45 See Truth and the War, p. 84. 
 
 4 6 See Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, chapter xativ.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 191 
 
 Africa, as proof that Britain was determined to block and hamper 
 Germany's expansion ; that, in short, Germany had been deliberately 
 and wantonly provoked. Far from dying down, this feeling gathered 
 intensity with the weeks, and there is not, unhappily, the slightest 
 doubt that the German Foreign Secretary interpreted with absolute 
 accuracy the popular sentiment held by the entire German nation 
 when he said, ' If the English Government had intended to compli- 
 cate and embroil the political situation and to bring about a violent 
 explosion, they would certainly have chosen no better means than 
 the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which took so little 
 into account for us the dignity and position of a Great Power which 
 was claimed by him for England.' " 47 
 
 " Is there a Way Out ? " 
 
 This embittered feeling in Germany was intensified in 
 November when the secret clauses of the Morocco Agree- 
 ments of 1904 were published in the Paris Press 48 and 
 by the statements made by Capt. Faber, M.P., and others 
 to the effect that the British Government had been prepared 
 to lend military and naval aid to France in the event of 
 a Franco-German rupture. 
 
 " To-day," wrote Morel in 1912, " we are confronted with this 
 situation. 
 
 " The German nation firmly believes, not only that it is threatened 
 by Great Britain, but that Great Britain intends to take the first 
 opportunity to force a war. 
 
 " The British nation knows itself to be absolutely innocent of 
 any such desire or intention. 
 
 " Is there a way out of the impasse ? Only, it seems to me, 
 if British public opinion will think out the problem for itself, face 
 the issues squarely and resolutely, and decline any longer to tolerate 
 being in the position of finding itself involved in war jyithout any 
 real knowledge of the why and the wherefore." 49 
 
 Such is the story of the Morocco affair, as detailed by 
 Morel in the first twenty-four chapters of Morocco in 
 Diplomacy (now Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy), and 
 
 47 Ten Years of Sec?et Diplomacy, p. 139. 48 See p. 181. 
 
 49 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 159.
 
 192 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 even those who are most opposed to his views and con- 
 clusions will not deny that he put forward a powerful case. 
 In his final chapter, which was entitled " An Appeal 
 from Prejudice to Reason," Morel made certain important 
 suggestions which, if adopted, he believed (this was in 
 1912) might relieve the international situation, and 
 enable the world to pass from the shadow of impend- 
 ing war into the sunlight of international amity and 
 peace. 
 
 " There are three keys," he said, " with which to unlock the door 
 to a permanent improvement in Anglo-German relations if the 
 British people desire it, as I firmly believe they do. The first 
 is the honest admission that in the one case where a quarrel has 
 occurred over a specific issue Morocco we have not treated Ger- 
 many fairly, and that Germany has a legitimate grievance against 
 us on that score. This I have tried to show from an analysis of the 
 facts, not because it was a pleasant thing to do, . . . but because 
 to any one who believes an understanding with Germany " (Morel 
 made it clear in a foot-note that it was an " understanding " that 
 he advocated and not an "alliance") "to be a supreme British 
 national concern, the national interest demanded that it should be 
 attempted. If the thinking public after reading this book share that 
 view, a public force will have been created to prevent the recurrence 
 of a similar episode. . . . There is no need to clothe ourselves in a 
 white sheet for the worltfs sneers. But we shall be no weaker ; we 
 shall be stronger if we allow ourselves that we have been misled, 
 quietly make up our minds to take the fact into account in our 
 future dealings with Germany, and imitate our French friends to 
 the extent of insisting upon a final close to the era of secret treaty 
 making. . . ." 
 
 No Secret Commitments. 
 
 Morel then turned to our relations with France. 
 
 " The second key," he said, " is the indispensable duty that 
 devolves upon the House of Commons to ascertain the real nature 
 of our relations with France, and if, as the public are assured, there 
 are no positive commitments," 5 to insist that British Foreign 
 
 5 This, of course, was written two years beforC the disclosure by Sir 
 E. Gi-ey on August 3, 1914, of the secret arrangement with France.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 198 
 
 Policy shall not " be directed as though such positive commitments 
 existed. 
 
 " Not to make a firm and unambiguous stand now," he declared, 
 " would mean for the British people an unending vista of prospective 
 and unknown liabilities, with which they would be absolutely insane 
 to permit themselves to be saddled. If the House of Commons 
 does not pronounce unmistakably on the matter, it will be 
 betraying its trust to the nation. A means must be found for 
 curtailing the virtually unlimited discretion of the executive in 
 Foreign Affairs." 
 
 The " disorganized condition " of the Foreign Office, 
 he contended, its " personal rivalries," and its " extraor- 
 dinarily faulty intelligence system " were bad enough 
 without the British national interest being tied up with 
 similar vagaries prevailing in France. Neither the British 
 nor the French peoples should be fettered or " committed 
 by their Governments to a definite course of action in 
 advance." " Such commitments played into the hands " 
 of " the enemies of peace " in Germany, in France and 
 in Britain, that peace " which is ... the paramount 
 interest both of the creative elements and of the working 
 masses in each country." 5 1 
 
 " There is such a section in Germany, whfch, seeing, or affecting 
 to see, in Great Britain the implacable foe of Germany's national 
 and inevitable expansion in commerce, industry and power, urges 
 war." 
 
 There were similar war parties in Britain and in France. 
 
 " The task of the peoples concerned is to find statesman who will 
 shake themselves free from these influences." 
 
 Or alternatively, 
 
 " statesmen . . . must shake themselves free of them by taking the 
 people more and more into their confidence and appealing more 
 and more to the national interest of the vast mass of the popula- 
 
 5 1 Except, he said, " the manufacturers of war material." 
 13
 
 194 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 tion to counteract these influences. In other words, foreign policy 
 must be democratized, which does not mean in the least . . . that 
 diplomatists should carry on their conversations in the public 
 squares . . . any more than the shipowner informs the neighbourhood 
 of his negotiations over a charter party." 
 
 Further, " those who would stand to suffer most in an 
 Anglo-French-German war would the chances are ninety- 
 nine to one not be ourselves, nor the Germans, but the 
 French," the " peace-loving, laborious, thrifty masses of 
 the French nation." 
 
 Therefore " Britain's true role, the one responding 
 alike to her real interests and to the professions of her 
 public men, is to use her influence, not to impede, but, 
 should she be required to use it at all one way or the 
 other, to facilitate a thorough reconciliation between 
 France and Germany." 
 
 The Position of Germany. 
 
 Morel's " third key " was more controversial. It 
 was, he said, "to be sought in a serious effort at com- 
 prehension both of the difficulties and the necessities 
 which confront German statesmen and the German 
 people." " Germany's supreme need to-day " was " not 
 military conquest, but trade . . . markets." 
 
 " A fair and open commercial field in every undeveloped area 
 of the world's surface is a vital national necessity for Germany. 
 The closing of potential markets to her trade in Africa, in Asia, 
 in South America, Germany is bound to regard as a blow aimed 
 straight to her heart. . . . Either she must find work at home to do 
 for her rapidly increasing population, or she must be content to see 
 that population emigrating en masse to foreign lands overseas. 
 To find her people in work, she not only requires expanding markets 
 in which to sell her goods, but she requires the raw material of the 
 tropics and sub-tropics to sustain her industries and manufactures. 
 . . . The guiding motive of German Foreign Policy to-day is to secure 
 for the German people unfettered access to markets overseas, as 
 large a share as possible in the development of those markets, and
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 195 
 
 a voice in the acquisition of oversea territories which may fall, 
 through the course of events, into the international melting-pot. 
 It is not land hunger, but trade hunger which inspires her. . . ." 
 
 Moreover, it must be remembered that although Germany 
 itself was a Protectionist country, yet in her overseas 
 possessions, unlike other nations, she pursued the same 
 commercial policy as did Britain, namely, the policy 
 of " the open door." Therefore the national interest 
 of Great Britain did not lie in the direction of " hampering 
 her oversea expansion in the undeveloped tropical and 
 sub-tropical regions of the world," " assuming, of course, 
 that our rulers mean what they say when they tell us 
 that, save here and there, we have got enough exotic 
 territory on our hands already." 
 
 Considering the lessons of the present war, the revolu- 
 tionary changes it has occasioned, the confident prophecies 
 it has exploded, the beliefs it has shown to be illusory, 
 it is a remarkable thing that the great bulk of Morel's 
 writings requires so little modification in the light of present- 
 day events. On one point only in this book does Morel 
 put forward an argument with which, in the present 
 writer's opinion, he would find very few of his country- 
 men in agreement, and that is the suggestion that, seeing 
 that Germany had acquired a considerable Colonial 
 Empire, it was unreasonable for the Foreign Office to 
 oppose for ever her " acquisition of coaling stations on 
 the high seas." As long as the international situation 
 remains a war situation that is to say, as lorrg as war 
 remains a by no means remote possibility the British 
 Government must be held justified, from motives of 
 self-preservation, in opposing the acquisition by a for- 
 midable naval rival of harbours and coaling stations 
 which might be utilized as bases for submarine warfare 
 and commerce- destruction. That this attitude may not 
 appear particularly agreeable to the eyes of a Continental
 
 196 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 Power is of course true, and it is quite possible that from 
 time to time it may give rise to international friction. 
 Nevertheless, it is one of the facts arising from our island 
 existence which cannot be ignored. With the spread 
 of the international idea, the establishment of a League 
 of Nations and the inauguration of an era of disarmament 
 the difficulty will automatically disappear. In this lies 
 the great hope of the future. But whilst the possibility 
 of war remains, and so long as the nations, armed to the 
 teeth, glare at each other across tariff-fenced frontiers, this 
 difficulty, and other difficulties, will always be present. 
 
 It must not be thought, however, from the foregoing, 
 that Morel was ever for one moment oblivious of the 
 peculiar position of Britain as an island-Empire. The 
 possibilities of submarine warfare had not in 1912 been 
 realized by any public man and in view of these possi- 
 bilities Morel would perhaps now modify the passage 
 to which allusion has been made but in Morocco in 
 Diplomacy he took care to point out quite clearly and 
 definitely that the effort which he suggested should be 
 made to bring about a better understanding with Germany 
 
 c 
 
 " is surely not incompatible with a fixed and unvarying determination 
 that, come what may, no decrease of the British fleet below the 
 level of safety can for one moment be entertained." 5* 
 
 " The Only Sound Policy." 
 
 An alliance with neither France nor Germany was 
 Morel's conclusion. 
 
 " Let us ... keep our hands free, unfettered by alliances or under- 
 standings of a compromising character . . . and let us come back 
 to the only sound ideal of policy for Great Britain at the opening 
 of the twentieth century, i.e. to play our own part in the Concert 
 of Europe when necessity arises ; to uphold, if necessary by our 
 whole strength, international treaties when violated to the detriment 
 either of our honour or of our interests ... to Uoe our moral influence, 
 
 5* Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, p. 178.
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 197 
 
 which is enormous, ... in favour of a just policy towards weaker 
 peoples and coloured races which in the ultimate resort is wise as 
 well as right ; to draw nearer by some well-thought-out scheme of 
 Imperial partnerships in matters of defence and foreign policy to 
 our great self-governing dependencies. . . . 
 
 " Let us, . . . made wiser, perchance, by this Morocco affair, 
 persist in demanding . . . some measure of effective national control 
 over our own foreign policy. Let us hold out the hand of friendship 
 to Germany, not ostentatiously, not by sacrificing in the remotest 
 degree our self-respect, not by offering her absurd ' concessions,' 
 but in a spirit of frank recognition that between our two nations 
 there is neither sense, nor dignity, nor justice, in petty jealousy 
 and unworthy recrimination. In a spirit of frank recognition that 
 Germany's industrial progress does but demonstrate the need for 
 renewed activities of our own in a field of honourable economic rivalry. 
 ... In a spirit of determination that we shall allow no influences 
 on our side ... to prevent a gradual but sure advance towards the 
 re-establishment of those harmonious relations which are alone 
 worthy of two great peoples . . . whose respective prosperity and 
 progress are indispensable to each other's welfare, and whose 
 reconciliation would remove the mists of apprehension and 
 uncertainty which weigh like a nightmare upon the world." 53 
 
 An Unheeded Warning. 
 
 Many may disagree with the views expressed so 
 eloquently by Morel in the above passage. Many 
 undoubtedly will. But no fair-minded reader can detect 
 in them the slightest suspicion of want of patriotism. 
 Morocco in Diplomacy was a plea at almost the last 
 moment, as one now sees for peace. In view of what has 
 occurred since, it is possible that it came too late. But 
 clearly it was an honest effort to avert a coming world- 
 catastrophe, and as such it was regarded at the time. 
 The Times, for example, although vigorously attacked 
 in the book, said, in reviewing it : * 
 
 " Mr. Morel has never lacked courage in denouncing abuses, 
 and the columns of the Times bear witness to the sympathy with 
 which we have often supported his efforts. It is with all the more 
 regret, therefore, whili we highly approve the general object with which 
 
 53 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy, pp. 283-4.
 
 198 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 this book is written namely, the promotion of better relations 
 between this country and Germany we find ourselves unable 
 to accept his main contention . . . " ; 
 
 whilst the Academy wrote : 
 
 " Events are piling up in a way which . . . makes it desirable 
 that this book should be well and widely read. We may not agree 
 with all its author's conclusions, but the mass of facts which he 
 presents clearly and concisely will assist in forming the opinion 
 that, after all, the Moroccan crisis was not ALL Germany's fault." 
 
 The Spectator made an interesting admission : 
 
 " We learn," it said, " that there are three ' keys ' with which to 
 unlock the door that separates us from Germany. . . . The second 
 key is ' the indispensable duty that devolves upon the House of 
 Commons to understand the real nature of our relations with France.' 
 Here we are faced by the old difficulty. The disclosure which Mr. 
 Morel asks for would be fatal to the object for which the understanding 
 between the two Powers was entered into." 
 
 The Daily News was enthusiastic : 
 
 " This book should be in the hands of every member of Parliament, 
 every journalist whose duty it is to instruct public opinion, and 
 every citizen who desires to form an independent judgment upon 
 a very critical passage in the life of the English State. It is written 
 with the lucidity and force of one of the most skilful publicists in 
 the country ; it is the fruit of extensive and thorough investi- 
 gation ; and it presents a reading which is not the official and vulgar 
 reading." 
 
 On the whole, in spite of its strong criticisms of British 
 Foreign Policy, the book was favourably reviewed. The 
 French qmcial Press was, of course, hostile, but that 
 there were many in France who agreed with Morel is 
 shown <by the following extract from La Revue du 
 Mois : 
 
 " It is necessary to state," said this journal, " that the spirit 
 which inspires Mr. Morel's book is neither anti-French nor pro- 
 German as has been said by some French newspapers but simply 
 pacifist, and, in the true sense of the term, internationalist. He is
 
 MOROCCO IN DIPLOMACY 199 
 
 not campaigning against the entente cordiale of which he was 
 one of the firmest partisans when to be so required some courage 
 in the Fashoda days but he protests against the transformation 
 of this friendly understanding into a warlike alliance directed 
 against Germany. He desires that the friendly feeling between 
 France and England should duplicate itself by the establishment 
 of a friendly feeling between England and Germany, and that English 
 diplomacy, instead of working against an improvement in Franco- 
 German relations, should, on the contrary, endeavour to assist a 
 Franco-German reconciliation. That would, indeed, be serving 
 the interests of the British, French and German peoples against 
 unscrupulous minorities and, especially, against the armament 
 rings. All apostles of peace and of international justice must thank 
 Mr. Morel for what he has written." 
 
 Morocco in Diplomacy had an interesting history. 
 First published in 1912 by Smith, Elder & Co.,54 it 
 had only a limited circulation the British public had 
 not then awakened to the importance of studying Foreign 
 Affairs and consequently it made no appreciable effect 
 on public opinion, although Morel had reason to believe 
 that it exercised some considerable influence in official 
 circles. But shortly after the outbreak of the war it 
 was republished by the National Labour Press under 
 the title of Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy : An Un- 
 heeded Warning, and between Marcll 1915 and July 1918 
 it ran into five large editions. 
 
 54 " Another great effort in the cause of humanity," was the comment 
 of the late Mr. Reginald Smith, K.C., the publisher, in a letter written 
 to Morel after perusing the MS.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOR B1RKENHEAD 
 
 Invitation to Birkenhead Views on election expenses No mere party 
 man The late Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone's message " You can trust 
 Morel " Morel and Liberalism His "adoption speech " Democracy 
 and foreign policy Foreign policy and social reform The outbreak 
 of the war Candidature resigned Not at first accepted The 
 Morning Post's attack Morel's letter to the Birkenhead Liberal 
 Association " I cannot play the hypocrite among you " A candi- 
 date no longer. 
 
 IN October 1912 Morel was invited by the Birkenhead 
 Liberal Association to become their candidate for Parlia- 
 ment at the next General Election. 
 
 The invitation was a pressing one, and Morel, although 
 not at that time particularly eager to plunge into Parlia- 
 mentary life, did not feel that he ought to refuse. He 
 warned the local officials, however, that in view of his 
 outspoken and continued opposition to the Foreign 
 Policy of the Government his candidature would probably 
 be looked upon with disfavour by the central organization. 
 " Never mind," replied the local officials in effect, " official 
 support or no official support, if you will agree to stand, 
 we will Recommend you to the Association." So Morel 
 agreed, and official support came as well, for the Chief 
 Whip (Mr. Illingworth) wrote, highly commending the 
 choice of the Birkenhead Liberals, and saying that the 
 seat ought certainly to be won, " witfc a candidate of 
 Mr. Morel's reputation and platform ability." 
 
 200
 
 201 
 
 It was not only with respect to Foreign Affairs that 
 Morel took up a decided stand. His attitude was 
 equally positive on the question of election expenses. 
 Whatever financial arrangements were arrived at between 
 the Party organization and the local Association, he 
 could assent, he declared, to no restrictions upon his com- 
 plete freedom of judgment. " I hold very strongly," 
 he wrote to his Chairman, " the view that a member 
 of Parliament can be of no real service to his constituency 
 if he is fettered in any way apart from his own self- 
 respect." If Birkenhead Liberals were looking for a 
 candidate of pliant and flexible views they made a sad 
 mistake when they chose the man they did. 
 
 No Mere Party Man. 
 
 The prospective candidature was announced on Novem- 
 ber 1st. The announcement, declared the Birkenhead 
 News, " will, we are certain, give the utmost satisfaction 
 to all Liberals in the constituency," whilst the Chester 
 Chronicle gave utterance to the feeling in Hawarden, 
 whence for so many years Morel had directed his campaign 
 for Congo Reform. t 
 
 " There has not been a resident in Hawarden," it said, " not 
 excepting the great Mr. Gladstone himself, who is more highly 
 esteemed than Mr. Morel. . . . The contest, when it comes off, will 
 be watched with interest by his many friends and well-wishers in 
 Hawarden " 
 
 % 
 Later on, when the prospective candidature had been 
 
 " enthusiastically endorsed " by the Liberal Four Ifundred, 
 the Birkenhead Liberal Association issued a pamphlet 
 containing a short record of Morel's career. To this 
 record were attached a number of " opinions " of the 
 candidate contributed by men and women of various 
 political views. Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone, grandson of the
 
 202 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 " G. O. M." (since killed in action), sent the brief message, 
 ' You can trust Morel." Mr. Runciman, then President 
 of the Board of Agriculture, wrote : "In Mr. Morel you 
 have a man of international reputation, one who by his 
 own force of character and singleness of aim has done 
 great things in more than one part of the world." " He 
 is not a mere party man, but first and foremost a man 
 of heart, mind, and courage all his own," was the verdict 
 of Mr. George M. Trevelyan ; whilst Nonconformity, 
 in the person of Dr. Clifford, added : " His outlook is wide, 
 his fidelity to principle invincible, and his courage and 
 patience inexhaustible." So, even though, during the 
 period of the war, Morel has been perhaps the most 
 bitterly attacked man in Britain, it must be admitted 
 that in his time he has also had his share of praise. 
 
 Morel and " Liberalism." 
 
 " Morel," wrote Mr. Robert Donald, editor of the 
 Daily Chronicle, in the above-mentioned pamphlet, " is 
 an able exponent of progressive Liberalism." As up 
 to this time he had taken practically no part in domestic 
 politics, it will be .useful at this point to consider what 
 Morel's views on parties and politics were, and what 
 " Liberalism " meant to him. 
 
 At a later date Morel, then in a position of seclusion, 1 
 had the opportunity of reading Lord Morley's Recol- 
 lections, and he says that the definition there given of 
 " the mighty word in its large, far-spreading Continental 
 sense," as standing for " respect for the dignity and worth 
 of the individual, for pursuit of social good against class 
 interest or dynastic interest," and as being " in its fullest 
 and profoundest sense " the " point-blank opposite of 
 militarism," expresses just the light in which he regarded 
 
 1 The book was sent to him whilst in prison iC 1917 by the late Lord 
 Courtney of Penwith. (See p. 265.)
 
 CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT 203 
 
 the Liberalism with which, in 1912, he formally identified 
 himself in British politics. We shall see how he applied 
 these principles to the political contest which lay before 
 him, and how he interpreted them when the crisis came 
 which put them and him to the test. 
 
 In his " adoption speech " Morel gave the first place 
 to what he termed the " vital problem of social in- 
 equalities." 
 
 " To my mind," he said, " of all the problems which confront our 
 national life, and go right down to the root of our racial power 
 and prosperity, the gravest ... is the problem which presents itself 
 through the terrible inequalities in well-being and opportunity 
 which divide various classes of our population. It is not so much 
 the problem of the positively destitute. ... It is the problem rather 
 of those millions of men and women who, without being absolutely 
 destitute, are yet for ever on the verge of extreme poverty through 
 no fault of their own. It is the problem of those other millions of 
 men and women who cannot, despite all their efforts, attain to a 
 measure of comfort and decent living to which they are honourably 
 and humanly entitled in any society, which ventures to call itself 
 Christian, and who are ever haunted by an anxiety from which they 
 ought to be free. ... It is, as I conceive it, the very essence and 
 marrow of Liberalism that, while it should deal with other and 
 important problems as they arise, it should consecrate itself 
 calmly, deliberately and resolutely to remove this blot upon our 
 national escutcheon, this handicap to our race, and that it should 
 deal with it at the foundations from which these inequalities 
 arise. 
 
 What, after all, is the social phenomenon of our age ? Wealth, 
 piling up more and more every year, more and more concentrated ; 
 luxury more and more pronounced ; and, beside that wealth and 
 luxury, a vast, increasing, unchartered desert of human discomfort 
 and distress. A more equitable distribution gradually brought 
 about of socially produced wealth should be, and must be, the 
 ultimate, constant, perpetual aim of Liberalism, if it is to retain 
 its virility, maintain its hold upon the masses, justify its 
 existence, and safeguard the State from violent and perhaps fatal 
 disturbance." 
 
 Dealing with Foreign Affairs, Morel referred to the 
 alleged lack of interest in these subjects displayed by the
 
 204 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 British Democracy. He had been told, he said, that 
 a candidate who spoke to his prospective constituents 
 on Foreign Policy would probably be deemed a bore. 
 This he could not help. " You simply cannot afford,'* 
 he declared, " to disinterest yourselves from Foreign 
 Affairs." A democratizing process had been taking 
 place in our public departments. The Foreign Office 
 alone remained untouched by this fertilizing stream. 
 Wealth and aristocratic connections were still regarded 
 as indispensable to those who wished to enter the diplo- 
 matic career. It was a career " closed to men of brains, 
 education and intelligence who did not possess these 
 attributes." Parliamentary, and therefore national, 
 control of Foreign Policy had sunk to vanishing point. 
 Dealing with the international situation he referred to 
 Anglo-German relations. One of the paramount interests 
 of the British and German peoples was that the existing 
 friction should be solved by an honourable understanding 
 and reconciliation. 
 
 " If I should ever be entrusted with your confidence," he said, 
 " I should leave no stone unturned to help, so far as one man can 
 help, to bring about th&t change. In so doing I consider I should 
 be serving your interests more than in any other direction." 
 
 These remarks were greeted with applause. 
 
 For two years Morel continued to visit Birkenhead 
 periodically, gaining steadily in local esteem. The views 
 outlined in his " adoption speech " were consistently 
 maintained and expanded in a series of subsequent 
 addresses,, several of which were published in pamphlet 
 form, whilst his speeches on Foreign Affairs and Colonial 
 Problems secured much more than local publicity, being fre- 
 quently reported almost verbatim in such papers as the 
 Manchester Guardian and the Liverpool Daily Post. He 
 sought constantly to instruct the electorate upon matters
 
 CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT 205 
 
 of Foreign Policy and upon the vast responsibilities 
 assumed by the nation towards the coloured races of the 
 Empire, whilst, keeping company with Mr. Lloyd George, 
 he laid especial stress upon the intimate connection 
 between foreign policy and social reform. 
 
 " You cannot dissociate your social problems from the question 
 of your growing armaments," said he on December 9, 1913, " or 
 from the question of your foreign policy, of which your armaments 
 are in large measure the expression. These problems are usually 
 treated as though they were distinct from the social problem, whereas 
 they are indissolubly intertwined with it, and react upon it all 
 along the line." 
 
 And later on in the same speech he spoke of the horror 
 and the folly of Europe, " after two thousand years of 
 Christianity," 
 
 " spending annually 400,000,000 and training five millions of the 
 flower of her manhood, not to improve society, not to ensure a 
 more equitable distribution of socially-earned wealth, not to fight 
 poverty and preventable disease, but to kill men and to break the 
 hearts of women." 
 
 Again and again, during this two years' campaign, 
 did Morel point out that conscription must inevitably 
 be the consequence of a foreign policy of unavowed com- 
 mitments to Continental Powers, and he did not conceal 
 from the electors that he believed such commitments 
 to exist. He familiarized them also with the history 
 of the secret Morocco Agreements, and with the bearing 
 of the Anglo-Franco-German disputes regarding them, 
 upon the international situation, and in t^ie most 
 weighty words at his command he warned his hearers 
 of the exceeding gravity of the situation, a gravity which 
 comparatively few people in this country had realized 
 at that time. The views thus vigorously put forward 
 by Morel rapidly spread in the constituency. They
 
 206 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 were shared, he found, by those Liberals in Birkenhead 
 with whom he was in closest personal touch. He held 
 them with conviction, and when the time came he stood 
 by them. And then the war came and blew his work 
 and his supporters away. 
 
 The Candidature Resigned. 
 
 On August 4, 1914, the night of the British ultimatum 
 to Germany, Morel sat down and wrote a letter to the 
 Chairman of the Birkenhead Liberal Association. In 
 this letter he recalled the numerous warnings he had 
 given as to the character of the Foreign Policy pursued 
 by the Liberal Cabinet, went on to formulate a severe 
 indictment of the secret diplomacy revealed to the House 
 of Commons on the preceding night by Sir Edward Grey, 
 and finished up by placing himself unreservedly in the 
 hands of the Executive and authorizing them to publish 
 his letter. 
 
 This course was not adopted. Morel was urged 
 almost implored not to take any overt action. Hopes 
 were entertained that in course of time he might modify 
 his views and come, into line with the general feeling. 
 Morel gave no encouragement to these hopes. More, 
 he made it plain that his views were unalterable and that 
 he would certainly give expression to them whenever 
 circumstances, in his judgment, dictated. The crisis 
 came with the publication in the Morning Post accom- 
 panied by, a violent attack of a circular letter signed 
 by J. Ramsay Macdonald, Charles Trevelyan, Norman 
 Angell and E. D. Morel, inviting the formation of the 
 association which subsequently became known as the 
 Union of Democratic Control. This led to a public 
 exchange of correspondence between Morel and the Liberal 
 Executive. The Executive wrote to Morel that it was 
 " their painful duty " to let him know that his attitude
 
 CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT 207 
 
 was at variance with Liberalism in Birkenhead, and that 
 his prospect of being returned as member for the borough 
 was seriously jeopardized. The letter closed as follows : 
 
 " The officers desire to express their deep appreciation of the 
 great services you have rendered to the Liberal cause, and the 
 affectionate esteem in which you are held by every one in Birkenhead 
 with whom you have come into contact." 
 
 Morel's reply aroused considerable interest and a good 
 deal of controversy. So great was the demand for it 
 that it had to be reprinted in pamphlet form, and ten 
 thousand copies were sold in a few days. It subse- 
 quently reappeared as the first chapter of Truth and 
 the War. 
 
 " I cannot play the hypocrite among you." With these 
 words Morel closed one of the concluding passages in 
 the above-mentioned letter. It is one of the keynotes 
 of his whole career. Whether his views are right or wrong, 
 popular or unpopular, Morel never makes the slightest 
 attempt to conceal them, and there can be no doubt 
 that they are sincerely held. In the case of the Birkenhead 
 candidature Morel received many proofs that the consis- 
 tency of his attitude was recognized even by many who 
 did not share his views. In conveying the resolution 
 passed by the Executive accepting Morel's resignation, 
 the Chairman wrote : 
 
 " Without exception one and all the speakers expressed the grief 
 they felt personally at the turn events had taken. Tilbute after 
 tribute was paid to your ability, sincerity and high moral standards." 
 
 " Your action has been from first to last thoroughly^straight- 
 forward," wrote afterwards a prominent member of the Executive, 
 " and nothing has happened, or can happen, to diminish the regard 
 and honour in which you are held." 
 
 In Morel's view the Liberal party managers in Birkenhead 
 had no option but to act as they did. " It was a square
 
 208 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 issue," he wrote to a correspondent, " between the Govern- 
 ment's Foreign Policy and the man who arraigned it. 
 They could not retain me without endorsing my con- 
 demnation of the Government." 
 
 In a leading article on Morel's resignation the Birkenhead 
 News said : 
 
 " We, in common with all his friends, very sincerely regret the 
 fact that circumstances should have deprived the party of the 
 services of a man who is held in high honour wherever the English 
 language is spoken. Mr. Morel is a great humanitarian. He is a 
 humanitarian first, last and all the time. He is also a man of the 
 most absolute integrity of character, and Birkenhead Liberals will 
 always look back with pleasure upon his association with the 
 town, now unhappily broken." 
 
 After all, taking everything into consideration, including 
 the tempest of passion raised by the war, Morel had no 
 reason to regret his first experience of British party 
 politics.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE GATHERING STORM 
 
 The coming struggle Efforts to avert it The danger of secret com- 
 mitments Need for open diplomacy The obscurity of British 
 Foreign Policy " What are our relations with France ? " Letters 
 to the Press Support for Morel in France And in the Liberal 
 Press Speech at Caxton Hall Mr. Asquith denies the existence of 
 secret commitments Morel satisfied Discontinues his Press cam- 
 paign His work on the Colonial Office Committee. 
 
 IN Chapter XVI this narrative was brought down to March 
 1912, the date of the appearance of Morocco in Diplomacy. 
 As has been said, this book was a last desperate appeal 
 to the democracies of Europe to avert the world-war 
 which Morel saw was impending. The appeal was un- 
 heeded, and it failed. Most people now will be of the 
 opinion that it never had the slightest chance of succeeding. 
 Great elemental forces were in motion. The accumulated 
 animosities, rivalries and ambitions of years had taken 
 concrete forms, and, touched with a monstrous life of 
 their own, were slowly and stealthily approaching each 
 other in armed opposition. It was probabb; beyond 
 the power of any mortal man to avert the almost inevitable 
 collision. But Morel, not realizing the grim immour 
 of the situation no David in combat with Goliath can 
 afford a sense of perspective did his manful best. And 
 as this book is a record of his work and opinions, it is 
 necessary here to summarize the situation as he then 
 saw it. 
 
 14 309
 
 210 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 The Policy of the Foreign Office. 
 
 As we have seen in the earlier part of this book, Morel, 
 in the course of his Congo Reform campaign had acquired 
 a profound distrust of the methods of secret diplomacy 
 and of the principles which animated the whole Foreign 
 Office system. 
 
 His study of the Morocco affair had confirmed him 
 in this distrust and had aroused him to the imminent 
 peril of the situation. 
 
 In some way or other the British Foreign Office, in 
 Morel's opinion, had unduly subordinated the policy 
 of this country to the interests of certain chauvinistic 
 elements which were becoming increasingly dominant 
 in French Government circles and France, as all the 
 world kne\v, was committed to Russia by the secret 
 clauses of the Franco-Russian Alliance. 
 
 Now if Britain were committed to France, either by 
 secret engagements or by less definite assurances, 1 then, 
 France being allied to Russia, it followed that Britain 
 would be liable to be dragged with France into any quarrel 
 in which the Government of the Tsar might be involved, 
 and such a situation would certainly render any real 
 rapprochement between Britain and Germany exceedingly 
 difficult, if not impossible, of accomplishment. 
 
 At the same time Governmental spokesmen were re- 
 repeatedly declaring that no such entanglements as had 
 been suggested existed at all, and that British relations 
 with Germany were of the most cordial character ; and 
 these asseverations had the effect of hampering, on the 
 one hand, those who were agitating for " universal military 
 training " as a means of preparing for the struggle they 
 thought inevitable, and, on the other hand, those who 
 
 were seeking, through a free and full discussion of Foreign 
 
 t 
 
 1 As we now know, the celebrated naval and military " conversations '' 
 between France and Britain were authorized by Sir E. Grey in 1906.
 
 THE GATHERING STORM 211 
 
 Policy, to discover the causes of the international unrest, 
 as a preliminary to removing them altogether. 
 
 All the time the feeling was prevalent amongst students 
 of Foreign Policy that our relations with Germany were 
 not as cordial as the Government pretended, and that, 
 despite the protestations of Ministers, something or other 
 was going on with France, the precise nature of which 
 it was difficult to discover. A storm was brewing. There 
 was electricity in the air. The weather-wise felt the 
 tingling in their nerves. But to the general public the 
 atmosphere seemed clear. The sun was shining, and 
 there was nothing to disturb them in their cricket, their 
 football, and the general work and play of their world. 
 
 The Necessity of Open Diplomacy. 
 
 But Morel was one of the weather-wise, and in his 
 view the first essential if peace were to be preserved 
 was that British Foreign Policy should be honest, above- 
 board and free from ambiguity. 
 
 If this were secured, two courses would then be open 
 to the nation : 
 
 Firstly, Britain might enter into* an open defensive 
 alliance with France, making it clear at the same time 
 that she did not intend to be involved in any entangle- 
 ments due to aggressive designs on the part of Russia. 
 
 Secondly, she might decide to remain unfettered, 
 unhampered and free. 
 
 If the first course were adopted, it would provide a 
 salutary check both to German and to Russian Imperialism. 
 It would make it clear to the first that an unjus\ attack 
 upon France would at once bring Britain to the latter's 
 assistance, and to the second that we had no intention 
 of being dragged into a war arising out of the intrigues 
 and ambitions of'Tsardom. 
 
 If the second course were adopted, then Britain, free
 
 212 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 from all Continental entanglements, would be able to 
 exercise her full influence in the cause of peace, and could 
 be appealed to by both disputants as an impartial and 
 unbiassed authority. 
 
 In Morel's opinion, either of these courses he himself 
 strongly favoured the second of them would ease the 
 international situation and perhaps avert the conflict 
 altogether. In any case the primary necessity was that 
 Parliament and the public should insist upon clearing up 
 the obscurities which veiled our relations with France 
 on the one hand and with Germany on the other. To 
 this task Morel now addressed himself, and in a series 
 of communications to the Press he again and again called 
 attention to the gravity of the position and to the 
 nature of the remedy. The following extracts from 
 some of his writings will serve to show the line he 
 pursued : 
 
 " Until our Foreign Department is, in some measure, demo- 
 cratized the nation will continue to be in the position of finding 
 itself suddenly involved in war." Letter to " Daily News," 
 April 9, 1912~ 
 
 " What are our relations with France ? A singular confusion 
 appears to prevail on the subject. . . . One authority talks of an 
 * Alliance ' and is rebuked by another who speaks of an ' under- 
 standing of an intimate character ' ; another speaks of an ' arrange- 
 ment ' and of ' engagements.' Where does the truth lie ? ... The 
 nature of our relations with France is the pivot upon which our 
 whole Foreign Policy turns. Are not the people of this country 
 entitled to know the facts ? Is Parliament doing its duty so long 
 as any doifots as to the facts prevail ? " Letter to " Daily News" 
 May 2, 1912.= 
 
 " The Anglo-French Convention of 1904 and the diplomatic support 
 we gave to France in 1905 and 1911 on the strength of it have 
 served their purpose . . . with the proclamation of a French Pro- 
 tectorate " (over Morocco). " What ' engagements ' remain on 
 
 a The occasion for this letter was the statement by Lord Midleton 
 in the House of Lords that the Government, in 1911, had contemplated 
 the dispatch of six divisions to the Continent.
 
 THE GATHERING STORM 213 
 
 our part towards France, and under what diplomatic instrument 
 are they to be studied ? " Letter to " Westminister Gazette" May 
 16, 1912.3 
 
 In a letter to the Times on May 23rd, Morel pointed 
 out that the case he was arguing was, " of course, un- 
 popular," but that it had been 
 
 " advanced quite as strongly in France from a similar point of 
 view ; for example, in the writings of M. Hanotaux and M . 
 Felicien Challaye and in the speeches of Baron d'Estournelles de 
 Constant and M. Jaures." 
 
 What are our Secret Commitments ? 
 
 In the meantime in the international sphere several 
 significant incidents were occurring. Certain Unionist 
 newspapers had started a campaign in favour of converting 
 the entente into an alliance. A 10,000,000 Anglo- 
 French loan for Russian naval construction, " superin- 
 tended by Messrs. Vickers," had been contracted, whilst 
 in September the French fleet was moved from Brest 
 to Toulon, and it was stated in high French and Russian 
 naval circles that this transfer was the result of a specific 
 naval convention with Britain. 
 
 These events brought forth a further letter from 
 Morel : 
 
 " What is the nature of our relations with France ?" he asked. 
 " To what extent are we tied by the Poincare combination ? 4 
 To what degree are we involved in supporting any particular policy 
 in the Mediterranean or elsewhere. . . . The public need to be con- 
 stantly reminded that the increasing secrecy in which our Foreign 
 
 * 
 
 3 Written in reply to a leading article in the Westminster Gazette which 
 had stated that " OUT engagements to France are known and we shall be 
 true to them." In an editorial foot-note to Morel's letter the Westminster 
 Gazette declared, " We can assure him (Morel) that we are not thinking 
 of any secret treaties or unavowed obligations." 
 
 4 M. Poincar6 had just negotiated at St. Petersburg a naval under- 
 standing with Russia.
 
 214 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 Policy of late years has been cloaked is not even justified by proved 
 efficiency. ... It brought us twelve months ago within measurable 
 distance of actual war in consequence of secret commitments 
 revealed to us ... by foreign newspapers." Letter to " Daily News," 
 September 1, 1912. 
 
 It may be mentioned that the views thus expressed 
 by Morel were strongly supported at that time by the 
 Liberal Press, in particular by the Daily News, the Star, 
 and the Manchester Guardian. In France the same 
 questions were being asked in L'Humanite by M. Jaures 
 and, a few months previously, Morel contributed an 
 article, on much the same lines, to the well-known Paris 
 review L' Action National, which journal, in introducing 
 Morel to its readers, said : 
 
 " Mr. Morel is not only one of the most competent writers on 
 international affairs among his countrymen, he is one of the 
 oldest partisans of the entente cordiale, and dared to be pro- 
 French at a period when there was some merit in being so. 5 
 
 Towards the close of the year Morel, in company with 
 Professor L. T. Hobhouse, Mr. Gordon Harvey, M.P., 
 and Mr. Arthur Ponsonby, M.P., spoke at a meeting 
 at the Caxton HalC arranged by the Foreign Policy 
 Committee, Lord Courtney of Penwith presiding. A 
 French Yellow Book on the Moroccan question had 
 just appeared, and in his speech Morel exposed from 
 this official publication the falsity of the celebrated 
 Times telegram of July 1911 6 which had been the 
 means of causing so much ill-feeling towards Ger- 
 many in this country, and which, it was commonly 
 supposed, had inspired Mr. Lloyd George's Mansion 
 House declaration.? 
 
 Morel's speech on this occasion the date was November 
 
 o 
 
 5 For Morel's early attitude toward France see Chapters II and III. 
 
 6 See page 187. 7 See page 188.
 
 THE GATHERING STORM 215 
 
 27, 1912 8 made, said the Liverpool Daily Post, " a great 
 impression," and it was warmly praised by the Nation 
 and the Manchester Guardian. Upon Morel's disclosure 
 the latter journal commented as follows : 
 
 " A conversation between the French and German representa- 
 tives which caused no offence to either was distorted in the London 
 Press into a peremptory demand on the part of Germany for a cession 
 of territory which, if it had been made, would have greatly injured 
 the position of France. On the theory for which there was no 
 solid foundation that such a demand had been made, much of 
 British policy at that time was built up. Not only were we more 
 French than the French, but we altered the facts to suit our own 
 conceptions of what French policy ought to be. That kind of 
 thing will always happen so long as a policy of friendship is used to 
 serve the purposes of hatred." 
 
 With the opening of 1913 there was a great renewal 
 of the agitation in favour of National Service in this country, 
 and on February 21st the Daily News published a long 
 letter from Morel entitled " The Conscriptionist Agitation : 
 What lies behind it ? " In this letter Morel, after referring 
 to the introduction of the " Three Years' Military Service 
 Law " in France, to the increase in Russia's military 
 effectives and to the corresponding increase in German 
 military expenditure, said : 
 
 " Once again I urge, as I have been doing in your columns for 
 the past eighteen months, that the key to the whole position is 
 the future of our relations with France. Are we or are we not 
 pledged to give military assistance to France in the event of a 
 Continental war ? Are we free from entanglements ? " 
 
 > 
 The Government's Denial. 
 
 As though in answer to these questions, the"re came 
 
 8 It is interesting to note that five days previously (that is, on Novem- 
 ber 22nd), as we now know, Sir E. Grey had written the " unofficial " 
 letter to the French Ambassador in which he stated that the naval and 
 military consulations ^between Britain and France did not "restrict the 
 freedom of either Government to decide at any future time whether or 
 not to assist the other by armed force."
 
 216 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 on March 10th, Mr. Asquith's famous denial, in reply to 
 Lord Hugh Cecil, that the country was under any obliga- 
 tions to send an expeditionary force out of the country, 
 this denial being repeated in various forms both by the 
 Prime Minister and by Sir Edward Grey on March 24, 
 1913, April 28, 1914, and June 11, 1914. 9 
 
 So explicit and categorical were these denials that 
 they even satisfied Morel. They certainly silenced him. 
 It was impossible, he felt, to doubt the solemn word 
 of a British Prime Minister. And this conviction was 
 strengthened by a statement made by a Cabinet Minister 
 (Mr. W. Runciman) at a meeting at Birkenhead held 
 in support of Morel's candidature. Standing by Morel's 
 side, Mr. Runciman repeated the Premier's assurances. 
 " Let me say in the most categorical way," he observed, 
 " we have no secret understanding with any Foreign 
 Powers which would involve us in a European war." 
 
 9 The following are the most important of these declarations : 
 On March 10, 1913, in the course of a debate on the address, Lord 
 Hugh Cecil said : 
 
 "The Right Hon. Gentleman and his colleagues are generally 
 believed ... to have entered into an arrangement, or, to speak 
 more accurately, to fiave given assurances, which in the conting- 
 ency of a great European war would involve heavy military 
 obligations on this country. . . . 
 
 MB. ASQTJITH. Will the noble lord define a little more distinctly 
 what he means ? . . . 
 
 LORD H. CECIL. There is a very general belief that this country 
 is under an obligation, not a treaty obligation, but an obligation 
 arising owing to an assurance given by the Ministry in the course 
 of diplomatic associations, to send a very large armed force out of 
 this country to operate in Europe. . . . 
 
 MR. ASQUITH. I ought to say that it is not true." 
 
 On March 24, 1913, in reply to Sir William Bylea and Mr. Joseph 
 King, Mr. Asquith said : " As has been repeatedly stated, this country 
 is not under any obligation not public and known to Parliament which 
 compels it to take part in any war. In other words, if war arises between 
 European Powers there are no unpublished agreements which will restrict 
 or hamper the freedom of the Government or of .Parliament to decide 
 whether or not Great Britain shall participate in a war."
 
 THE GATHERING STORM 217 
 
 That was enough : Morel was convinced. He no longer 
 enfiladed the Press with questions concerning alleged 
 secret understandings. Assurances had been given by 
 the highest authorities that no such entanglements existed. 
 Britain's hands were free. And with a sigh of relief 
 Morel turned to his important labours on the West African 
 Lands Committee at the Colonial Office, busied himself 
 with a projected history of the Congo Reform Movement, 
 and confined his incursions into public politics to an 
 occasional speech to the electors of Birkenhead, in which 
 he constantly referred to the necessity of Democratic 
 Control of Foreign Policy as one of the keys to Inter- 
 national Peace.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 
 
 July 1914 Holiday at Dieppe The assassination of Jaures Hasty 
 return to England Parliament Sir E. Grey's speech The secret 
 out Manchester Guardian's criticisms The Westminster group 
 The Union of Democratic Control Its policy Popular hostility 
 Special anger against Morel. 
 
 JULY 1914 found Morel at Dieppe, where he was spending 
 a brief holiday. In a private memorandum he has described 
 his experiences during the few days preceding the outbreak 
 of the war : 
 
 " In the last days of July the West African Lands Committee, 
 on which I was working at the Colonial Office, broke up for the 
 holidays. We said godd-bye some of us for the last time as it 
 turned out and spoke of whither w r e were respectively bound. 
 I mentioned that I was crossing to Dieppe for a few days with my 
 daughter. The Secretary of the Committee, who was also private 
 secretary to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, took me aside, 
 and endeavoured earnestly to dissuade me. I asked him why. 
 His answer was to the effect that the international situation was 
 very serious. more serious than the public was aware. This was 
 on Wednesday, July 26th. We crossed on the Thursday. The 
 storm-clouds were gathering fast, but somehow it seemed impossible 
 they couli burst. On the Saturday morning I was swimming in 
 the sea before breakfast and heard a Frenchman shout to his neigh- 
 bour that Jaures had been assassinated, ' Enfln, on lui a fait son 
 affaire.' I hurried back to the hotel. The news was only too 
 true. On Sunday morning the walls were covered with the General 
 Mobilization Order, and there were many heartrending scenes 
 in the narrow streets of the old town." 
 
 218
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 219 
 
 Of these scenes at Dieppe on that fatal Sunday 
 (August 2nd) and the thoughts that arose in his mind as 
 he witnessed them, he has written in another place l : 
 
 (The) " irregular, ill-paved streets were full of men and women 
 and children, mostly weeping ; though the younger children only 
 wondered. At every door stood little groups of people with faces 
 drawn and pitiful. Reservists uttering their last farewells, putting 
 gently aside encircling arms, taking the last pledge from quivering 
 lips. Above all, permeating all, a consciousness of some invisible, 
 irresistible presence, inhuman, pitiless ; some monstrous, unseen 
 hand stretched out, tearing son from mother, husband from wife, 
 father from children. And one realized with an icy chill at one's 
 heart that the inevitable had really happened ; that because one 
 of the great ones of the earth had fallen beneath the hand of the 
 assassins in a far distant country, because the other great ones of 
 the earth had quarrelled as the result of that crime, because the 
 rulers of Christian Europe had for years been squandering the 
 substance of their peoples in piling up weapons destructive of human 
 life until all Europe was one vast arsenal, and had planned and 
 schemed against one another through their appointed agents ; 
 that because of such things, these humble folk in this small town 
 in which I moved were stricken down, their lives rent and shattered." 
 
 Morel saw that the long-threatened war had come at 
 last. There in France the imminent peril of the crisis 
 was more quickly realized than it was 1 in Britain. With 
 an entire absence of military frenzy, with dread foreboding 
 but with high seriousness and grim resolution, France 
 prepared for war. The memorandum continued : 
 
 " We decided to leave by the one o'clock boat, which was crammed. 
 It was a horrible feeling waiting for the gangway to bejowered 
 the anxious crowd, the confusion, the sense of impending disaster ; 
 and all the while one's brain throbbed with the knowledge that 
 the calamity so long feared, so long predicted, had fallen at last. 
 The Paris train came in, packed to overflowing. Hundreds had to 
 be left behind, for the boat was more than full before the train steamed 
 in along the quay. We had an awful crossing. There was no 
 room to move on deck, and the seas came over, drenching us. 
 
 1 Truth and the War, pp. 44-45.
 
 220 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 " At home I found letters from Trevelyan speaking of some 
 contemplated effort on the part of Radical and Labour members 
 for peace and asking my help. I called on him early on Monday. 
 At a few minutes to three he and I and his brother walked through 
 the empty House of Commons. I recalled Bright's phrase : 
 
 " ' The angel of death has been abroad throughout the land ; 
 you may almost hear the beating of his wings.' 
 
 44 One seemed to feel an unseen presence. The brooding silence 
 was full of terrific portents. We waited in Trevelyan's room while 
 the fate of millions was being decided above us. Every now and 
 again a dull roar surged in from the crowds outside cheering some 
 Minister or other on his way to the House. Later, Trevelyan came 
 down and reported the character of Grey's speech. And again, 
 when it was all over, ' It means war,' he said. We passed out 
 as men in a dream. I read Grey's speech. So the truth was out 
 at last. We had been bound all along to France, and therefore, 
 necessarily to Russia, to the Tsar ! - . . . No wonder Morley and 
 Burns were resigning." 
 
 The "Secret Obligations." 
 
 This was the speech in which Sir Edward Grey, for the 
 first time, revealed the nature of the obligations to France 
 obligations of honour which the Foreign Office had 
 incurred, but the existence of which had previously been 
 denied. Like many others, Morel felt that the country 
 had been misled and betrayed. That he was by no means 
 alone in this opinion is shown by this extract from the 
 Manchester Guardian of the following day : 
 
 " Sir Edward Grey's speech last night . . . was not fair, either 
 to the House of Commons or to the country. It showed that for 
 years he has been keeping back the whole truth. . . . This long course 
 of disloyalty to popular rights ... is not atoned for by the death- 
 bed confession of last night. It is a mockery to throw on the House 
 of Commons the responsibility of deciding at a moment's notice, 
 and in circumstances of great excitement, on a policy that has been 
 maturing for years. ... A minority did protest, and nobly, against 
 the incompetence and secretiveness of the conduct of our foreign 
 affairs which now threatens to wreck the moral and material progress 
 
 2 Cf. Lord Loreburn : " We went to war unprepared in a Russian 
 quarrel because we were tied to France in the dark " How Die War Came 
 (Methuen, 1919).
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 221 
 
 of half a century. . . . We are told by the conspirators that honour 
 bids us go to war. Whose honour ? Not that of the Government, 
 for if what the war party says were true, then what Mr. Asquith 
 and Sir E. Grey said was false. . . . Whose honour, then ? The honour 
 of those who have led France to hope that we would undertake 
 responsibilities which all the time they were anxious to conceal 
 from Englishmen ? If any have been guilty of that double perfidy 
 to England and to France, not all the blood of every English soldier 
 and sailor, not all the tears of widows and orphans, would restore to 
 them the honour which they have so shamelessly lost." 3 
 
 Thus the great Manchester journal, which undoubtedly 
 voiced the views held at that time by many thousands 
 of men and women both within and without the Liberal 
 and Radical ranks. 
 
 War Declared. 
 
 Morel's memorandum concluded as follows : 
 
 " The next day came the news about Belgium a foregone con- 
 clusion, of course. But what madness ! So it would be a war 
 for Belgium, and the Tsar and the revanche would be well hidden 
 in the smoke from the Liege forts. And the people would be taken 
 in, naturally. That evening I sent my views in writing to the 
 Chairman of the Birkenhead Liberal Association, leaving myself 
 in the Association's hands." ^ 
 
 The final words of this letter of Morel's to his political 
 friends at Birkenhead are well worth quoting here : 
 
 " These are the chief reasons," he wrote, " which have led me to 
 the convictions expressed in this letter. For years the people of this 
 country have had it dinned into their ears by those to whom they 
 have looked for guidance that the system of diplomatic ' groupings,' 
 and Britain's co-operation with one of those groups, was the sure 
 means of preserving peace. They now see the results, isbon these 
 results will eat their way into every home. Their first effect is to 
 shatter for a generation all the schemes of social betterment upon 
 which the masses were at last beginning to build high hopes. May 
 
 the realization of the fallacies for which the workers must now 
 
 n 
 
 3 Manchester Guardian, August 4. 1914.
 
 222 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 pay in blood and tears, may the sufferings they must presently 
 endure, burn into their hearts and souls the passionate determination 
 that, to live, democracy must rid itself of the machinery by which, in 
 darkness and in secrecy, its destinies are made the sport of men 
 whose actions it cannot control/' 
 
 By this time the die was cast. Lord Morley, Mr. John 
 Burns, and Mr. Charles Trevelyan had, on the previous 
 day, left the Government^ and Britain entered upon 
 the greatest war in all her long and warlike history. 
 
 The Westminster Group. 
 
 During these critical days, and for some time afterwards, 
 a small group of men, of whom Morel was one, had been 
 meeting at the house of Mr. Charles Trevelyan, 5 Great 
 College Street, Westminster. 
 
 " For years, " said Morel, " they had shared a common conviction 
 that Europe's statesmen were drifting to a catastrophe. ... In their 
 several ways they had endeavoured to rouse public opinion to the 
 terrible gravity of the situation ; and they had failed. . . . Was any- 
 thing left for this small group of men to do ? Should they attempt 
 to involve some constructive programme : ... to provide some 
 rallying centre for future political action national in its inception, 
 international in its ultimate aims around which men and women 
 holding, it might be, diverse and even contradictory views as to the 
 origins of the war, could, nevertheless, gather, restore their shattered 
 faiths, and strive to lay the foundations of a more enduring edifice ? 
 When discussion reached the point of decision, just five individuals 
 felt that the effort must be made." 5 
 
 These five individuals were Mr. Charles Trevelyan, M.P., 
 late Parlfamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, 
 eldest son of the Right Hon. Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 
 Bart., and grand-nephew of Lord Macaulay ; Mr. J. 
 Ramsay Macdonald, M.P., chairman, up to the outbreak 
 
 4 It is said that several other members of the Government also 
 tendered their resignations to the Prime Minister, but withdrew them 
 when Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium. 
 
 5 Contemporary Review, July 1915.
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 223 
 
 of the war, of the Labour Party in Parliament, Mr. Arthur 
 Ponsonby, M.P., formerly private secretary to Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman, and one of the leading advocates 
 of Democratic Control of Foreign Affairs in Parliament ; 
 Mr. Norman Angell, the author of the celebrated book 
 The Great Illusion ; and E. D. Morel. Together these 
 five men, to whom others were subsequently added, 
 looking forward to the hour when the war should end 
 which very few, if any, at that time realized would be 
 so long deferred set to work to devise a policy which 
 they considered, if adopted at the settlement, would lead 
 to a permanent peace. The policy thus devised was 
 subsequently adopted a few weeks later by a society 
 of which Morel became the secretary and to which was 
 given the name of the Union of Democratic Control. 
 
 The purpose of this book is not to relate the history 
 of the Union of Democratic Control nor to give anything 
 like a connected narrative of the work of what may be 
 called the " Pacifist Movement " in Britain during the 
 period of the war. But as Morel has been so closely iden- 
 tified, as its secretary and one of its founders, with the 
 Union, it is necessary to say something here of the objects 
 of that Society. 
 
 The Union of Democratic Control. 
 
 Strange as it may seem to the ordinary reader, the Union 
 of Democratic Control was never what is ordinarily called 
 a Stop-the-War or Peace Society. It is true, as will 
 presently be mentioned, that as the years went by the 
 Union began to urge that an attempt should b>e made 
 to shorten the period of destruction by reinforcing the 
 military arm with the weapon of diplomacy, but in its 
 inception, and in fact throughout its whole existence, 
 the main object of the Society was to advocate that at 
 the close of the war a settlement should be adopted which,
 
 224 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 instead of sowing the seeds of future conflicts, should 
 lead to a durable and a democratic peace. 
 
 The leaders of this movement looked back at the history 
 of previous wars. They saw that nearly every war in 
 the past had been followed, not by a democratic peace, 
 but by an armed truce leading to future hostilities ; and 
 in order to prevent such a thing occurring again they con- 
 sidered that a real scientific effort should be made, during 
 the war itself, to familiarize the people with the principles 
 which made for stability in international relationships, 
 and which, if applied to the settlement at the close of 
 the conflict, might lead to a lasting peace. Only if this 
 were done, they thought, could the great World-War, 
 which began in August 1914, actually be a war which 
 would bring all wars to an end. The nature of the prin- 
 ciples thus advocated by Morel and his colleagues can 
 be gathered from the following official statement of policy 
 issued towards the close of 1914 : 
 
 WHAT THE UNION STANDS FOR. 
 
 The Union has been created to formulate and organize support 
 for such a policy as shall lead to the establishment and maintenance 
 of an enduring peace. " For this purpose the Union advocates the 
 following points and takes any other action which the Council of 
 the Union may, from time to time, declare to be in furtherance 
 of such policy : 
 
 1. No province shall be transferred from one Government to 
 another without the consent by plebiscite or otherwise of the popula- 
 tion of such province. 
 
 2. No treaty, arrangement or undertaking shall be entered 
 upon in the name of Great Britain without the sanction of Parlia- 
 ment. Adequate machinery for ensuring democratic control of 
 foreign policy shall be created. 
 
 3. The foreign policy of Great Britain shall not be aimed at 
 creating alliances for the purpose of maintaining the balance of 
 power, but shall be dictated to concerted action between the Powers, 
 and the setting up of an International Council, whose deliberations 
 and discussions shall be pxiblie, with such machinery for securing 
 international agreement as shall be the guarantee of an abiding peace.
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 225 
 
 4. Great Britain shall propose, as part of the peace settlement, 
 a plan for the drastic reduction, by consent, of the armaments of 
 all the belligerent Powers, and to facilitate that policy shall attempt 
 to secure the general nationalization of the manufacture of arma- 
 ments and the control of the export of armaments by one country 
 to another. 
 
 A year later, when the first campaign was started by 
 Mr. W. M. Hughes and others in favour of continuing 
 the war, after the peace, by means of an economic boycott 
 and tariff war proposals, which in the opinion of the 
 leaders of the Union, would, if carried out, lead inevitably 
 to another military conflict, the following fifth point 
 was added to the above programme : 
 
 5. The European conflict shall not be continued by economic 
 war after the military operations have ceased. British policy shall 
 be directed towards promoting free commercial intercourse between 
 all nations and the preservation and extension of the principle of 
 the open door. 
 
 Reason in War-time. 
 
 It is difficult to understand to-day why such a policy as 
 the foregoing which was practically the same in principle 
 as that advocated in 1918 by President Wilson 6 and 
 
 6 The following points which President Wilson declared should form 
 a basis of a permanent peace will be found tt> be precisely the same 
 in principle as those embodied in the five points, quoted above, of the 
 Union of Democratic Control : 
 
 1. " The peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about 
 from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were chattels and pawns 
 in a game." February 11, 1918. "* 
 
 " The settlement of every question, whether of territory or of 
 sovereignty, or economic arrangement, or of political relationship, 
 upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the 
 people immediately concerned." July 4, 1918. 
 
 2. " Open covenants of peace openly arrived at, after which 
 there shall be no private international understandings of any kind, 
 but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in public view." 
 July 8, 1918. 
 
 3. "A general association of nations must be formed under 
 specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees 
 
 15
 
 226 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 since accepted, in theory at any rate, by all the belligerent 
 Governments, should have excited such hostility when 
 first put forward in 1914, and why such violent attacks 
 should have been levelled at Morel in particular, as being 
 the secretary of the organization which advocated it. But 
 those who take the trouble to turn up the files of the news- 
 papers and magazines of 1914 and 1915 will be surprised 
 so short are human memories ! to find that any one who 
 in those days ventured to advocate such principles as 
 those which were afterwards associated for a time with 
 the name of President Wilson was certain to incur the 
 most furious and implacable hostility. It has always been 
 so in war-time and probably always will be so as long as 
 wars continue. 
 
 " It is no use to argue," said Cobden in 1862, " as to what is the 
 origin of the war, and no use whatever to advise the disputants. 
 From the moment the first shot is fired, or the first blow is struck in 
 a dispute, then farewell to all reason and argument ; you might 
 as well reason with mad dogs as with men when they have begun 
 to spill each other's blood in mortal combat. I was so convinced 
 of the fact during the American War ; I was so convinced of the 
 utter uselessness of raising one's voice in opposition to war when 
 it has once begun, that I made up my mind that so long as I was 
 in political life, should a' war again break out between England and 
 a great Power, I would never open my mouth upon the subject 
 from the time the first gun was fired until the peace was made." 7 
 
 of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small 
 States alike." January 8, 1918. 
 
 " There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants and 
 understandings within the general and common family of the League 
 of Nations." September 27, 1918. 
 
 4. " Adequate guarantees given and taken that national arma- 
 ments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic 
 safety*" January 8, 1918. 
 
 5. " The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers, and 
 the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the 
 nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its 
 maintenance." July 8, 1918. 
 
 Morel and his friends can therefore claim the distinction of having 
 enunciated in 1914 the very principles which (four years later) were pro- 
 claimed to the world by the President of the Unites States of America. 
 
 7 Morley's Life of Cobden, chapter xxiv.
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR 227 
 
 And those who, during such times of popular passion, 
 take it upon themselves to advocate, for the sake of 
 the future of humanity, reasonable terms of peace, will 
 assuredly be accused of advocating such terms, not for 
 the sake of the future of all, but solely for the purpose 
 of befriending the enemy. One example of this will 
 suffice. It is a commonplace of modern enlightened 
 statesmanship that to follow up a victorious war by 
 annexing a part of the territory of the enemy-state 
 against the wishes of those who inhabit that territory 
 will almost certainly lead to another war in the future, 
 and it is generally accepted that the annexation of 
 Alsace-Lorraine by Prussia in 1871, in this manner, 
 was one of the principal causes of European unrest 
 between 1871 and 1914. 
 
 Realizing the truth of this, Morel and his colleagues 
 laid great stress in supporting the first principle of their 
 Union's programme upon this point. They urged that 
 the Allies should not seek at the close of the war to " divide 
 up " the territories of the Central Powers amongst them- 
 selves. To pursue such a policy, they contended, would 
 merely result in the creation of new, " Alsace-Lorraines " 
 to breed fresh wars. To the majority of people nowadays 
 such a contention will appear to be the clearest common 
 sense. But it was not so in 1914. In those feverish 
 days the wildest schemes were advocated and applauded. 
 According to one plan, Hanover, with the ports of Hamburg 
 and Bremen, was to be annexed by Britain ; the whole 
 of the Baltic seaboard of Prussia was to be given to the 
 Tsar ; France was to have the whole of Germany up 
 to the Rhine ; and Germany itself was to be disintegrated 
 and destroyed. " Germany must cease to exist . . ." 
 said the New Statesman on May 15, 1915. " It is the State , 
 that must be 'destroyed. . . . Not only can we not 
 grant such a State an honourable peace, we cannot
 
 228 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 grant it peace at all." And when Morel and his friends 
 pointed out that such a policy, if carried out, would 
 lead inevitably to further wars they were told that they 
 were obviously working in the interests of the enemy 
 and that their only motive was to save Germany from 
 the consequences of her crimes. 
 
 Indeed, those who agree with Lord Morley that it is 
 possible for the public in war-time to work itself into 
 a mood in which " the most solid reasoning, the most 
 careful tenderness of prejudice, the most unanswerable 
 expostulations " are " all alike unavailing," may fairly 
 hold that a certain amount of Morel's unpopularity during 
 that period was due to the very reasonableness of 
 the policy advocated by the Society of which he was the 
 secretary. But this alone does not account for the 
 peculiar ferocity of the attacks which were made upon 
 him personally, and which were far more intense than 
 anything which his colleagues had to endure. The reasons 
 for this concentration of hate upon the person of Morel 
 demand a chapter to themselves.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO "ORIGINS" 
 
 The origin of the war Typical British view : Germany solely respon- 
 sible Morel disagrees A " distributed " responsibility Cause of 
 Morel's unpopularity A question of " background " Morel's atti- 
 tude misrepresented Pro-German Morel's motives A permanent 
 peace Cutting at the roots Destroy secret diplomacy and mili- 
 tarism Truth and tactics Controversial methods* Convincing proof 
 of integrity. 
 
 THE principal cause of Morel's extreme unpopularity 
 during the period of the war lay in the special attitude 
 adopted by him towards the " origins " of this world- 
 catastrophe. 
 
 This statement requires some elaboration. 
 
 Soon after the war began the typical British attitude 
 towards its origin might be summarized in the following 
 words : 
 
 " The German Government (some people said ' the whole of 
 Germany ') prepared for this war for forty years. Having carefully 
 laid their plans, they deliberately chose the moment most convenient 
 to themselves to launch their armies upon their unoffending and 
 only half-prepared neighbours. From the very first the war was 
 deliberately premeditated, planned and provoked by the rulers of 
 Germany (or 'by Germany herself) as a part of a gr^at scheme 
 of world-domination. . . . Upon them (or ' upon the whole of the 
 German people ') rested the sole responsibility of this colossal 
 crime." 
 
 Morel did notagree with this somewhat crude presen- 
 tation of the case. For years, as we have seen, he had 
 
 229
 
 230 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 been studying the nature of the forces which were making, 
 in his opinion, for a European conflict, and he had come 
 to certain conclusions upon the matter which he had 
 expressed in various speeches and writings. Without 
 setting forth these conclusions in detail we may say 
 that Morel's main contention was that although the 
 German Government, and especially the German military 
 party, was largely responsible for the outbreak, yet it 
 was not solely responsible. " The sole responsibility for 
 the war," he said in a Personal Foreword to his much- 
 discussed book Truth and the War, " cannot, in justice, 
 be wholly imputed to " Germany. In a word, he considered 
 that the responsibility for the war was a " distributed " 
 responsibility, and that the awful conflict which was 
 convulsing Europe was the outcome of a long series of 
 diplomatic intrigues, contending imperialistic ambitions, 
 economic rivalries, militaristic activities, and even personal 
 jealousies, in which many Governments (especially that 
 of Russia) had played a part, and for participation in 
 which no one country except Belgium was entirely free 
 from blame. 
 
 " I have neither consciously suppressed," he said, 1 " nor con- 
 sciously minimized any acts contributed by Germany before the war 
 to the general unrest. I have endeavoured to establish a sense of 
 perspective between the acts of the German Government and the 
 acts of other Governments. I have condemned German diplomacy 
 and German Jingoes of the pen and of the sword ; I have condemned 
 the invasion of Belgium. But I have also condemned the diplomacy 
 and the Jingoism of other Governments, and I have refused to 
 admit that the invasion of Belgium, wrong as it was is without 
 historical parallel and places Germany outside the pale of civilized 
 States." 
 
 A Question of Background. 
 
 The fact that Morel held these views does not entirely 
 account for his extreme unpopularity, for similar views 
 
 1 Preface to Truth and the War (National Labour Press), 1916.
 
 231 
 
 were held by many eminent persons, President Wilson 
 amongst them. 2 They were certainly unpopular views, 
 for in war-time the instinct of every nation and the policy 
 of every Government is to put the whole blame for the 
 conflict upon the enemy. But he might have held them 
 without incurring the enmity he did. The trouble was 
 that he not only held them but expressed them, expressed 
 them with vigour, and expressed them, perhaps, in a 
 way which gave his opponents a better opportunity of 
 misrepresenting his whole position than they otherwise 
 might have had. For example, he so incessantly pressed 
 these unpopular views upon the unwilling attention of 
 the public, and, in speech after speech, and article after 
 article, so developed this view and so emphasized this 
 argument, that sometimes, in the crowded and detailed 
 pictures he painted of general diplomatic weakness and 
 wickedness, the special iniquities of which the German 
 Government had been guilty may not have stood out 
 in sufficiently startling relief. For a black silhouette 
 a white background is needed to bring out the sharpness 
 of the outline. The official Press pictured Germany as 
 a black figure upon a background of almost immaculate 
 purity. Morel did not accept this* view of the European 
 background : he pictured the German Government as 
 black indeed, but upon a background, not of white but 
 of grey, a grey which in some cases, notably in that of 
 Russia, shaded into a blackness scarcely less deep than 
 that of Germany herself ; and by his insistence upon 
 the greyness of this background Morel, as has been said, 
 gave to his opponents opportunity after opportunity of 
 misrepresenting his general attitude. Of these oppor- 
 
 a " ' Have you heard what started the present war ? It was mutual 
 suspicion, an interlacing of alliances, a complete web of intrigue anc\ 
 spying,' said PresMent Wilson at Cincinnatti " (Daily News, December 
 28, 1916).
 
 282 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 tunities they availed themselves to the full, and, by a 
 recourse, in numerous instances, to methods the nature 
 of which it is difficult to characterize in polite language, 
 they were able to present him to the general public 
 which naturally did not read his writings for themselves 
 not only as an apologist for Germany, but actually as 
 a " pro-German." And when once great masses of people 
 get the legend firmly fixed in their minds that a certain 
 person is " pro-enemy," that particular individual's 
 opportunities for persuading them to listen to anything 
 he has to say at all are, to say the least, very greatly 
 restricted. This, of course, is just what his opponents 
 desire. 
 
 Morel's Motives. 
 
 Now, why did Morel take this particular line, a line 
 which aroused so much prejudice against him, even 
 amongst some of those who agreed with the constructive 
 policy of the Union of Democratic Control ? It was 
 a line which he took deliberately, and, amongst other 
 reasons, for the following purpose : 
 
 Rightly or wrongly, Morel believed that if the theory 
 that Germany was so'lely responsible for the war once 
 secured a firm hold upon the public mind, then it would 
 be impossible to hope for such a settlement at the end 
 of the war as would lead to a lasting peace. He felt 
 that this theory, strongly and sincerely held, would breed 
 such a hatred of Germany in this country as would drive 
 all ideas of 'reason and justice out of the heads of those 
 who were convinced by it, and that the people would 
 then insist and he could understand them doing so 
 upon imposing such harsh and shattering terms upon 
 the enemy terms even involving the dismemberment 
 
 and enslavement of the Central Powers as would lead 
 
 (. 
 
 inevitably to another war.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO "ORIGINS" 233 
 
 " The more deeply rooted becomes the belief," he said, " that 
 Germany is the sole responsible author of the war . . . the more will 
 public opinion gravitate towards the ' unconditional surrender ' 
 policy ; and that policy means an indefinite prolongation of the 
 war and, consequently, an immense additional loss of life . . . (and) 
 is a policy which means a bad settlement, a settlement which 
 would settle nothing, . . . which would pave the way for fresh 
 convulsions, and which, both in its external and internal implica- 
 tions, would, in the ultimate resort, bring disaster upon the British 
 Commonwealth." 3 
 
 On the other hand, Morel felt that if the people 
 could only be brought to realize that the responsi- 
 bility for the war was a " distributed " one, they 
 would more readily develop a willingness to agree 
 to such a settlement, based upon the principles of 
 Democracy and International Co-operation, as would 
 bind up the bleeding wounds of Europe and lead to 
 an abiding peace. 
 
 Cutting at the Roots. 
 
 Further, he felt that it would only be when the people 
 thus realized the widely spreading and deeply rooted 
 character of the causes of European unrest that they would 
 direct the whole current of their energies to removing 
 the evils of secret diplomacy and militarism which, 
 if allowed to survive in any country after the war, 
 would certainly, sooner or later, bring about another 
 conflict. 
 
 3 Truth and the War, p. 53. First printed in the Labour Leader, 
 March 25, 1915. It is characteristic of Morel that he gave this practical 
 reason for arguing against the theory of the " sole " responsibility of 
 Germany as his second reason. His first was simply that " it is not true." 
 To Morel the pursuit of Truth, regardless of consequences, is always 
 the first essential, forgetful of the fact that Truth, as Rudyarcl Kipling 
 mentions somewhere, is a naked lady, and that it is not always desirable, 
 especially in war-time, that she should be revealed to the public in all 
 her nudity. A man with such ideas as these is certain to prove a nuisance 
 to orthodox politicians and to Governments.
 
 234 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 " If it can be demonstrated," he said,* " that this charge against 
 Germany " (i.e. that the German Government deliberately brought 
 about the war for the purpose of world-domination) " is untrue . . . 
 this war is seen to be the outcome, not of the inherent wickedness 
 of one particular ruler, or group, or nation, but of a system of state- 
 craft common to all Governments, a system of official intercourse 
 between Governments in which all the peoples have helplessly 
 acquiesced and for which all Governments are directly, and all 
 peoples indirectly, responsible. And it is only when, and if, all 
 Governments and all peoples have realized that the truth lies 
 here that these systems can be overthrown and the conception of 
 a real union between the nations can evolve. So long as one parti- 
 cular nation is credited with special and peculiar vices by another, 
 so long will the others remain blind to the part played by their 
 own rulers in producing the situation out of which the war arose, 
 and so long will every practical effort at the re-establishment of public 
 law in Europe be doomed to death in birth. We must build a new 
 structure and we must use new material. We cannot build a new 
 structure in Europe without Germany. If, therefore, we do not 
 build upon a foundation of truth, the Europe which emerges from 
 the war will even be more unstable than the Europe produced by 
 the Treaty of Vienna a century ago." 
 
 These briefly were the reasons which impelled Morel 
 to take the course this decidedly unpopular course 
 he did, and to devote so much of his attention and 
 argumentative skill to the question of " origins." 
 
 c 
 
 Truth and Tactics. 
 
 It is possible that many of Morel's friends may have 
 felt that in pursuing this particular path he was scarcely 
 taking the wisest course. They may have felt with 
 Cobden that whilst a nation is at war "it is no use to 
 argue as to what is the origin of the war." They may 
 have felt, too, that the principles which made for a per- 
 manent peace, and which were laid down in the programme 
 of the Union of Democratic Control, were so essentially 
 and obviously just and reasonable in themselves that 
 
 4 Truth arid the War, pp. 120-7. First published in Labour Leader, 
 May 13, 1915.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO "ORIGINS" 235 
 
 they could be argued upon their own merits without 
 insistent and reiterated references to specific " origins," 
 and would be certain, when the moment came, to rally 
 behind them sufficient public support to secure their 
 adoption by the Governments concerned. 
 
 And as the war began to lengthen into years and the 
 memories of the critical days of 1914 and of the negotiations 
 preceding the conflict grew faint in people's minds, some 
 of them may have felt still more strongly that the 
 question whether Germany was more responsible than 
 Russia, or whether Germany was alone responsible, or 
 whether all the nations were responsible in varying degrees, 
 did not matter one breath of wind in comparispn with 
 the great issue of the character of the Peace Settlement, 
 and that Morel would stand a better chance of influencing 
 public opinion in the desired direction by concentrating 
 more especially upon the future and leaving the past 
 to be taken care of by the historian. 
 
 But Morel did not see the matter in this light. As 
 has been pointed out previously, 5 his mind is essentially 
 a challenging one, and in public controversy he is 
 not apt to be over-careful of the prejudices of others. 
 He is inclined to be impatient of what he would probably 
 call " round-about methods." In the high pursuit of 
 truth he probably feels that he does not wish to be troubled 
 with questions of minor tactics they savour too much 
 of the diplomacy which he loathes and which he knows 
 has been responsible for so much public evil an^l so much 
 private deadening of the mind. His natural instinct 
 is to go straight for his object no matter what obstacles 
 lie across the direct path and when he meets with those 
 who prefer on occasion to go a round-about way, carefully 
 skirting some thicket of prejudice in front of them in 
 order to get to* the same goal by a devious route, he 
 
 S See Chaper XI.
 
 236 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 may not be above admiring their agility but he finds it 
 very difficult to follow their example. And to those 
 who say to him, 
 
 " What you say is true, but now is not the fitting time to say it " 
 his instinct is to reply : 
 
 " If the thing is true, now is the fitting time to say it. Truth 
 is always timely. I will not wait for a time which, after all, may 
 never arrive, to proclaim the truth that I see. I will do it now." 6 
 
 A Conclusive Proof of Integrity. 
 
 This, of course, is all very well, Some, however not 
 without knowledge of the characteristics of the British 
 temperament may feel inclined to shake their heads 
 at such a declaration. They know that in the altogether 
 abnormal atmosphere which exists in war-time, when 
 public feelings are stirred to their depths and public 
 passions are running mountains high, when nerves are 
 racked and tense to breaking-point, when souls are torn 
 and rendered desolate, when minds are reeling between 
 anxiety for loved ones and a frenzied hate, born of fear, 
 of the enemy, when 'the voice of reason is all but silent, 
 when knowledge is censored and the wildest legends pass 
 as the current coin of belief, when for the vast majority 
 but to consider for a moment is to be " full of sorrow 
 and leaden-ey'd despairs," and men and women turn 
 away from thought lest they should lose their reason, 
 criticism of what is believed to be the national cause 
 cannot in its methods be too conciliatory, and a diplomatic 
 care not to irritate prejudices can hardly be carried to 
 
 6 It might be argued in reply, and with some justice, that in war-time 
 a certain economy in truth is as necessary as economy in other matters. 
 Truth, like many essential articles, may have to b restricted when the 
 State is at war. Those who do not like these restrictions must first do 
 away with war itself.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO "ORIGINS" 237 
 
 too extreme a length. And many of Morel's warmest 
 friends and admirers felt that in adopting the particular 
 methods he did he was raising against himself an 
 unyielding wall of prejudice and passion and incurring a 
 storm of unpopularity the extreme violence of which he 
 might perhaps have mitigated had he taken a more 
 discreet and diplomatic course. 
 
 This criticism of some of Morel's methods during the 
 war is one which can be honestly made, and he himself, 
 although perhaps not agreeing with it, would be the first 
 to admit that reasonable grounds exist for such a judgment. 
 But at least this can be said, that the very methods adopted 
 by Morel throughout the war prove more convincingly 
 than any protestations as to his motives which he himself 
 might have made the absolute honesty, fearless sincerity 
 and rigid integrity of the man. If he has a fault as a 
 controversialist it is in the very rigour of this integrity. 
 
 Morel is certainly rigid, in his views as in his contro- 
 versial methods. He is not a pliable man. He is a man 
 of stubborn and rooted convictions, and once he has 
 persuaded himself of the Tightness of certain views it is 
 almost impossible to induce him to .^modify them. And 
 for this reason, because his convictions mean so much 
 to him, and because he holds them so strongly, he is apt 
 to take too little account of the weaknesses of others 
 and to be impatient and even intolerant of opposition. 
 Ignorance he can neither suffer nor understand. His 
 own views have been formed as the result of deep reading 
 and patient research, and he is able to bring such an array 
 of facts to support his contentions that it it not unnatural 
 that he should consider them to be unassailable. He 
 is peculiarly blind to the fact that other people may 
 not be so well informed as he is himself. This leads 
 him on occasion to attribute wrong motives to 
 opponents who are merely misinformed. And perhaps
 
 238 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 he is sometimes apt to forget, in his ardent search for 
 reality, that truth has many facets and that Pilate's 
 question has never yet been answered. As has been 
 indicated, these characteristics are reflected in his contro- 
 versial style. It is a rhetorical style, extremely forcible, 
 betraying evidence of wide information with every 
 statement well documented and sometimes rising to 
 heights of noble passion, but it would be absurd to say 
 that it is characterized by undue suavity. His smashing 
 argumentative hammer-blows often seem rather to stun 
 than to persuade. 7 These are undoubted faults. They 
 have possibly hampered Morel in his work and lost him 
 the support of many who, with a little persuasion, might 
 have been of help to him. All this can be admitted. But 
 it is certain beyond all question that " no tool of the 
 Kaiser," no advocate " in German pay " (such were 
 some of the ridiculous charges made against him), would 
 ever have taken the line he did. A genuine agent of 
 Germany would have concealed his intentions in violent 
 protestations of patriotism, and have endeavoured, under 
 that cover, to carry out in secret such work as would 
 be helpful to German Governmental policy. 8 Not so 
 Morel. " You think you are living in a palace of truth," 
 he proclaimed to a public convinced of the absolute 
 righteousness of the case presented to them by the poli- 
 ticians and the Press. " You are not ; you and the people 
 of Germany also, and the peoples of all the countries 
 concerned, are imprisoned in a dungeon of lies, and the 
 truth is kept from you all. It shall be my task to show 
 you the* truth as I have been able to discover it, however 
 
 7 This does not apply, curiously enough, to his writings on Africa 
 either before or since 1914. When he touches upon Africa, and par- 
 ticularly when he is dealing with questions of native rights and on trade 
 in the tropics, his style becomes singularly persuasive and convincing. 
 
 8 The Bolo Case was an example of this.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO "ORIGINS" 239 
 
 unpalatable and however surprising it may be." This 
 he did his best to do, and in the end paid the penalty 
 which is exacted from all who appear to claim however 
 modest they actually may be that they are wiser than 
 their fellows. 
 
 Unfair Attacks. 
 
 But when all is said and done, when every doubt as 
 to the wisdom of some of Morel's controversial methods 
 has been expressed, when the last " candid friend " has 
 fired off his last unpleasant criticism, the fact still remains 
 that the torrent of calumny and abuse with which Morel 
 was deluged by the Press during four and a half years 
 passed far beyond the bounds even of that most elastic 
 excuse " there's a war on," and submerged him for a 
 time in a frothing and bitter sea of unpopularity which 
 neither his methods nor his spoken or written opinions 
 in the very least deserved. Almost from the beginning 
 of the war people's minds were poisoned against him 
 by articles in widely circulated journals in which the 
 usual methods of misrepresentation garbled extracts 
 from his writings, extracts given without their context 
 and what appeared to be deliberate misrenderings of his 
 opinions were of course employed. Charges made against 
 him in one journal would be repeated in half a hundred 
 others, the charges growing (after the fashion of legends) 
 with each repetition, and whilst the journal in which 
 the charge first appeared might perhaps consent^to insert 
 Morel's reply or denial (and this was by no means the 
 usual practice), such reply or denial would not be reprinted 
 by the other forty-nine. The result was that whilst 
 Morel might refute some allegation in one place, it was 
 certain to spring up in another, and by the time he had 
 followed it there?, behold ! it had passed into current 
 history and had become an article of popular belief.
 
 240 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 One or two instances will be sufficient to show the sort 
 of thing that happened. 
 
 One fine day a certain leading London newspaper 
 which, on the whole, is fairly and honestly conducted, 
 propounded the theory that Germany had desired to 
 promote ill-will between Britain and Belgium, and therefore 
 that Morel had been the dupe of the German Government 
 in the matter of the Congo. This was taken up by other 
 journals. From a dupe Morel became a conscious tool 
 of Germany ; then the person who had painted an exagger- 
 ated picture of Congo misrule, and finally doubts were 
 expressed as to whether the " Congo atrocities " had 
 ever taken place at all. Most of them, if not all, were 
 probably invented by Morel ! 
 
 Another allegation related to Morel's book on Morocco. 
 The circumstances in which this book was written will 
 be remembered. 9 The menace of coming war over- 
 shadowed the Continent. The Morocco embroglio had 
 shown the world the danger. Morel wrote his book 
 in a desperate attempt to avert the conflict. Although 
 severe on Anglo-French diplomacy, the book was judged 
 fairly at the time, even by those who disagreed with its 
 conclusions. Several years later, when war had actually 
 broken out, some one invented the phrase that Morel 
 tried " to secure Morocco for Germany," and this was 
 believed by thousands. 
 
 The Anglo-German Friendship Society. 
 
 A third accusation and one frequently repeated 
 was that Morel had founded the Anglo-German (after- 
 wards the British-German) Friendship Society. The 
 facts relating to this accusation and its origin are worth 
 chronicling as a sample of the kind of attack to which 
 Morel was subjected. 
 
 9 See Chapter XVI.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO " ORIGINS " 241 
 
 On July 30, 1915, Sir George Makgill, secretary of the 
 Anti-German Union, writing in the Morning Post, said : 
 
 " I am informed that while Councillor Kuhlmann was at the 
 German Embassy in London one of his associates named Schubert 
 used to go about enlisting members and collecting subscriptions 
 for Mr. Morel's Anglo-German Friendship Society. 
 
 " From this it would appear that Mr. Morel was working with 
 the sanction and approval of the German Embassy. We know 
 now that Germany was then feverishly preparing for war, and we 
 are justified in concluding that Mr. Morel's labours were, wittingly 
 or not, part of that preparation." I0 
 
 Such was the allegation. Now for the facts. 
 
 The chief promoters of the Anglo-German Friendship 
 Society were Sir Frank Lascelles, for many years British 
 ambassador at Berlin, chairman ; Lord Avebury, presi- 
 dent ; and the Duke of Argyll, vice-president. Its 
 vice-presidents included the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 the Archbishop of York, the Cardinal Archbishop of West- 
 minster, the Lord Mayor of London, all the Lord Mayors 
 of England, the Lord Provosts of Aberdeen, Glasgow, 
 and Dundee, the Moderator of the Scottish Churches, the 
 President of the Free Church Council, Lord Brassey 
 and Lord Lonsdale. Its General Cpuncil and Executive 
 Committee included a host of peers and baronets, members 
 of Parliament, Church dignitaries, business men, officers 
 of both services, civic authorities of the most important 
 cities in the United Kingdom, and a number of head 
 masters of public schools. Amongst the two hundred 
 distinguished names figuring on its General Council and 
 Executive Committee it is interesting to note those of 
 
 T 
 
 Field-Marshal Lord (then Gen. Gen. Sir H. Smith-Dorien. 
 
 Sir Douglas) Haig. Gen. Sir R. Pole-Carew. 
 
 Field-Marshal Lord Grenfell. Admiral Lord Beresford. 
 
 Field-Marshal Lord Methuen. Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge. 
 
 10 To this Morel replied, but the Morning Post refused to insert hia 
 letter. 
 
 16
 
 242 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 Admiral Sir Charles Holtham. The Duke of Sutherland. 
 
 Admiral Sir James Bruce. Lord Strathcona. 
 
 Sir Edward Carson. Lord Loreburn. 
 
 Sir Rufus Isaacs (now Lord The Marquis of Downshire. 
 
 Reading). The Earl of Aberdeen. 
 
 The Hon. Sir Eric Harrington. The Earl of Dunraven. 
 
 The Duke of Abercorn. Lord Weardale. 
 
 The Duke of Devonshire. Lord Justice Kennedy. 
 
 and many others. 
 
 This was the Society, described by Sir George Makgill 
 as " Mr. Morel's," collecting subscriptions through Baron 
 Kuhlmann (of whom Mr. Morel was apparently the tool) 
 and assisting Germany in her " feverish preparations 
 for war " ! The extent of Morel's connection with it 
 is thus described by Sir Frank Lascelles : 
 
 " 14, CHESTER SQUARE, S.W. 
 
 "March 8, 1916. 
 " DEAR MR. MOREL, 
 
 " In reply to your letter forwarded to me by Mr. Trevelyan, 
 I have no hesitation in saying that the British-German Friendship 
 Society was instituted without any assistance from you. 11 Indeed, 
 it was only after it had been instituted that a resolution was passed, 
 on the proposal of Mr. Noel Buxton, on October 27, 1911, that you 
 should be asked to join the Executive Committee, and although 
 your name appears on the list of that Committee in the report 
 for the year ending April 30, 1914, / can find no record of your ever 
 having attended any of the meetings of the Committee. 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " (Signed) FRANK C. LASCELLES." 
 
 Morel's own comments complete the story. " I was 
 pressed to give my name to the Society some months 
 after it had come into existence," he writes. " I did so 
 because J sympathized with its objects. But its methods 
 seemed to me impracticable. Banquets and amiable 
 speeches could not achieve the results aimed at by the 
 Society. So long as the nettle was not grasped, such 
 
 11 The inaugural meeting of the Society was held &t the Mansion House, 
 Sir Vezey Strong, Lord Mayor of London, in the chair, on May 15, 1911.
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO " ORIGINS " 243 
 
 improvement in Anglo-German relations as these well- 
 meant efforts on both sides of the North Sea aimed at 
 could only be of a surface kind. The whole situation 
 was vitiated by the obscurity which shrouded our relations 
 with France, and therefore, contingently with Tsardom. 
 . . . Unless Parliament . . . insisted upon ascertaining 
 whether our commitments to France . . . still survived, 
 ... no permanent improvement in our relations with 
 Germany was possible, in my view. . . . But the members 
 of the Society who discussed the position with me were 
 disinclined to come to close quarters with what to me 
 was the vital issue if war were to be avoided. . . . Knowing 
 this to be their attitude, and desiring to avoid friction, 
 I kept away from the Committee meetings : so that, 
 apart from giving my name, I played absolutely no part 
 in the Society's labours whatever." 
 
 So much for the allegation that Morel had founded 
 a society which he did not join for some months after 
 its foundation, whose meetings he had never attended, 
 and for whose methods he had displayed little or no 
 enthusiasm. One of the most interesting books which 
 could ever be written would be one upon Truth in War- 
 time.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 
 
 Letter to the Birkenhead Liberal Association Condemnation of " Prus 
 sianism " Truth and the War Morel's views on secret diplomacy 
 On free trade and international co-operation On the open door and 
 the future of the tropics " Internationalization of commercial activi- 
 ties " Treatment of native races Neutralization of Africa An 
 appeal for the future Reception of the book. 
 
 THE charge of " pro-Germanism " which has been levelled 
 at Morel can be sufficiently disposed of by an extract 
 from one of his very first contributions to the literature 
 of the war, the letter which he wrote to the Executive 
 of the Birkenhead Liberal Association, published in 
 the Birkenhead papers on October 14, 1914, and after- 
 wards reproduced a& a pamphlet under the title of The 
 Outbreak of War. 1 
 
 " I would wish to preface my remarks, . . . " he said, " by saying 
 that I detest as heartily as any one can do the odious and immoral 
 doctrines preached by the politico-militarist school of Prussia 
 and inculcated by the philosophy of Nietzsche and Treitschke . . . ; 
 that I condemn as vigorously as any one can do the blundering 
 brutality of German diplomatic methods ; that I abhor as intensely 
 as any olfe can do the violation of Belgian territory and the ruthless 
 treatment meted out to the Belgian population and to certain 
 Belgian towns by the German armies ; . . . and I am wholly in accord 
 with the view that future conditions of peace should include heavy 
 compensation to Belgium for the material damage inflicted upon 
 her and for the wrongs she has suffered." f 
 
 1 It afterwards formed the first chapter of Truth and the War, 
 
 244
 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 245 
 
 This letter, with an appendix, 3 went on to explain 
 certain of its author's views on the origins of the war, 
 and in particular Morel's contention that our secret 
 obligations to France had rendered any attempt, on the 
 part of British statesmanship, either to avert the war 
 or to preserve the neutrality of Belgium, hopeless from 
 the first. 
 
 Speaking of his determination to help in the work of 
 abolishing secret diplomacy, Morel concluded his letter 
 with the following words : 
 
 " I believe I am doing a greater service to those who suffer from 
 its effects, and with whom I had hoped to be associated later on in 
 the accomplishment of that purpose, by speaking now than by 
 remaining silent, even at the price of forfeiting your and their good- 
 will. I cannot play the hypocrite among you. 
 
 " At any rate, that is the message which seems to come to me 
 from those dreadful fields of senseless carnage where millions expiate 
 the sins, the faults, and the follies of the few." 
 
 " Truth and the War." 
 
 On October 8, 1914, Morel began to contribute a series 
 of articles to the Labour Leader which, continued at 
 intervals during the following year^ were in July 1916 
 republished in book form, with a great deal of additional 
 matter, under the title of Truth and the War. 
 
 We do not propose to discuss this book at any length 
 here. Not only would such an attempt involve an elabo- 
 rate description of numerous controversial matters which 
 are still capable of arousing the most passionate feelings 
 and which are by no means yet decided, but the general 
 nature of the work, and the line of argument* pursued 
 by its author, will be gathered from previous chapters 
 of this book. 
 
 Remembering, however, how in the years preceding 
 the war Morel stood for the principles of Free Trade, Open 
 
 2 Afterwards chapter ii. of Truth and the War.
 
 246 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 Diplomacy and International Co-operation as the factors 
 which made for the peace and progress of the world, 
 and how he opposed the contrary policy of Tariffs, Secret 
 Diplomacy, National Self-sufficiency and Imperialism, 
 it will be interesting to quote some of his views on these 
 subjects, as expressed in this book, and to note the con- 
 sistency of his attitude towards them throughout the 
 whole of his public life. 
 
 On Secret Diplomacy. 
 
 " The virtual withdrawal of foreign affairs from national debate 
 . . . cannot continue in a community such as ours without the gravest 
 danger to the British Commonwealth. A democracy upon whose 
 shoulders reposes . . . the burden of sustaining the greatest Empire 
 the world has ever known cannot be kept in perpetual ignorance 
 of its Government's . . . foreign policy. . . . The war has been 
 the inevitable outcome of a universal system ; . . . one of the 
 most potential factors in that system is a statecraft which, in 
 an lands, in this land as in others, carries on its evolutions behind 
 the people's backs and pursues ends remote from the ' things that 
 really matter ' to the lives of the people." July 1915. 
 
 " A secret and autocratic diplomacy stands between the peoples 
 and the mutual comprehension of each other's needs. It is the 
 greatest obstacle to the emancipation of the peoples from the shackles 
 of militarism and war. . . . The British people have led the way 
 in many of the reforms which have powerfully contributed to 
 enlarge the boundaries of human freedom. If they have the will 
 they can lead the world in the greatest of all reforms which lies 
 open to human endeavour to-day." May 1915. 
 
 On Free Trade and International Co-operation. 
 
 " The essential problems . . . which confronted the nations in 
 their international relation-hips before the war will confront them 
 at the settlement, and after the settlement. The war will not solve 
 them. ... A new mechanism must be created. . . . The starting 
 point . . . must be a firm grasp of the first principle in the life of 
 the modern State, viz. the common interests which united the 
 people of each belligerent state to its neighbours. When that 
 principle is clearly apprehended war is seen in V:s true perspective 
 an outrage perpetrated upon the community by a restricted 
 section thereof. . . . Commercial intercourse ... is at once the
 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 247 
 
 most visible test of those common interests . . . and the most powerful 
 medium to heal the wounds and bitterness engendered by war." 
 October 1915. 
 
 " A ' trade war ' is, intrinsically, as great an outrage upon the 
 peoples as a war of armaments and a war of men, of which latter 
 it is, indeed, often the forerunner and contributor. ... It seeks to 
 interfere violently with the first principle of international relation- 
 ship, the common interest between peoples. The influences which 
 would inspire this new form of warfare upon humanity . . . are 
 the most dangerous enemies of the peoples. . . . The exclusion of 
 sixty-five millions of people from active commercial intercourse 
 with their neighbours means a penalization, not of them alone, 
 but of their neighbours too." October 1915. 
 
 " Every restriction placed upon the free circulation of produce 
 and manufactures, even in normal times, is really an invasion of 
 the rights of mankind in the interests of private individuals con- 
 nected with some particular branch of production or manufacture. 
 The interest of the overwhelming mass of peoples in the freedom of 
 commercial intercourse is common and universal. It holds good 
 in the case of the relationship between civilized (so-called) peoples 
 and between uncivilized (so called)." October 1915. 
 
 " Communities do not buy from other communities for love, 
 but because they desire the goods those other communities produce. 
 This element in international intercourse must survive the war as 
 it has survived other wars, and must render nugatory any artificial 
 efforts to restrain its influence." November 1915. 
 
 " German trade competition is not in ttself an evil, because the 
 greater the purchasing powers of the German people, the greater 
 the volume of business our people can transact with them. The 
 mass of the people in both countries are partners in one another's 
 prosperity and in one another's misfortunes. When German com- 
 petition hits particular British manufacturers, the remedy is to be 
 sought, not in the elimination of the competitor, but in an increase 
 in efficiency ; in maintaining a higher and more universal standard 
 of technical knowledge, in perfecting educationary systems, in 
 revising methods, in cultivating foreign markets with greater 
 assiduity, in creating machinery for the co-ordination and classifi- 
 cation of effort, in converting consular functions into intelligence 
 bureaux." November 1915. 
 
 " What is the irritant we observe everywhere at work poisoning 
 the relationship between nations ? The Tariff. . . . The closer 
 the intercommunication between the peoples, the greater the 
 facilities for the exchange of commodities, the nearer the peoples
 
 248 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 are drawn to one another by mutual needs. How singular is it 
 to reflect that while the operation of natural forces tends more and 
 more to the abolition of frontiers as obstacles to human intercourse 
 and to a fusing and commingling of human interests, a restricted 
 section of every community is permitted by the Governments 
 to interpose artificial barriers thereto, and how grimly ironic that the 
 very influences which ought to make for increasingly harmonious 
 relations become charged, owing to these artificial barriers, with 
 matter making for bitterness, jealousy and discord." December 
 1915. 
 
 "Unhampered commercial intercourse, the right of. all peoples 
 to exchange their produce and their merchandise on a basis of 
 mutual equality this still remains the greatest of all reforms to 
 be accomplished in the relationship of states." December 1915. 
 
 The Open Door and the Future of the Tropics. 
 
 With his immense knowledge of tropical Africa, Morel's 
 views as to the future treatment of the tropical and 
 sub-tropical dependencies of the Powers are of special 
 interest. 
 
 " An arrangement," he says, " for the internationalization of 
 commercial activity in the extra-European dependencies of the 
 . . . Powers and for the neutralization of the dependencies them- 
 selves would remove three-fifths, possibly four-fifths, of the cause 
 of potential conflicts between states. . . . And if the European 
 Governments could be induced to go thus far, it would be compara- 
 tively easy to extend the principle to China, Persia, and other parts 
 of Asia and Africa. ... If agreement were possible in regard to the 
 dependencies, there could be agreement to refrain from pursuing 
 exclusive commercial or political advantages (which are usually 
 a cloak to cover the former) in independent Asiatic and African 
 territories. There is nothing Utopian or visionary in these sugges- 
 tions. . . . Their execution would involve no domination of com- 
 mercial activity and business enterprise on the part of the nationals 
 of any European state. But all would compete on equal terms. 
 Acumen, applicability to local conditions, up-to-date methods, 
 hard work these would be the criterions of success." January 
 1916. 
 
 r 
 
 Morel made it clear that by the expression " inter- 
 nationalization of commercial activities " in the Depen-
 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 249 
 
 dencies of the Powers he meant that " the nationals of all 
 European states shall compete on an equal footing in 
 the colonial dependencies of each, whether in commerce, 
 industry, banking, mining, shipping, or any other form of 
 legitimate enterprise." 
 
 " I mean," he said, " that a Frenchman, an Italian, a Russian, 
 a Dutchman, a German, a Belgian, an Englishman shall carry on 
 his business on equal terms in a French, British, German, Italian, 
 Russian, Dutch, or Belgian dependency as the case may be. I 
 mean that representatives of all nationalities that care to do so 
 shall have equal rights of tendering for the construction of public 
 works, and a share, if they desire it, in enterprises necessitating large 
 capital outlay in the dependencies of the various Powers." 3 
 
 He did not mean, of course, that the local administration 
 should not impose taxes on European enterprises for 
 revenue purposes, but that such taxes " should be imposed 
 without differentiation." And he did not suggest that 
 the administration itself should be internationalized, 
 
 " although the creation of International Boards for the discussion 
 and adjustment of local difficulties, upon which commercial re- 
 presentatives of the natives interested would sit, might suggest 
 
 itself as a feasible development in course of time." 
 
 * 
 
 Treatment of Native Races. 
 
 This subject, he pointed out, had another side to it, 
 the treatment of the native races. 
 
 " If economic rivalry between the colonizing Powers in the un- 
 developed or partly developed areas of the world's sarface could 
 be done away with, the rights and the wrongs of the native races 
 would receive closer and more sympathetic consideration by the 
 Governments." 
 
 At present the native races were callously sacrificed 
 to rivalries between the Governments, and this affected 
 
 3 Truth and the War, p. 262.
 
 250 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 in the most detrimental fashion those very economic 
 interests for which these Governments intrigued and 
 agitated. 4 
 
 " So long as the European Governments look upon these vast 
 African and Asiatic territories as areas for the pursuit of privileges 
 and monopolies, carried on behind closed doors, in favour of a 
 microscopic fraction of their respective nationals, so long will 
 these territories continue to be one of the prime causes of European 
 unrest and European armaments, and so long will their inhabitants 
 be sacrificed and sacrificed not only immorally but stupidly, 
 without the slightest advantage to the European peoples, and for 
 the sake of purely ephemeral and exclusively selfish interests." 
 
 The Neutralization of Africa. 
 
 Morel went on to make a plea for the " neutralization " 
 of these dependencies, by which he meant " the removal 
 of these oversea areas from the operations of war." 
 This, he said, so far as a considerable part of Africa was 
 concerned, was intended by the Berlin and Brussels 
 Acts. 5 " The war has produced many weighty argu- 
 ments in favour of the neutralization of African and 
 Asiatic Dependencies." 
 
 " When passions have r cooled down and a sense of perspective 
 reasserts itself, I do not suppose the British or French Governments 
 will feel particularly proud, or particularly easy in their minds as 
 to ultimate effects of their action at having imported Asiatics and 
 Africans to fight their battles upon the plains of Europe. Experience 
 will suggest to them the doubtful wisdom of consecrating that 
 policy. 
 
 " The neutralization of the overseas dependencies of all Powers," 
 he continued, " offers a just and feasible way of escape from the 
 accumulation of fresh hatreds and of fresh rivalries ; and from a 
 position which, ultimately, must in the very nature of things become 
 impracticable to sustain." 
 
 Morel further developed this argument for " neutraliza- 
 tion " and for the " internationalization^ of commercial 
 
 4 See Chapters IV, V, and XIII. S See Chapter VI.
 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 251 
 
 activities " as far as it concerned Africa in his book 
 Africa and the Peace of Europe, which appeared in the 
 following year (1917) and which has already been dis- 
 cussed. 6 Both in this latter book and in Truth and the 
 War Morel argued strongly against the proposal to exclude 
 Germany altogether from the possession of African soil 
 after the war. 
 
 An Appeal for the Future. 
 
 In the final chapter of Truth and the War Morel, in 
 a fine passage, which foreshadowed in many respects 
 the great utterances of President Wilson two years later, 
 pointed out the path which he would have the people 
 follow. 
 
 '" The goal at the end of it," he said, " is an Internationalism 
 which, while asking no people to part with their institutions and 
 the body of tradition which have made them one ; while asking no 
 people to surrender one iota of their pride in the land of their birth, 
 in the social customs, the ideals and associations clinging about 
 it ... will demand of every people, in the interests of all peoples, 
 some sacrifice of accepted sentiment,? some surrender of national 
 vanity, some abandonment of a philosophy largely rooted in arro- 
 gance and largely founded upon phrases meaning very little in 
 themselves, but which long familiarity has invested with an 
 artificial significance. That Internationalism will be directed to 
 ensuring the interests of all States, not merely the most powerful 
 in size, in the number of their inhabitants, and in their financial 
 resources. 
 
 " It will be directed to the preservation of the welfare of the 
 peoples, not the white peoples alone, but the non- white peoples 
 whose evolution has not yet reached the point wlnre they can 
 stand alone and confront, single-handed, the powerful economic 
 and financial forces of modern civilization. , 
 
 " It will be creative of the spirit by which alone the motive 
 inspiring the relationship of nations shall respond to the real needs 
 
 6 See Chapter XIII. 
 
 7 Cf. Lord Robert Cecil (November 5, 1918) : "If it so be that a just 
 and lasting settlement requires from any one of the combatants self -control 
 and even renunciation, we must be ready to face it."
 
 252 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 and aspirations of humanity, and through whose operating force 
 the monstrous doctrine of offensive and defensive armaments shall 
 be extirpated finally and for all time. 
 
 " That Internationalization must embrace all States : none must 
 be excluded from its beneficial operations. It must be directed by 
 a Council to whose judgment in inter-State disputes all States 
 must give allegiance, and whose deliberations and decisions shall 
 be public. 8 
 
 " Behind its sanction every State must feel secure. Every 
 State must feel that there is advantage to itself on entering it. 
 And for the false conception of the word ' State,' which rulers 
 and small privileged castes, politicians, and militarists have imposed 
 upon the world to its undoing, must be substituted the true 
 conception which shall enable the people at last to come into 
 their own and to be the conscious, controlling guides of their 
 destiny." 
 
 No admirer of " Prussianism " could have penned these 
 lines. 
 
 Reception of the Book. 
 
 As may be imagined, the reception given to Truth and 
 ' the War was very different from that which Morel's former 
 books had secured. The vast majority of journals 
 ignored it. Of those which noticed it the greater number 
 covered its author with? abuse. Only a very few advanced 
 periodicals mostly Labour and Socialist organs - 
 ventured to say a word in its praise. The book was 
 practically unobtainable through the ordinary bookselling 
 channels. Nevertheless it secured a large sale, especially 
 amongst members of the Labour Party. In three months 
 ten thousand copies were sold ; a second edition of five 
 
 thousand was speedily called for, and then in the 
 
 
 
 8 Cf. President Wilson at Mount Vernon (July 4, 1918): " The estab- 
 lishment of an organization of peace which shall make it certain that 
 the combined power of the free nations will check every invasion of right 
 t and serve to make peace and justice the more secure by affording a 
 definite tribunal of opinion to which all must submit a.nd by which every 
 international readjustment that cannot be amicably agreed upon by 
 the peoples directly concerned shall be sanctioned."
 
 TRUTH AND THE WAR 253 
 
 beginning of 1918 (whilst Morel was still in prison) a third 
 edition was issued, with a preface by Mrs. Morel. The 
 book bore the following inscription : 
 
 To MY SONS 
 this volume is 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 in the hope that they may help to free Humanity 
 from the curse of Militarism and War.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 
 
 Public meetings Tsardom's Part in the War An unfortunate corre- 
 spondence Prosecution of Morel Trial at Bow Street Bail 
 refused Conduct of prosecution The facts concerning the plea 
 of guilty Six months' imprisonment ! Colonel Wedgwood's pro- 
 test Lord Courtney's opinion Days and nights in Pentonville 
 Remain Holland's tribute Release and public tributes Joins 
 the I.L.P. Morel and the future. 
 
 DURING the whole of this period Morel was acting as 
 secretary of the Union of Democratic Control, attending 
 
 to the large correspondence arising from the activities 
 of the numerous branches and affiliated bodies of that 
 organization, contributing regularly to the Labour Leader 
 and other periodicals, editing the Union's monthly journal 
 first issued in November 1916 J and expounding his 
 views on the war to large and crowded meetings in Scotland, 
 Wales and the provinces. And here it may be mentioned 
 that on no occasion with the single exception of a meeting 
 which was to have been addressed by him and others 
 at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, on 
 November 29, 1915, and which was broken up by an 
 organized body of opponents before the speakers appeared 
 on the platform not even at the time when the war- 
 spirit was at its highest, did Morel ever have any of his 
 
 f 
 
 1 At the end of 1915 Morel resigned principally f on account of his 
 views on the war his editorship of the African Mail, which he had 
 founded twelve years previously. (See Chapter II.) 
 
 354
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 255 
 
 meetings seriously disturbed, or experience at them any- 
 thing more formidable than an occasional interruption. 
 Seeing that throughout these years Morel was being held 
 up to execration as a man working in the interests of 
 the Kaiser, and even as a paid agent of the German 
 Government, this is a somewhat remarkable fact, and as 
 such is worth recording. 
 
 " Tsardom's Part in the War." 
 
 As already stated, Truth and the War appeared in July 
 1916, and Africa and the Peace of Europe containing, inter 
 alia, an attack upon the policy of the Empire Resources 
 Development Committee, which, suggested Morel, was 
 proposing to apply " to British tropical Africa . . . the 
 identical principles which formed the juridical basis of 
 the policy inaugurated by Leopold II on the Congo " 2 
 in April 1917. 
 
 For some time past Morel had been urging upon his 
 countrymen the desirability of ascertaining whether a 
 satisfactory settlement of the war could not be reached by 
 methods of negotiation, and in August 1917 a pamphlet 
 of his entitled Tsardom's Part in She War, in which he 
 argued that the former Russian Imperial Government 
 was largely to blame for the outbreak, and concluded with 
 a vigorous appeal for a conference of the belligerents to 
 discuss methods of ending the slaughter, secured a large 
 circulation, ten thousand copies being disposed of in five 
 days and successive editions of ten thousand each being 
 rapidly called for. 
 
 The publication of this pamphlet had an unfortunate 
 personal sequel for Morel. 
 
 Whilst engaged in writing it he received one day a 
 
 a Africa and the Peace of Europe, p. 23. See also Chapter VIII of this 
 book.
 
 256 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 French pamphlet entitled " Who dragged France into 
 the War ? " (Qui a entraine la France dans la Guerre ?), 
 published by the Committee for the Resumption of Inter- 
 national Relations (Comite pour la Reprise des Relations 
 Internationales} and bearing the address 33 Rue de la 
 Grange-aux-Belles, Paris. This pamphlet, whilst asserting 
 that Germany's responsibility for the war was a heavy 
 one, imputed the chief blame for the outbreak to the 
 Government of the Tsar. As this view corresponded more 
 or less with the opinion held by Morel, he was naturally 
 interested in the pamphlet, but as he knew nothing about 
 the Committee which had published it, he wrote to some 
 friends in Paris to enquire whether they could tell him 
 anything about its status and composition. In reply 
 he was referred to a lady then personally unknown to 
 him, Miss Ethel Sidgwick, the daughter of a well-known 
 Cambridge scholar and a connection by marriage of Mr. 
 Arthur Balfour, the Foreign Secretary. This lady, he 
 was told, frequently travelled between London and Paris 
 and was in touch with the French Labour world. He 
 wrote to her, and she replied as follows : 
 
 r 
 
 " DEAR MR. MOREL, 
 
 " I have just returned and received your enquiry about 
 the Comite pour la Reprise des Relations Internationales. I 
 brought over the brochure among things, but I have no direct 
 information about the Society. I have written at once, however, 
 to the Secretary of the Ligue pour une Societe des Nations and of 
 the ' Societ^ Documentaire ' (M. Morabot's) at the Sorbonne, since 
 the pamphlet was circulated at the meetings of the latter Society. 
 You know,>of course, that the ' Societe Documentaire sur les Origines 
 de la Guerre ' is the title which protects an influential Society working 
 on parallel lines with the U.D.C. They are bound to have informa- 
 tion on any point as to which the U.D.C. is curious. I believe 
 you have met my sister, so I venture to address you personally. 
 My intimate friends, Romain Rolland and his sister, have a pro- 
 found admiration for your books and international work, so that 
 I constantly hear your name in France."
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 257 
 
 To this letter Morel, who was himself a great admirer of 
 Holland and his famous works Jean Christophe and Above 
 the Battle, replied as follows, enclosing with his letter an 
 autograph copy of his book Africa and the Peace of 
 Europe 3 : 
 
 " August 13, 1917. 
 
 " DEAR Miss SIDGWICK, 
 
 " Many thanks for your kind letter. I got to-day from 
 Paris the printed circular of the Comite, so that is all right. Yes, 
 we are in touch with the Societe Documentaire, though whether 
 our publications ever reach them I do not know. Do you know, 
 what you told me about Romain Holland interests me so much. 
 He is a noble soul. Do you know which book he refers to Ten 
 Years, etc., or Truth and the War ? I sent him both, and wondered 
 if he ever got them. Does he get things which are sent to him ? 
 Do you know of any sure means of getting things over to him ? 
 In case you do, I send you under separate cover a copy of my last 
 book, and should be grateful if you could forward it to him. I 
 also send you herewith our last publication. 
 
 " With many thanks, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " E. D. MOREL. 
 
 " PS. I should be very glad to know if our French friends get 
 our stuff." <> 
 
 It is quite clear that in this letter Morel definitely 
 asked his correspondent to send a copy of his book Africa 
 and the Peace Settlement to M. Romain Rolland, which 
 request, M. Rolland being in Switzerland, was an offence 
 under the Defence of the Realm Act. Morel, however, has 
 
 3 It must be noted, in view of the subsequent proceedings, that it 
 was not an offence at that time to transmit printed matter, whether 
 by post or otherwise, to France or any other allied country. The 
 authorities, of course, had the right to stop in the post any matter which 
 they thought ought not to be sent, but it was not an offence for an 
 individual to send that matter through the post or to atterrpt to get it 
 through even to " smuggle it" through by hand. But on August 8th 
 five days before Morel's letter it was made an offence to incite any 
 person to transmit any such matter to any neutral or enemy country. 
 M. Romain Rolland, although a French citizen, was, as it subsequently 
 appeared, then living in Switzerland (i.e. a neutral country), but this, "* 
 Morel states, he die) not know on August 13th. 
 
 17
 
 258 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 stated that he had no idea that M. Holland was in Switzer- 
 land. " It never occurred to me," he said, " to suppose 
 that Holland was anywhere but in France "4 If he had 
 been in France no offence would have been committed. 
 Morel's letter brought the following reply : 
 
 " August 17, 1917. 
 " DEAR MR. MOREL, 
 
 " Many thanks for your letter and literature. Alas ! it is 
 only too probable that none of your books or U.D.C. pamphlets 
 have reached M. Holland in Switzerland. At least I have never 
 heard of his receiving one, and I hear most of his news through his 
 sister. I will ask for definite information, though, since you give 
 the details. She and I manage to exchange news, and she is with 
 him at the moment at Hotel Baron, Ville Neuve, Vaud. The only 
 sure method is to carry things, and in this both she and I have done 
 all we could. Truth and the War and Mr. Russell's reconstruction 
 book both came to me safely in Paris, and I sent them on in her 
 hands to Switzerland at Easter. This is the period and the book 
 to which my letter refers. He cannot read English at all easily 
 without his sister's help, and depends upon her for the interpreta- 
 tion of anything difficult, which is sad for him, as he is especially 
 anxious to keep track of the work of the U.D.C. , I.L.P., etc. Ten 
 Years I myself tried to get hold of in Paris in vain. I suppose 
 it was stopped. When I cross in October I will carry your book 
 on Africa and anything else to interest the French fraternity 
 that I can find. The U.D.C. paper and pamphlets I shall attempt 
 to send to Switzerland at once, concealed in other journals. For 
 the moment I can give you, I fear, no address in Paris that will 
 be of any use as a halfway stage, since all these communications 
 are either already in Switzerland or otherwise scattered. But 
 the best chance is always to send the letter to Paris and get some 
 one there to forward it or confine it. I offer myself gladly to you 
 in this capacity while in residence."5 
 
 Now if* Morel had previously known that M. Holland 
 
 was living in Switzerland and, knowing this, had asked 
 
 > 
 
 4 Speech at Glasgow, June 22, 1918. Published under the title of 
 The Persecution of E. D. Morel (Reformers' Book Stall, Glasgow). 
 
 5 This letter, as subsequently transpired in the course of Morel's 
 trial, was opened and photographed by the authorities, reclosed and 
 put back into the post. (See Rex v. Morel, published by the Union of 
 Democratic Control.)
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 259 
 
 his correspondent to forward books and pamphlets to 
 that country, this letter would have been a very damaging 
 one, and as it was it produced an exceedingly damaging 
 effect. But Morel had not been thinking of Switzerland 
 at all ; in the course of his brief correspondence with Miss 
 Sidgwick he had been thinking of France and of France 
 alone, and apparently he had not noticed that any general 
 acceptance of his correspondent's offer would naturally 
 be interpreted as indicating an obvious desire on his part 
 that she should act as a forwarding agent of literature 
 not merely to France but to Switzerland as well. For 
 it was to Switzerland that she especially referred. 
 
 " I did not notice this at the time," said Morel. 6 " Indeed, I 
 paid very little attention to the letter. I was very busy, and my 
 correspondence was very large. Switzerland was not in my mind 
 at all. I forgot about the letter for several days. Then in the 
 clearing-up process which precedes a holiday, it came to light again. 
 
 " Now if I had bestowed upon it a modicum of ... thought . . . 
 I should have made it clear in my reply that I was not in the least 
 interested in supplying the Swiss with gratis literature, and that 
 the sole subject of our correspondence had been the bona fides ot* 
 a French Committee and the personal feeling entertained towards 
 myself of a distinguished French author. I should also have 
 suggested that as Holland was in Switzerland it was better not 
 to risk sending him my book. If I hail been a prig I might have 
 ventured to remonstrate with my correspondent on the impropriety 
 of attempting to send printed matter to friends in Switzerland. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, I did none of these things. I wrote a hurried 
 acknowledgment, composed of exactly three sentences, accepting 
 and thanking my correspondent for her offer, and enclosing four 
 copies of my just-issued pamphlet, Tsardorri's Part in the War, 
 in which I had given a summary of the French Committee's publica- 
 tion, and which I wanted that Committee to become possessed of 
 using the word ' smuggle ' in jocular allusion thereto." 
 
 
 
 The text of this letter (which, taken in conjunction 
 with the other letters, made Morel technically guilty, 
 in the opinion at least of the prosecution and of the* 
 
 * Speech at Glasgow, June 22, 1918.
 
 260 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 magistrate, of " inciting " his correspondent to commit 
 a breach of the regulations and of " an act preparatory " 
 to such breach) was as follows : 
 
 "August 21, 1917. 
 " DEAR Miss SIDGWICK, 
 
 " Many thanks for yours. Perhaps you can smuggle 
 some of these across. I should be only too grateful to make use 
 of you in October. 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "E. D. MOREL." 
 
 Arrest and Trial. 
 
 On Friday, August 31, 1917, Morel was arrested at a 
 friend's house near Eastbourne and charged at Bow Street 
 
 " that in violation of the Defence of the Realm Act he did un- 
 lawfully solicit and incite Ethel Sidgwick to commit an act prohibited 
 by the Defence of the Realm Regulations, to wit, to unlawfully and 
 wilfully, without permit from the Admiralty or Army Council, con- 
 vey and transmit from the United Kingdom to a neutral country 
 (Switzerland) a pamphlet, contrary to the said regulations." 
 
 He was refused bail by the magistrate (Mr. E. W. 
 Garrett), and was conveyed in the prison van the un- 
 speakable " Black Maria " to Brixton gaol. He was 
 brought up again the next day, when the following 
 additional charge wa5 preferred against him : 
 
 " That he did, on August 21, 1917, in the Metropolitan Police 
 District unlawfully do an act preparatory to the commission of an 
 act contrary to or prohibited by the Defence of the Realm Regula- 
 tions (Consolidated), to wit, an act preparatory to the transmission 
 and exportation otherwise than through the post and to the con- 
 veyance from the United Kingdom to a neutral country in Europe 
 of printed matter without a permit issued by or under the authority 
 of the Adniralty or Army Council, contrary to Regulation 24 and 
 Regulation 48 of the said Regulations." 
 
 After hearing the evidence offered by the prosecution, 
 the magistrate again curtly refused bail, and Morel spent 
 Saturday, Sunday and Monday in prison without legal
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 261 
 
 assistance, the solicitor retained for his defence, being 
 placed in the interval " in the position of either retiring 
 from the case or running the risk of sacrificing considerable 
 and legitimate business interests," 7 having adopted the 
 former course. This left Morel in the unfortunate position 
 of only being able to see his counsel, for the first and 
 last time, for a few minutes before the final proceedings 
 opened on the Tuesday. 
 
 " To this," said Morel, 8 " I attribute the fact that he entered 
 a plea of guilty on my behalf. I was astounded, but perfectly 
 helpless, when I heard my counsel open his defence with a 
 plea of guilty. In saying this I make no imputation against my 
 counsel or any one else. It may partly have been due to my 
 own failure to appreciate the niceties of the legal procedure in- 
 volved, or it may have been due to my counsel assuming that in 
 authorizing him, as I willingly did to give an undertaking that 
 I would not commit the offence with which I was charged with 
 having committed, I was in a technical sense authorizing him 
 to plead guilty. ... I am quite sure that he acted in what he 
 considered my best interests, and thought himself entitled to act , 
 as he did. . . . But I repeat that it was not my plea. And if it 
 had been put to me that in giving a undertaking that I would 
 not commit an offence which I had not in any conscious sense 
 committed at all, I was thereby necessitating a plea of guilty, 
 nothing would have induced me to give it." 
 
 What this really amounted to was that from beginning 
 to end Morel consistently contended that at no time had 
 he intended any breach of the law. And this was 
 confirmed by the speech his counsel made in entering a 
 plea of guilty. 
 
 " He (Morel)," said counsel, " asks me to say, now that the matter 
 has been brought to his attention, that it was not his intention to 
 commit any such breach of the law, knowing it to be a breach of 
 the law ; and he is prepared to give an undertaking that not only 
 will he not commit any such breach of the law, but that he will * 
 
 7 Speech at Glasgow, June 22, 1918. " I do not blame him in the 
 east for retiring," added Morel. * Ibid.
 
 262 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 use any endeavour he can to see that no such breach of the law 
 is committed under his control, and that he will not personally 
 commit or be responsible, or assist in any way anybody else to 
 commit, any such breach of the law in the future. ..." 
 
 Counsel then referred to Morel's past work and services, 
 and concluded : 
 
 " Having regard to his distinguished record in the cause of 
 humanity, and the obvious sincerity with which he holds his cause, 
 and having regard to the undertaking which he offers through me . . . 
 I ask you to take the view that this is a very much less serious 
 matter than it might have appeared to you at first sight." 
 
 Six Months' Imprisonment. 
 
 The appeal fell on deaf ears ; the magistrate, convicting 
 on both charges, sentenced Morel to a term of six months' 
 imprisonment in the second division ; and the " criminal " 
 was taken off as a common felon to Pentonville " in the 
 company," as he said, " of housebreakers, receivers of 
 ^stolen goods, forgers and so on. The occupant of the 
 cell on my right was a thief, on my left a man who had 
 raped a child of tender years." 9 
 
 " Before the story of his imprisonment," wrote Sir Daniel Steven- 
 son, ex-Lord Provost of Glasgow, " I stated as chairman of the 
 meeting ... at which Mr. Morel was presented with an album 
 containing an illuminated address and the signatures of sympathizers, 
 that I did not think that in all the annals of our criminal juris- 
 prudence there was any record of such a mean thing as the con- 
 demning of Mr. Morel to six months' ' imprisonment as a common 
 felon ' for sending pamphlets to a distinguished Frenchmen in 
 Switzerland \fho could have got these without danger to Mr. Morel 
 by making a journey of ten miles to the French frontier. Even 
 admitting that an offence was committed, it was obviously purely 
 technical, and not such as to justify the vindictive sentence pro- 
 nounced." 
 
 The trial and sentence of Morel evoked the greatest 
 indignation amongst his friends, colleagues' and admirers 
 
 9 Speech at Glasgow.
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 263 
 
 including many who did not at all approve of his views 
 on the war and was the subject of a passionate protest 
 in the House of Commons by Colonel Wedgwood, D.S.O., 
 M.P., on October 21, 1917. 
 
 " It is a real national disgrace that we have put Mr. Morel into 
 prison," thundered the member of Newcastle-under-Lyme. . . . "That 
 man, without any means, without any support, gradually worked 
 up this country and Belgium and the United States of America 
 into making a sufficient protest against the inhuman treatment 
 of the natives of the Congo, so that in the end, after twelve years 
 of loyalty, of devoted and unselfish work for the blacks in the Congo 
 State, he finally broke the rule of King Leopold. . . . 
 
 " It was one of the most marvellous occurrences, I think, of the 
 twentieth century. I do not remember any similar case in our 
 history of one man creating such an enormous change in the govern- 
 ment of a great number of people in this world, a man with no 
 advantages whatever. . . . 
 
 " It was in 1911 that all the dignitaries of the churches and the 
 members of every political party . . . came together ... to thank 
 E. D. Morel for his wonderful services to humanity. Where are 
 those friends now ? E. D. Morel has become unpopular. But 
 because he is unpopular I think it would be a disgrace to our country < 
 for all those who supported him when he was triumphant to 
 forget, like the magistrate who sent him to prison, or Bodkin 
 who prosecuted him, the debt of gratitude which the world owes 
 to this man. Morel was the last persop who should be treated 
 with the indignity that has been thrown upon him by the British 
 Government. ..." 
 
 After referring to the methods pursued by the prose- 
 cutor in the case, the opening of Morel's letters and so on, 
 Colonel Wedgwood concluded : 
 
 " Of all the cases supported by the most monstrous conduct, 
 I think this is undoubtedly pre-eminent in British history. That 
 we should punish as a crime an act of that sort supported by such 
 evidence, and with six months' imprisonment, that we should punish 
 so a man to whom we owe the greatest debt of gratitude, is a blot 
 upon English traditions. ... I am proud of my country and her , 
 
 I traditions and history, but the imprisonment of E. D. Morel will 
 go down to succeeding generations as one of the most serious blots 
 on the history of this country."
 
 264 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Morel, written shortly after the 
 trial, the late Lord Courtney of Penwith, a man not given 
 to hasty judgments, remarked : 
 
 " The motive of the trial was the suppression of opinion, and 
 it became evident that the prosecution not only wanted to suppress 
 opinion, but to lock up in silence any one who could form an opinion 
 they would like to suppress." |0 
 
 Amongst the very large number of letters written at 
 this time to Morel or his wife two others may be mentioned. 
 
 The first was from a brilliant young soldier, the late 
 Lieut.-Col. Maitland Hardyman, D.S.O., M.C., himself a 
 member of the Union of Democratic Control, who, after 
 rising in two years from the rank of subaltern to the 
 command of a battalion, and being wounded on several 
 occasions, was subsequently killed in action. 
 
 Writing from France on hearing the news of Morel's 
 arrest, Maitland Hardyman (he was then a Major) said : 
 
 " STH SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY, B.E.F. 
 
 " 3.8.17. 
 
 " DEAR MR. MOREL, f 
 
 " Just a line to tell you how anxiously I and many of my 
 friends are awaiting results. I think most of us feel a double 
 pang, first for the Union, second for you personally. As you know, 
 if I can help you, or it, at any time, I am only too delighted. Don't 
 let things worry you, and keep fit and unembittered. If you get 
 a compulsory rest now, you should be all the more redoubtable a 
 warrior later. But let us hope 
 
 " MAITLAND HARDYMAN." 
 
 10 A few days after the trial the author of this book was asked to 
 call at the War Office. He did so, and whilst there was told by a high 
 official of the Intelligence Department that the real reason for the 
 prosecution was that Morel was trying to bring about strikes which 
 ,would deprive the Army of its supply of munitions, and that, although 
 the authorities possessed evidence to that effect, this evidence was not 
 sufficient to ensure a conviction in a Court of Law. To any one who 
 possesses the slightest knowledge of the world of Labour the sheer 
 absurdity of this suggestion will be at once apparent.
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 265 
 
 The second (to Mrs. Morel) was from a Frenchwoman, 
 and ran as follows : 
 
 " Though I am quite unknown to you, will you allow me to 
 express the sympathy I feel towards you in this time of great trial ? 
 My old father and mother are both in invaded France. My five 
 brothers are fighting in the French trenches and your husband is 
 in gaol for having tried to save them." 
 
 Some of the most eminent men and women in the 
 country, including statesmen and authors whose names 
 are honoured throughout the world, endeavoured to 
 induce the Home Office to take certain steps to lighten 
 Morel's lot whilst in Pentonville, and a few slight privileges 
 such as the permission to receive certain books sent 
 into the prison for his use " were thus secured, but 
 that was all. Morel lost weight whilst in prison and 
 felt the cold intensely ; that, and the insufficiency of food 
 and the confinement (he is essentially an open-air man), 
 certainly told upon him, but it is to be hoped that he 
 suffered no permanent injury to his health. Perhaps 
 his imprisonment may have at least the one good result 
 of enrolling Morel as a member of that growing band of 
 Prison Reformers who are determined to alter drastically 
 that penal system which has so long been a standing 
 disgrace to British civilization. 
 
 Remain Holland's Tribute. 
 
 The following letter from M. Remain Rollanu*, addressed 
 to the Editor of the Revue Mensuelle of Geneva, .js perhaps 
 
 11 Amongst the books read by Morel whilst in Pentonville were : 
 Morley's Burke, his Cobden and his Recollections ; the Life of Sir Charles 
 Dilke ; Lecky's History of the Rise of Rationalism in Europe and his 
 History of England in the Eighteenth Century ; Sir G. O. Trevelyan's % 
 War of Independence ; Carlyle's French Revolution ; Drummond's Natural 
 Law in the Spiritual World ; Lux Mundi ; the Life of H. T. Hodgkin ; 
 several books on Russia kindly sent by Mr. H. W. Nevinson, and a 
 number of historical works about sixty volumes altogether.
 
 266 THE FIGHT AGAINST WAR 
 
 the most fitting comment that can be made upon what 
 has been described as " the most miserable political 
 prosecution attempted in any court of law for the past 
 half-century." 
 
 " MY DEAR EDITOR AND FRIEND, 
 
 " You ask me what I think of the arrest of Mr. E. D. 
 Morel. Personally I do not know Mr. Morel. I am told that during 
 the war he has sent me from time to time various publications. 
 I have never received any of them and I was not aware that he had 
 done so. But from everything that I know about him, from his 
 activities previous to the war, from his apostolic struggle against 
 the crimes of civilization in Africa, from his articles (unfortunately 
 too rare) reproduced or summarized in magazines, I regard him 
 as a man of fine courage and splendid faith. Everywhere and 
 at all times he has dared to serve Truth, to serve her and her alone, 
 without thought of danger, or of the animosity he was rousing 
 against himself, and, what is much more rare and much more difficult, 
 he has dared to serve her without heed of his sympathies, of his 
 friendships, or even of his country, when Truth seemed to him in 
 disagreement with that country's actions. 
 
 " By this attitude he proves that he is of the line of Great Believers, 
 of the great Christians of early days, of the great reformers of the 
 centuries of struggle, of the free thinkers of the heroic ages ; of all 
 those, in a word, who have put above and before all else their 
 belief in Truth under whatever form (divine or secular, but for 
 them always consecrated) sjie has appeared to them. 
 
 " I maintain that a man like Mr. E. D. Morel is a great citizen, 
 even when, or rather I should say especially when, he points out 
 to his country the errors which she seems to him to be committing. 
 It is those who would throw a veil over those errors who are the 
 faithless servants, whether they are incapable of understanding 
 the facts or are mere flatterers and sycophants. Every man of 
 courage, every man of veracity, honours his country by the mere 
 fact of his co*urage and of his veracity. 
 
 " The State which claims to represent his country may strike 
 him down fc a State struck down Socrates, as States have struck 
 down so many others to whose memory later on they have raised 
 useless statues. But the State is not the country. It is only the 
 steward of the country, good or bad as the case may be, but always 
 ronly the steward and always fallible. It has the power, and it 
 uses it, but since man is man that power has alway? made shipwreck 
 on the rock of the soul which is free." 
 
 " ROMAIN HOLLAND."
 
 PENTONVILLE AND AFTER 267 
 
 The Future. 
 
 Morel was released in the spring of 1918, and, after a 
 short rest, resumed his duties as secretary of the Union 
 of Democratic Control. He was subsequently the recipient 
 of many letters of sympathy and condolence from men 
 and women of all stations in life miners and artisans, 
 soldiers and sailors, statesmen grey in their country's 
 service and writers and thinkers of European reputation. 
 These letters were a source of comfort to him, assuring 
 him, as they did, that his term of imprisonment, so far 
 from diminishing, had, if possible, deepened the respect 
 and regard in which he was held by those whose opinions 
 he valued. 
 
 In March 1918 Morel became a member of the Inde- 
 pendent Labour Party, his decision to take this step 
 being announced at a great meeting held to welcome him 
 at Bradford. This example has since been followed by 
 many other former members of the Radical Party, including 
 his friends and colleagues Arthur Ponsonby and Charles 
 Trevelyan. As for the future who can foresee it ? It 
 is on the knees of the Gods. The war which has devastated 
 Europe for four and a half years *is over, and millions 
 have perished, but the heathen deities of Militarism and 
 Secret Diplomacy which exacted the sacrifices have 
 still to be slain. In the work of destroying these evil 
 powers and of building up throughout the world a fairer 
 and a finer civilization, those who know Morel, and who 
 have followed closely his career, are confident that he 
 will play a valiant and a distinguished part. ,
 
 INDEX 
 
 Abercorn, the Duke of : 242 
 
 Aberdeen, the Earl of : 102, 111, 163, 
 242 
 
 Aborigines Protection Society, the : 
 66, 86 
 
 Academy, the : 140, 198 
 
 Action National, U : 214 
 
 Affairs of West Africa : 90 et seq. 
 
 Africa : Resources of, 40 ; native 
 rights in, 40 ct seq. ; native 
 land tenure in, 41 et seq. ; capi- 
 talistic exploitation in, 41, 249 ; 
 industry of natives of, 45 et seq. ; 
 future of, 136 et seq., 160, 349 ; 
 Empire Resources Development 
 Commission and, 151 ; the War 
 and, 152 ; suggested neutraliza- 
 tion of, 153, 250; the Open 
 Door and, 248. See also Con- 
 cessionaire System, the ; Congo, 
 the ; Congo Reform Association, 
 the; Leopold II; Morel, E. D. 
 
 Africa and the Peace of Europe : 151, 
 251, 255, 257 
 
 African Mail, the : founded by Morel, 
 31, 97 ; policy of, 31 ; Man- 
 chester Guardian on, 32 ; Morel 
 resigns editorship of, 254 n 
 
 Agadir Crisis, the : 185 et seq. 
 
 Albert Hall, the : Congo demonstra- 
 tion at, 132 
 
 Algeciras, the Act of : 183, 186 
 
 Alsace-Lorraine : 227 
 
 Angell, Norman : 206, 223 
 
 Anglo-French Convention (1898), the : 
 38 
 
 Anglo-German Friendship Society : 
 240 et aeq. 
 
 Anti-German Union, the : 241 
 
 " Appeal to Parliament " : Congo 
 
 Reform Association issues, 120 
 " Appeal to Press " : Congo Reform 
 
 Association issues, 121 
 Argyll, the Duke of : 241 
 Armaments : Morel on, 205 
 Asquith, the Rt. Hon. H. H. : 132, 
 
 186, 216, 216 n, 221 
 Atrocities, Congo: 65 et seq., Ill; 
 
 Casement, Report on, 100 ; King 
 
 Leopold's Commission and, 103; 
 
 Rev. J. H. Harris on, 104. See 
 
 also Leopold II ; Congo, the 
 
 Belgian; Morel, E. D. 
 Avebury, Lord : 241 
 
 Baden-Powell, Sir George : 66 n 
 
 Balfour, the Rt. Hon. A. J. : 96, 256 
 
 Ballay, M. : 84 
 
 Baptist Times, the : 156 
 
 Barnett, Canon : 156 
 
 Barrett, Serge : 84 
 
 Barrington, Hon. Sir Eric : 242 
 
 Bathurst, Charles : 133 
 
 Beauchamp, Earl: 19, 102, 111, 117 
 
 Bedford Modern School : Morel's 
 school-days at, 20 
 
 Belgium : Morel commends enter- 
 prise of, 26 ; support for Morel 
 in, 53, 84, 131 ; the War and, 
 221, 222 n, 230, 245. See also 
 Leopold II ; Congo, the Belgian ; 
 Congo Reform Association, the ; 
 Morel, E. D. 
 
 Beresford, Lord : 241 t 
 
 Berlin, the Conference (1884) of : 60, 
 61, 81, 87
 
 270 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Birkenhead : Morel's Parliamentary 
 candidature for, 200 et seq., 
 221, 222, 244 
 
 Birkenhead News, the : 201, 208 
 
 Birmingham, the Bishop of : 121 
 
 Blyden, Dr. : 141 
 
 Bobichon, Henri : 85 
 
 Bohn, M. : on Anglo-French Con- 
 vention of 1898, 53 
 
 Bonner, Mrs. Bradlaugh : 86 
 
 Borthwick, Oliver : 165 
 
 Borton : Morel's speech at, 109 
 
 Bosworth -Smith, Professor : 102 
 
 Brace, William : 133 
 
 Brailsford, H. N. : on Congo Reform 
 Movement, 54 
 
 Brassey, Lord: 102, 241 
 
 Brazza, Savorgnan de : 79, 80, 84 
 
 Brazza, the Comtesse de : 84 
 
 Bridge, Sir Cyprian: 241 
 
 British Case in French Congo, the : 
 93 et seq. 
 
 British Government and Congo : 96 
 
 Bruce, Sir James : 242 
 
 Brussels, International Conference 
 (1876) of: 59 
 
 Buchanan, T. R. : 95 
 
 Bull, Sir William : 133 
 ' Bunting, Sir Percy : 31, 156 
 
 Burns, the Rt. Hon. John : 66 n, 102, 
 111, 222 
 
 Buxton, Lord : 66 n. 
 
 Buxton, Noel: 242 f 
 
 Buxton, Sir T. Fowell : 86 
 Byles, Sir William : 216 n 
 
 Cadbury, W. R. : 102 
 Caillaux, Joseph M. : 190 
 Cameroons : Morel criticizes German 
 
 officials in, 25 ; Agadir crisis 
 
 and, 190 
 Campbell-Bfnnerman, the Rt. Hon. 
 
 Sir Henry: 121 
 
 Cannibalis.i in Upper Congo : 67 
 Canterbury, the Archbishop of : 115, 
 
 121, 122, 132, 163, 241 
 Capitalism : in Africa, 41 et seq., 
 
 140, 142 et seq. ; in Morocco, 
 * 183 et seq. 
 
 Carson, Sir Edward : 242 
 
 Casement Report, the : 100 
 Cavendish, Lady Frederick : 155 
 Cecil, Lord Hugh : 216, 216 n 
 Cecil, Lord Robert : 251 n 
 Chailley, Joseph: 128, 129 
 Challaye, Felicien : 53, 128, 156, 157, 
 
 158, 213 
 Chamberlain, the Rt. Hon. Joseph : 
 
 on French policy, 28 
 Chester Chronicle, the : 201 
 Chirol, Sir Valentine : 31, 163 
 Church Congress : Morel's address 
 
 at, 150 
 Churchill, the Rt. Hon. Winston: 
 
 32 
 
 Civilization in Congo-land : 94 
 Claparede, Rene: 33 n, 130, 159 
 Clemenceau, G. : Morel exposes plot 
 
 to murder, 29, 128 
 Clifford, Dr. John: 121, 122, 164, 
 
 202 
 
 Clifford of Chudleigh, Lord : 121 
 Coaling Stations: Morel on, 195 
 Cobden, Richard : 226 
 Coifs, M. : 113 
 Comite pour la Reprise des Relations 
 
 Internationales : 256 
 Commission of Enquiry (into Congo): 
 Leopold II appoints, 102 ; sup- 
 pression of evidence of, 103 ; 
 Report of, 103 ; return of, 
 110 
 
 Commitments, Secret : with France, 
 183 n, 192, 193 n, 205, 210, 212, 
 213, 215, 216, 220, 245 
 Compton-Rickett, Sir Joseph : 121 
 Concessionaire System, the : in Africa, 
 51 et seq. ; in Congo Free State, 
 64 ; in French Congo, 82 ; Case- 
 ment Report and, 100 ; aban- 
 doned in Congo, 161 ; immense 
 profits of Concessionaire Com- 
 panies, 72 
 
 Congo, the Belgian : Morel's business 
 relations with, 34 ; History of 
 Congo Free State, 59 et seq. ; 
 trade statistics of, 70 ct seq. ; 
 British Circular Note and, 96 ; 
 Casement Report and, 100 ; Leo- 
 pold II's Commission of En-
 
 INDEX 
 
 271 
 
 quiry and, 102 ; agitation for 
 transference to Belgian Govern- 
 ment of, 117, 119 ct seq. ; regime 
 defended by Belgian Ministers, 
 119 ; the Treaty of Transfer and, 
 122 ; National Manifesto on, 
 127 ; Belgian Government's Re- 
 form Scheme -and, 1 32 ; Leo- 
 poldian system abandoned in, 
 161 ; recognized as Belgian Colony, 
 162 ; future of, 160 ; Belgian 
 House of Representatives and, 
 96, 112, 117, 132; House of 
 Commons and, 95, 104 ; Foreign 
 Office and, 112, 117, 124, 125, 
 127 ; Sir Edward Grey and, 112, 
 117, 123, 125, 131, 162; Lord 
 Lansdowne and, 114, 123 ; Morel 
 on, 75, 83, 86 ; pamphlets on, 
 104 ; Convocation on, 121. See 
 also Congo Reform Association 
 the ; Leopold II ; Morel, E. D. 
 
 Congo, the French : M. Felicien 
 Challaye and, 53 ; Concessionaire 
 System in, 79 et seq., 82 ; dis- 
 putes with British traders in, 
 80; Free Trade in, 82; and 
 Moroccan question, 189, 190 ; 
 Morel on, 92 et seq., 129 
 
 Congo Reform Association, the : For- 
 mation of, 101 ; Bang Leopold's 
 Commission and, 103 ; organizes 
 meetings, 111 ; Belgian Govern- 
 ment and, 113 ; progress of, 114 ; 
 organizes deputation to Sir E. 
 Grey, 117; on proposals to trans- 
 fer Congo to Belgian Govern- 
 ment, 1 20 ; issues appeal to 
 Parliament, 120 ; public agita- 
 tion organized by, 120 et seq. ; 
 issues appeal to the Press, 122 ; 
 and the Treaty of Transfer, 
 122 et seq. ; Third Anniversary 
 of, 125 ; and National Manifesto, 
 127 ; Albert Hall Demonstration, 
 132 ; memorial to Mr. Asquith, 
 132 ; Public Testimonial to Morel, 
 155 et seq. ; and Recognition of 
 Belgian Annexation of Congo, 
 162; final meetmg of, 163. Set 
 
 also Congo, the Belgian ; Leo- 
 pold II ; Morel, E. D. 
 
 Congo Reform Movement : H. N. 
 Brailsford's views on, 54 ; public 
 support for, 94 ; discussed in 
 House of Commons, 95. See 
 also Congo Reform Association, 
 the ; Leopold II ; Morel, E. D. 
 
 Congo Slave State, the : 97 
 
 Constant, Baron d'Estournelles de : 
 213 
 
 Contemporary Review, the : 87 
 
 Convocation : on the Congo question, 
 121 
 
 Courtney of Penwith, Lord : 66, 
 202 n, 214, 264 
 
 Cousin, Albert : 84 
 
 Craig, John : 76 n 
 
 Crewe, the Marquess of : 143, 144 
 
 Cromer.the Earl of: 101, 127, 155, 157 
 
 Crossley, Sir William : 155 
 
 Curzon of Kedleston, Earl : 68 
 
 Gust, H. N. : 31 
 
 Daens, Herr : 113 
 
 Daily Chronicle, the : 25 n, 26, 27, 
 
 29, 122, 139 
 Daily Mail, the : 28, 1 16 
 Daily News, the : 155, 167, 177,' 
 
 198, 212, 214, 215 
 Dalziel, Sir Henry : 133 
 Davis, Richard Harding : 74 
 Defence of the Realm Act, the : Morel 
 
 and, 257 
 Delagoa Bay : Morel opposed to 
 
 acquisition by Germany of, 25 n 
 Delcasse", M. : 180, 181, 182, 183 
 Denman, Lord : 102 
 Denton, Sir George : 31 
 Derniere Heure, La. : 131 
 Devonshire, the Duke of : 242 
 Dieppe : Mobilization'scenes at, 218, 
 
 219 
 
 Digby, Sir Kenelm : 142, 144 
 Dilke, Sir Charles : tribute to Morel 
 
 by, 52 ; on treatment of African 
 
 natives, 66, 67 ; attracted by 
 
 Morel's articles in the Speaker, 
 
 75 ; also 31, 86, 91, 95, 96, 101* 
 
 102, 111, 115, 116, 133
 
 272 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Diplomacy, Secret : Morel on, 174 
 et seq., 245, 246 ; and Moroccan 
 question, 180 et seq. ; and France, 
 210 et seq. ; and the War, 220 
 et seq., 231, 245 
 
 Domaine Prive, the : 64, 83 
 
 Donald, Robert : 25 n, 166, 202 
 
 Downshire, the Marquis of : 242 
 
 Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan : 132, 133, 
 155, 156, 159 
 
 Duchene, Alfred : 92 
 
 Dueus, Ludwig : 159 
 
 Dunn, J. Nicol : 31 
 
 Dunraven, Lord : 242 
 
 Durham, the Bishop of : 102, 121 
 
 Eastbourne : Morel's early school- 
 days at, 20 ; his arrest at, 260 
 
 Economist, the : 139 
 
 Egypt : and Morocco, 181 
 
 Elder Dempster & Co., [Messrs. : 
 Morel's clerkship at, 22 ; centre 
 of West African interests, 24 ; 
 Morel leaves employment of, 76 
 
 Emmott, Lord : 31, 95, 96, 101, 
 159 
 
 Empire Resources Development Com- 
 mittee : 151 et seq., 255 
 'Evans, Rev. H. W. : 21 
 
 Evening News, the : 116 
 
 Evening Standard, the : 167 
 
 Faber, Capt. : 191 
 Fez, the French Expedition to': 185 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord : 68 n, 96, 104, 115 
 Foreign Office, the : and the Congo, 
 102, 103, 112, 117, 122, 125, 
 134, 135 ; and Agadir, 189 ; and 
 France, 192 et seq., 210 et seq. ; 
 Morel on, 174 et seq., 192 et seq., 
 204 
 
 Fossarieu, M. <le Lucy de : 21 
 Fox-Bourne, H. R. : 67, 86, 95 
 France : and Fashoda crisis, 28 ; 
 strained relations with Britain, 
 28, 36 ; Morel praises colonial 
 administrators of, 28 ; commercial 
 policy in West Africa of, 36 ; 
 * Morel's visits to, 128 ; pre-war 
 Foreign Policy of, 209 et teq. ; 
 
 Three Years' Military Service 
 Law in, 215 ; at outbreak of 
 war, 218 ; and Morocco, 180 
 et seq. ; and Russia, 210 et seq. 
 
 France, Anatole : 128, 129 
 
 Freetown, Morel at : 141 
 
 Free Trade : the Berlin Conference 
 (1884) and, 60; in Congo Free 
 State, 70 et seq. ; in the French 
 Congo, 82 ; in Morocco, 190 ; 
 and the War, 225 ; in Africa, 
 248 ; Morel on, 36, 50 et seq., 
 82, 246, 247, 248 
 
 Gardiner, A. G. : 31 
 
 Garrett, E. W. : 260 
 
 Geneva, Morel's speech at, 130 
 
 Germany : Morel criticizes colonial 
 officials of, 25 ; opposes Foreign 
 Policy of, 25n ; on "inevitability" 
 of war with, 176 ; on the Moroc- 
 can question and, 178 et seq. ; 
 on improving British relations 
 with, 192 et seq., 196 et seq., 204, 
 210 et seq. ; proposals to dis- 
 integrate, 227 ; and the War, 
 229 et seq. 
 
 Gibson, Rev. J. Monro : 122 
 
 Gilmour, T. L. : 165 
 
 Girouard, Sir Percy : 150 
 
 Gladstone, Rev. Stephen : 102 
 
 Gladstone, W. G. C. : 202 
 
 Glave, E. J. : 67 
 
 Gold Coast Protectorate, the : 142, 
 148 
 
 Gorst, Sir John : 96 
 
 Gosselin, Sir Martin : 87 
 
 Oreat Britain and the Congo : 133 
 et seq., 175 
 
 Green, Mrs. J. R. : 31, 86, 87, 156 
 
 Grenfell, Lord: 241 
 
 Grey of Falloden, Lord : and the 
 Congo, 104, 112, 115, 117, 121, 
 122, 123, 125, 128, 131, 162, 
 176; and Germany, 183 n, 186, 
 187, 188, 189, 193n, 206; and 
 France, 183 n, 193 n, 210 n, 215 n, 
 216, 220 ; and the expedition to 
 Fez, 185 ; and the outbreak of 
 war, 220
 
 INDEX 
 
 273 
 
 Haig, Field-Marshal Lord : 241 
 Hammond, J. L. : 31 
 Hanotaux, Gabriel : 213 
 Harcourt, Viscount : 142, 144, 147 
 Hardyman, Lt.-Col. Maitland : 264 
 Harris, Rev. J. H. : 103 
 Harris, Dr. Rendel : 121 
 Harrison, Frederic : 95 
 Harvey, A. Gordon : 214 
 Hawkins, Anthony Hope : 156 
 Hazzeldine, Capt. : 79 
 Henderson, Rt. Hon. Arthur : 133 
 Hess, Jean : 84 
 Hinde, Capt. : 67 
 Hocking, Rev. Silas : 156 
 Hobhouse, L. T. : 214 
 Hodgson, Sir Frederick : 144, 145 
 Holt, John : 81, 95 
 Holtham, Sir Charles: 242 
 Home, Emmeline de : 17, 19 
 Home, Rev. Silvester : 155, 156, 
 
 159 
 
 Horton, Dr. : 121 
 
 House of Commons : see Parliament 
 " How Wars are Made " : 177 
 Hughes, the Rt. Hon. W. M. : 225 
 Humanite, L' : 214 
 Hut Tax Disturbances in Sierra 
 
 Leone : 79 
 
 Illingworth, Mr. : 200 
 Independent Labour Party, the : 267 
 International Association for the 
 
 Exploration of Africa, the : 60 
 International Co-operation : Morel 
 
 and, 173, 251 
 
 Janson, M. : 96, 112 
 
 Jaures, M. : 213, 214, 218 
 
 Johnston, Sir Harry: 31, 91, 111, 
 122, 139, 152, 165 ; on " Morel- 
 ism," 43 
 
 Jones, Sir Alfred : 35, 74, 77 n 
 
 Kaiser, the : at Tangier, 182 ; and 
 
 Agadir crisis, 190 
 Katanga Company : and Rabinek 
 
 case, 88 et seq. 
 
 Kennaway, Sir John : 102, 123 
 Kennedy, Lord Justice : 242 
 
 King, Joseph : 216 n 
 
 King Leopold's Rule in Africa : 105 
 
 Kinnaird, Lord : 102 
 
 Knowles, Sir James : 31 
 
 Labour Leader, the : 245, 254 
 
 Lagos : 141 
 
 Lansdowne, the Marquess of : 81, 
 
 94, 102, 112, 114, 123 
 Lascelles, Sir Frank : 241, 242 
 Leopold II, King of the Belgians : 
 Proposes International Confer- 
 ence (1876) at Brussels, 59; be- 
 comes President of International 
 Association for the Explora- 
 tion and Civilization of Africa, 
 60 ; enlists services of Sir H. M. 
 Stanley, 60 ; and the Berlin 
 Conference (1884), 60; becomes 
 Sovereign of Congo Free State, 
 62 ; promulgates decrees restrict- 
 ing rights of natives to their 
 lands, 62 ; levies export duties 
 on Congo trade, 63 ; issues 
 edicts of 1891 and 1892, 63; 
 abolishes rights of natives to 
 the land and its products, 63 ; 
 introduces Concessionaire sys- 
 tem into Congo, 64 ; as autocrat 
 of the Congo, 73 ; Richard 
 Harding Davis on, 74 ; inter- 
 viewed in New York Herald, 98 ; 
 power and influence of, 99 ; ap- 
 points Commission of Enquiry, 
 102 ; institutes campaign in 
 America, 107 ; Mark Twain on, 
 107; issues manifesto, 114; 
 death of, 136. See also Africa ; 
 Congo, the Belgian ; Congo Re- 
 form Association, the ; Morel, 
 E. D. 
 
 Leveque, M. : and Rabinek case, 90 
 Liberalism : Morel nd, 202 
 Lidgett, Rev. J. Scott: 121, 156, 
 
 165 
 Liverpool, the Bishop of : 102, 114, 
 
 121 
 
 Liverpool Daily Post, the : 205, 15 
 Lloyd George, the Rt. Hon. D. : 
 188, 205, 214 
 
 18
 
 274 
 
 INDEX 
 
 London, the Bishop of : 12 
 Lonsdale, Lord : 241 
 Lorand, M. : 84, 96, 112 
 Loreburn, Lord : 220 n, 242 
 Lyall, Sir Alfred : 86 
 
 Macdonald, J. Ramsay : 123, 206, 
 222 
 
 Madrid Conference, (1880) of : 180 
 
 Makgill, Sir George : 241, 242 
 
 Manchester Guardian, the : 32, 
 138, 205, 214, 215, 220 
 
 Mansion House, Mr. Lloyd George's 
 speech (1911) at the : 188, 214 
 
 Marchand Expedition : announced 
 by Morel, 27 ; Morel's views 
 on, 29 
 
 Massingham, H. W. : 30 
 
 Matin, Le : 181 n 
 
 Mayo, the Earl of : 165 
 
 McArthur, C. : 95 
 
 McKenna, the Rt. Hon. R. : 66 n 
 
 Memorial Hall Meeting, breaking up 
 of: 254 
 
 Methuen, Lord : 241 
 
 Meyer, Rev. F. B. : 121 
 
 Midleton, Lord : 212 
 
 iSille, Pierre : 31, 53, 84, 128, 
 129, 156, 157, 158 
 
 Mohammedan Chiefs' address to 
 Morel: 142 
 
 Monkswell, Lord: 19, 117 f 
 
 Morel, E. D. : Birth and parentage, 
 15 et seq. ; ancestral associa- 
 tions with Quakers, 18 ; death 
 of father, 19 ; school-days, 20, 
 21 ; love of nature, 21 ; in 
 business in Paris, 21 ; clerk at 
 Liverpool, 22 ; studies West 
 African subjects, 24 ; early 
 Press worlf, 25 ; criticizes 
 German colonial officials, 25; 
 opposes Get man Foreign Policy, 
 25 n ; commends Belgian enter- 
 prise, 26 ; an authority on 
 West Africa and France, 26 ; 
 thanked by the War Office, 
 announces Marchand expe- 
 dition, 27; works to improve 
 Franco-British relations, 28,36 ; 
 
 praises French colonial admin- 
 istrators, 28 ; taunted with 
 being " pro-French," 28 n ; 
 condemns French advance on 
 Fashoda, 29 ; exposes plot to 
 murder Clemenceau, 29 ; H. W. 
 Massingham's tribute, 30 ; 
 founds African Mail, 31, 97; 
 change of name, 32 ; exemp- 
 tion from French military 
 service, 32 ; naturalization and 
 marriage, 32 ; business rela- 
 tions with Congo, 34 ; relations 
 with Sir Alfred Jones, 35 ; on 
 French Colonial Tariff Policy, 
 36 ; advocates the Open Door 
 in West Africa, 37 ; campaign 
 amongst Chambers of Com- 
 merce, 37 ; and Anglo-French 
 Convention (1898), 38; cham- 
 pion of Native Rights in Africa, 
 39 et seq. ; on capitalistic 
 exploitation in Africa, 41 ; on 
 industrious character of natives, 
 45 et seq. ; on Concessionaire 
 system, 51 ; accused of being 
 agent of British co mmercialism, 
 52 ; Sir Charles Dilke's tribute, 
 52 ; tributes from M. Emil 
 Vandervelde and M. Pierre 
 Mille, 53 ; and from M. Felicien 
 Challaye, 54 ; H. N. Brailsford 
 on the Congo Reform Move- 
 ment, 54 ; Morel on the Berlin 
 Conference (1884), 61 ; studies 
 evidence of Congo adminis- 
 tration, 66 ; suspicions aroused, 
 66 ; examines trade statistics 
 of Congo, 68 ; on Stokes 
 case, 68 n ; discovers that 
 Congo natives were being 
 robbed and enslaved, 70 et seq. ; 
 Richard Harding Davis on, 
 74 n ; and the Speaker articles, 
 75 ; attracts notice of Sir 
 Charles Dilke, 75 ; leaves 
 Messrs. Elder Dempster & Co., 
 76 ; the " dismissal " legend, 
 76 n ; letter ff om Sir Alfred 
 Jones, 77 n ; family life at
 
 INDEX 
 
 275 
 
 Ha warden. 78 et seq. ; first 
 pamphlet, 79 ; attacks Con- 
 cessionaire system in French | 
 Congo, 81 et seq. ; Trading 
 Monopolies in West Africa, 81 ; 
 calls for International Confer- 
 ence on Africa, 83 ; thanked by 
 Liverpool Chamber of Com- 
 merce, 83 ; French and Belgian 
 support for, 84, 85, 113; first 
 public speech, 86 ; article in 
 Contemporary Review, 87 ; and 
 Rabinek case, 88 et seq. ; 
 Affairs of West Africa, 90 ; The 
 British Case in French Congo, 
 92 et seq. ; accused of being 
 French agent, 94 ; meeting at 
 United Services Institute, 95 ; 
 mentioned in House of Com- 
 mons, 96 ; The Congo Slave 
 State, 97 ; appeal to America, 
 98 ; difficulty of his task, 99 ; 
 and Casement Report, 1 00 ; 
 founds the Congo Reform 
 Association, 101 ; and King 
 Leopold's Congo Commission, 
 103 ; pamphlets on Congo 
 question, 104 ; King Leopold's 
 Rule in Africa, 105 ; visits 
 America, 106 ; enlists support 
 of Mark Twain, 107 ; received 
 by President Roosevelt, 108 ; 
 speech at Boston, 109 ; letter 
 from Sir F. C. Selous to, 110 ; 
 speech at Holborn Town Hall, 
 
 111 ; at British Association, 
 
 112 ; Red Rubber, 115 et seq. ; 
 on Foreign Office and Congo, 
 124 ; thanked by Foreign 
 Office, 128 ; visits France and 
 Switzerland, 128 ; received by 
 M. Clemenceau, 128 ; speaks at 
 Sorbonne, 129 ; at Geneva, 
 130 ; the Spectator on, 130 ; 
 visits Belgium, 131 ; the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury on, 132 ; 
 Great Britain and the Congo, 
 133 ; Sir A. Conan Doyle on, 
 133 ; visits Nigeria, 137 ; 
 special correspondent of the 
 
 Times, 138 ; Nigeria : Us 
 Peoples and its Problems, 138 ; 
 thanked by British officials, 
 139 ; the Outlook on, 140 ; 
 native tributes to, 141 ; mem- 
 ber of West African Lands 
 Committee, 142 ; lectures be- 
 fore Royal Society of Arts. 
 
 149 ; Sir Percy Girouard on, 
 
 150 ; Public Presentation to, 
 155 et seq. ; final meeting of 
 Congo Reform Association, 
 163 ; on success of Congo 
 Campaign, 168 ; distrust of 
 Secret Diplomacy, 174 ; and 
 the shadow of impending war, 
 176 ; " How Wars are Made," 
 177 ; Morocco in Diplomacy, 
 177, 178 et seq. ; criticizes 
 Foreign Office policy in Mo- 
 rocco, 189 ; on embittered, 
 feeling in Germany, 190 et seq. ; 
 on relieving the international 
 situation, 191 ; Parliamentary 
 Candidate for Birkenhead, 200 
 et seq. ; resigns candidature, 
 206,221 ; and outbreak of war, 
 218 et seq. ; on Sir Edward * 
 Grey's speech, 220 ; and Union 
 
 of Democratic Control, 206, 
 223 ; violent attacks on, 226, 
 239 ; unpopularity of, 229 et 
 seq. ; and " Origins " of the 
 War, 229 et seq. ; accused of 
 " pro-Germanism," 322 ; mo- 
 tives of action of, 232, 233 ; 
 and Anglo-German Friendship 
 Society, 240 et seq. ; The 
 Outbreak of the War, 244 ; Truth 
 and the War, 245 et seq. ; Africa 
 and the Peace of Surope, 251 ; 
 addresses meetings during war, 
 254 ; advocates -Peace by 
 Negotiation, 255 ; Tsardom's 
 Part in the War, 253 ; corre- 
 spondence with Miss Sidgwick, 
 256 et seq. ; arrest, trial and 
 sentence of, 260 et seq. ; Col. 
 Wedgwood's protest, 263; Lord 
 Courtney's opinion of trial, 264 ;
 
 276 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Remain Holland's tribute, 265 ; 
 joins Independent Labour 
 Party, 267; and the Future, 
 267 
 on Free Trade, 36, 50 et seq., 82, 
 
 246, 247 
 on Native Ownership in Land, 
 
 41, 43, 44, 140, 145 el seq. 
 on Foreign Office and Secret 
 Diplomacy, 124, 134, 135, 169, 
 174, 175, 189, 194, 197, 204, 
 210, 211, 214, 216, 246. 
 on Treatment of Coloured Races, 
 
 150, 249 
 
 on Future of Africa, 151, 160, 248 
 on Effect of War on Africa, 153 
 on Neutralization of Africa, 153, 
 
 250 
 
 on Empire Resources Develop- 
 ment Committee, 151 
 on War, 173 
 on Anglo-German Relations, 192, 
 
 196, 204, 210 et seq. 
 on Anglo-French Relations, 28, 
 
 36 
 
 on Naval Security, 196 
 on Armaments, 205 
 on Conscription, 215 
 on Origins of the War, 229 et seq. 
 on Internationalism, 251, 252 
 on Duties of a Member of Parlia- 
 ment, 201 
 on Liberalism, 202 
 on Social Problems, 203 
 Personal characteristics of : 21, 
 78, 115, 184, 201, 207, 209, 
 233 n, 235, 236, 237, 238 
 Work of Morel as seen by Lord 
 Aberdeen, 163 ; Henri Bobi- 
 chon, 85 ; the Comtesse de 
 Brazza<?84 n; Felicien Challaye, 
 54, 158 ; the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 132 ; LordCromer, 
 157 ; Sir Valentine Chirol, 163 ; 
 Dr. John Clifford, 164, 202; 
 Lord Courtney, 264 ; Robert 
 Donald, 166 ; Sir Arthur Oonan 
 ' Doyle, 133 ; Richard Harding 
 
 Davis, 74 n ; Sir Charles Dilke, 
 52j Sir Percy Girouard, 150 ; 
 
 T. L. Gilmour, 165 ; W. G. C. 
 
 Gladstone, 202 ; Sir Harry 
 
 Johnston, 165 ; Rev. J. Scott 
 
 Lidgett, 165 ; the Earl of Mayo, 
 
 165; Pierre Mille, 53, 158; 
 
 H. W. Massingham, 30 ; Sir 
 
 Gilbert Parker, 164 ; Sir 
 
 Edward Russell, 164; W. 
 
 Runciman, 202 ; Remain 
 
 Rolland, 265 ; Sir F. C. Selous ; 
 
 110; G. M. Trevelyan, 202; 
 
 Emile Vandervelde, 53, 158; 
 
 Col. Wedgwood, 263 ; Fabian 
 
 Ware, 159 ; the Bishop of 
 
 Winchester, 156, 164 ; Rev. C. 
 
 Wilson, 166 ; the Archbishop 
 
 of York, 163 ; the Daily News, 
 
 167 ; the Evening Standard, 
 
 117, 167; the Morning Post, 
 
 166; the Outlook, 140; the 
 
 Spectator, 116, 130 ; the Times, 
 
 91 
 
 Accusations against Morel : 
 Of being pro-British, 52, 128 n 
 Of being pro-French, 28 n, 94 
 Of being pro-German, 232 
 Morel, Mrs. : 32, 33, 158, 253, 264 
 Morel-de-Ville, Edmond : 16, 16, 
 
 17, 19 
 Morley of Blackburn, Viscount : 66, 
 
 102, 190, 202, 222, 228 
 Morning Post, the : 91, 94, 120, 139, 
 
 165, 166 
 
 Moroccan Question, the : 178 ct seq. 
 Morocco in Diplomacy : 177, 178 
 
 et seq., 209, 245 
 Morrison, Rev. W. M. : 67, 95 
 Murphy, Rev. J. B. : 67 
 
 Napier, Sir Walter : 144, 145 
 
 Nation, the : 215 
 
 National Manifesto on Congo : 127 
 
 National Psychology and War : 
 226 et seq., 236 et seq. 
 
 National Service Movement, Morel 
 and: 215 
 
 Native Rlghte in Africa : 39 et 
 9eq., 249 et aeq. ; and land 
 tenure, 41j' 145 et seq. ; and 
 industrious character of na-
 
 INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 tivea, 45 et aeq. ; effect of 
 King Leopold's decrees, 62 and 
 63 ; in French Congo, 93 ; 
 discussed in King Leopold's 
 Ride in Africa, 106 ; Congo 
 Reform Association and, 120; 
 in Gold Coast Protectorate, 
 142 et seq. ; suggested Charter 
 of, 154, 160 
 
 Naval Construction, Russian : 213 
 
 Naval Movements in 1912, French : 
 213 
 
 Navy, British, Morel on : 196 
 
 Nevinson, H. W. : 130, 265 n 
 
 New Statesman, the : 227 
 
 New York Herald : Leopold II 
 interviewed in, 98 
 
 Nigeria : industrial life of, 49 ; land 
 tenure in, 137 et seq. ; two 
 schools of thought regarding, 
 137 et seq. ; Morel's visit to, 
 137 et aeq. 
 
 Nigeria : its Peoples and its Prob- 
 lem* : 138 et aeq. 
 
 Norman, Sir Henry : 30 
 
 Open Door, the : see Free Trade. 
 Outbreak of the War, the : 244 
 Outlook, the : 140, 174 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette, the : 25, 26 
 Panther, the : at Agadir, 185 et seq. 
 Parker, Sir Gilbert : 115, 163, 164 
 Parliament and Congo : 95, 97, 104, 
 
 115, 123 
 
 Patriote, Le : 131 
 Peace Settlement, the : Union of 
 
 Democratic Control and the 
 
 principles of, 223 et seq. ; 
 
 President Wilson and, 225 n 
 Peaix-Seailles, Charles : 31 
 Pease, Alfred E. : 86 
 Pentonville : Morel sent to, 262 et 
 
 aeq. 
 
 Percy, Lord: 104, 111, 115 
 Peuple, Le: 117, 131 
 Phillips, J. S. R. : 31, 127 
 Poincare, President: 213, 213 n 
 Ponsonby, Arthuf : 214, 223, 267 
 Pressense, Francis de : 29, 31, 185 
 
 Rabah, Arab Chieftain : and Morel, 
 
 27 
 
 Rabinek Case : 88 et seq. 
 Reading, Lord : 242 
 Red Rubber: 115, 116 et aeq. 
 Revue du Mois, La: 198 
 Rickett, Sir J. Compton : 242 
 Rochester, the Bishop of : 10 
 Rolland, Remain: 257, 258, 259, 
 
 265 
 
 Roosevelt, President : 108 
 Ross, Professor Ronald : 31 
 Rothenstein, William : 159 
 Round, James : 86 
 Royal Society of Arts : Morel lectures 
 
 before : 149 
 
 Runciman, Rt. Hon. W. : 202, 216 
 Russell, Sir Edward : 31, 164 
 Russia: 210, 211, 213, 221, 231, 
 
 235, 255, 256 
 
 Salisbury, the Marquis of : 27, 38 
 Samuel, Rt. Hon. Herbert : 95, 96, 
 
 111 
 
 Scott, C. P. : 31 
 Selous, Sir F. C. : 110 
 Sembat, Marcel : 186 / 
 Sidgwick, Miss Ethel: "256 et aeq. 
 Sierra Leone, Hut Tax Disturbance* 
 
 in: 79 
 
 Smethwick, Canon : 121 
 Smith, Reginald : 199 n 
 Smith-Dorrien, Sir H. : 241 
 Social Inequalities, Morel and : 203 
 Sodor and Man, Bishop of : 121 
 Sorbonne, the : Morel speaks at, 129 
 South wark, Bishop of : 121 
 Spain and Morocco : 180 et aeq. 
 Speaker, the : Morel's articles in, 
 
 75 
 
 Spectator, the: 116, 1^0, 198 
 Stanley, Sir H. M. : 60, 67 
 Star, the : 214 
 
 St. Asaph, Bishop of : 102 
 Stead, W. T. : 31, 95, 127 
 Stokes Affair, the : 67 n 
 Strachey, J. St. Loe : 102, 127, 156 
 Straight, Sir Douglas : 31 
 Strathcona, Lord : 242 
 Sutherland, the Duke of : 242
 
 278 
 
 Talbot, Dr. : see Winchester, Bishop 
 
 of 
 
 Tangier, the Kaiser at : 182 
 Taylor, Sir William : 144 
 Temps, Le: 80, 181 n 
 Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy : 199 
 Times, the : 91, 120, 124, 127, 128, 
 
 129, 138, 139, 182, 183, 186, 
 
 187, 188, 197, 213, 214 
 Trarieux, M. : 29 
 Treatment of Coloured Races, 
 
 Morel's paper on : 150 
 Treaty of Transfer, the : 122, 125, 
 
 245 et seq., 251, 252, 255, 257, 
 
 258 
 Trevelyan, Charles : 206, 220, 222, 
 
 242, 267 
 
 Trevelyan, George M. : 202 
 Trial of E. D. Morel, the : 254 et seq. 
 Truth : 141 
 Truth and the War : 230, 233, 245 
 
 et seq., 251, 252, 255, 268 
 Tsardom's Part in the War : 255, 
 
 259 
 
 Twain, Mark : 107 
 Tweedmouth, Lord : 102 
 
 Union of Democratic Control : 206, 
 223 et seq., 232, 254, 266 
 
 United Services Institute, Meeting 
 at: 95 
 
 United States of America : recog- 
 nizes " International Congo 
 Association," 60 ; Morel's 
 appeal to, 98 ; his visit to, 
 106 
 
 Vandervelde, Emil : 53, 96, 112, 119, 
 120, 131, 132, 156, 157, 158, 
 161 n 
 
 Vickers, Messrs. : 213 
 
 Wakefield, Cishop of : 121 
 
 War : Morel and, 36, 159, 168, 173 ; 
 
 Cobden and, 226 ; National 
 
 Psychology and, 226 et seq., 
 
 236 et seq. 
 War, the Great : Moroccan question 
 
 and, 178 et seq. ; alleged 
 
 "inevitability" of, 176, 179, 
 191 et seq., 209 ; Morel's efforts 
 to avert, 176, 178 et seq., 205, 
 209 et seq. ; British Ultimatum 
 to Germany, 206 ; outbreak 
 of, 218 et seq. ; Sir E. Grey's 
 speech, 220 ; Manchester 
 Guardian and, 220 ; resig- 
 nations of Ministers, 222 ; 
 Union of Democratic Control 
 and, 222 et seq. ; President 
 Wilson's points anticipated, 
 224 ; economic boycott and, 
 227 ; " Prussianism " and, 227 et 
 seq. ; and Morel's unpopularity, 
 228, 229 et seq. ; " Origins " of, 
 229 et seq. ; and Africa, 153 
 
 War Office, Morel thanked by the : 
 27 
 
 Ward, Herbert : 98 n, 159 
 
 Ware, Fabian : 31, 159 
 
 Weardale, Lord : 242 
 
 Wedgwood, Colonel : 144, 263 
 
 West Africa : Morel attracted by, 
 
 24 ; French Colonial Policy in, 
 
 25 ; 36 et seq., See also Africa ; 
 Concessionaire System, the ; 
 Congo, the Belgian ; Congo, 
 the French ; Congo Reform 
 Association, The ; Leopold II ; 
 Morel, E. D. ; Native Rights 
 in Africa; Nigeria; Sierra 
 Leone. 
 
 West African Lands Committee : 
 142 et seq. ; Report of, 145 et seq. 
 
 Westminster, the Cardinal Arch- 
 bishop of : 241 
 
 Westminster Gazette, the : 213 
 
 White, Sir George : 123 
 
 Whyte, Robert : 121, 159 
 
 Wilberforce, Morel compared to : 
 166 
 
 Wilson, Rev. C. : 166 
 
 Wilson, President: 225, 226, 231, 
 251, 252 n 
 
 Winchester, Bishop of : 155, 156, 
 163, 164 
 
 York, Archbishop of : 121, 163 
 
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