The Scramble for Africa

Tested against the primary record

1. SupportedThe decision of territorial claims was not among the bases of the conference.

   Rests on documents from: Plenipotentiaries at the Conference of Berlin; UK government.

   The Under-Secretary told the Commons on 20 November 1884, with the conference sitting, that the decision of territorial claims was not among the bases of the conference, and the Act the fourteen plenipotentiaries signed lists six documents, none of which assigns a territory to a Power; Articles 34 and 35 speak only of future acts of possession on the coasts and of notifying the other signatories. Two producers, the British government and the signatory powers, and the Act is the parties' own text.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, answering Jacob Bright, Arthur Arnold and Sir Herbert Maxwell in the House of Commons, The West African Conference (Action of the English... (1884)whole document

      HC Deb 20 November 1884 vol 294 cc57-8 MR. JACOB BRIGHT asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has seen the following statement from the London Correspondent of The Manchester Guardian , and if there is any truth in it:— It is, I understand, finally decided that our representative at the forthcoming Conference on the Affairs of the Congo at Berlin shall he instructed to support with firmness the claims of Portugal, which had been practically conceded before the Conference was proposed? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE Her Majesty's Government must decline at present to give any information in regard to the instructions given to their Representatives; but I have already stated that the decision of territorial claims is not among the bases of the Conference. MR. JACOB BRIGHT What I wish to ask is this—Whether the noble Lord is not aware that the proposition for conceding the Sovereignty of the Congo to Portugal has been all but universally condemned in this House and in the country? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I am aware that considerable hostility was manifested, both in this House and "elsewhere," towards the Treaty of last year. MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD asked whether, if the Conference at Berlin should arrive at any conclusion on this subject, it would be laid before this House before it was accepted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE No, Sir; I am not aware that it would. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL May I ask whether it is true, as reported in The Times this morning, that a Committee of Experts has been appointed to arrange the details of the agreement; and, if that is the case, can the noble Lord say to whom the interests of Great Britain are to be entrusted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I cannot undertake from day to day to give information of the proceedings of the Conference, and for this reason—that a pledge of secrecy has been given by all the Powers in regard to those proceedings; and if I were to depart from the rule of this House in one particular I should be obliged to depart from it from day to day, until I had departed from it altogether.

   2. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)table of contents

      Freedom of Trade in Basin of the Congo , &c. 1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other provisions connected therewith. (See p. 471.) Slave Trade hy Sea or Land. 2. A Declaration relative to the slave trade, and the operations by sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade. (See p. 474.) Neutrality of Territories comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo. 3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories comprised in the Conventional basin of the Congo. (See p. 474.) Navigation of the Congo , &c. 4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and the waters in its system (“ eaux qui leur sont assimilees ”), the general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII to CXYI of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna,* and intended to regulate, as between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of the waterways separating or traversing several States — these said principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube with the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856) f of Berlin (1878) J and of London (1871 and 1883).§ (See p. 475.) Navigation of the Niger. 5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII to CXVI, of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. (See p. 481.) Future Occupations on the Coast of Africa. 6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coast of the African Continent. (See p. 484.) And deeming it expedient that all these several documents should

   3. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 34Exhibit 1

      Art. XXXIV.f — Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own.

   4. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 35

      Art. XXXV. — The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognize the obligation to insure the establishment of authority in regions occupied by them on the coasts of the African Continent sufficient to protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions agreed upon.

2. QualifiedThe occupation was a work of civilisation carried out for the mutual benefit of Europe and of the native races.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; Jules Ferry, in the Chambre des députés; Plenipotentiaries at the Conference of Berlin; Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma.

   Ferry said it and Article VI of the Act binds the Powers in the Congo basin to watch over the preservation of the native tribes; the Free State's own commission found women held as hostages for rubber and the British consul recorded hands cut off by government soldiers in the same basin. The words are in the record from the European side and the practice is in the record from the same side, so the claim is borne out as a statement of intent and contradicted as a description of the Congo; qualified.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Jules Ferry, in the Chambre des députés, with the interruptions of Jules Maigne, de Guilloutet, Raoul Duval, Georges Périn and others, Jules Ferry, discours du 28 juillet 1885 sur la...§ races

      Messieurs, il faut parler plus haut et plus vrai ! il faut dire ouvertement qu'en effet les races supérieures ont un droit vis-à-vis des races inférieures... (Rume urs sur plusieurs bancs à l'extrême gauche .) M. Jules Maigne . Oh ! vous osez dire cela dans le pays où ont été proclamés les droits de l'homme ! M. de Guilloutet . C'est la justification de l'esclavage et de la traite des nègres ! M. Jules Ferry . Si l'honorable M. Maigne a raison, si la déclaration des droits de l'homme a été écrite pour les noirs de l'Afrique équatoriale, alors de quel droit allez-vous leur imposer les échanges, les trafics ? Ils ne vous appellent pas ! ( Interruptions à l'extrême gauche et à droite. - Très bien ! très bien ! sur divers bancs à gauche .) M. Raoul Duval . Nous ne voulons pas les leur imposer ! C'est vous qui les leur imposez ! M. Jules Maigne . Proposer et imposer sont choses fort différentes ! M. Georges Périn . Vous ne pouvez pas cependant faire des échanges forcés ! M. Jules Ferry . Je répète qu'il y a pour les races supérieures un droit, parce qu'il y a un devoir pour elles. Elles ont le devoir de civiliser les races inférieures... ( Marques d'approbation surles mêmes bancs à gauche - Nouvelles interruptions à l'extrême gauche et à droite .)

      Void translation, not a published quotationGentlemen, we must speak louder and truer! We must say openly that indeed the superior races have a right with regard to the inferior races... (Murmurs on several benches of the far left.) M. Jules Maigne. Oh! you dare to say that in the country where the rights of man were proclaimed! M. de Guilloutet. It is the justification of slavery and of the trade in negroes! M. Jules Ferry. If the honourable M. Maigne is right, if the declaration of the rights of man was written for the blacks of equatorial Africa, then by what right are you going to impose exchanges and trade on them? They do not call for you! (Interruptions on the far left and on the right. Very good! very good! on various benches of the left.) M. Raoul Duval. We do not want to impose them on them! It is you who impose them! M. Jules Maigne. To propose and to impose are very different things! M. Georges Périn. You cannot, however, make forced exchanges! M. Jules Ferry. I repeat that there is for the superior races a right, because there is a duty for them. They have the duty to civilise the inferior races... (Marks of approval on the same benches of the left. New interruptions on the far left and on the right.)

   2. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 6

      Art. VI. — Provisions relative to Protection of the Natives , of Missionaries and Travellers, as well as relative to Religious Liberty. Preservation and Improvement of Native Tribes ; Slavery, and the Slave Trade. 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 and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade. Religious and other Institutions. Civilization of Natives. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religions, scientific, or charitable institutions, and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization. Protection of Missionaries, Scientists , and Explorers. Christian missionaries, scientists and explorers, with their followers, property, and collections, shall likewise be the objects of especial protection. Religious Toleration. Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guaranteed to the natives, no less than to subjects and to foreigners. Public Worship. The free and public exercise of all forms of Divine worship, and the right to build edifices for religious purposes, and to organize religious missions belonging to all creeds, shall not be limited or fettered in any way whatsoever.

   3. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 34

      had undoubtedly had an " awful past" at the hands of some of the officials who had preceded him in the local administration, and that it would take -time for confidence to be restored. Men, he said, still came to him whose hands had been cut off by the Government soldiers during those evil days, and he said there were still many victims of this species of mutilation in the surrounding country. Two cases of the kind came to my actual notice while I was in the lake. One, a young man, both of whoso hands had' been beaten off with the butt ends of rifles against a tree, the other a young lad of 11 or 12 years of age, whose right hand was cut off at the wrist. Tins boy described the circumstances of his mutilation, and, in answer to my inquiry, said that although wounded at the time he was perfectly sensible of the severing of his wrist, but lay still fearing that if he moved he would be killed! In both these cases tM Government soldiers had been accompanied by white officers whose names were, given to'me. 'Of sis natives (one a girl, three little boys, one youth, and one old woman) who. had been mutilated in this way during the rubber regime, all except one were dead at the date of my visit. The old woman had died at the beginning of this year, and her .niece described to mo how the act of mutilation in her case. ha{l been accomplished. The day I left Lake Man turn ba five men whose hands had been cut oft came 'to the village of T * across the lake to see me, but hearing that I had already gone away thev returned to their homes. A messenger came in to tell me, and I sent to T * to find them, but they had then dispersed. Three of them subsequently returned, but too late for me to see them. These were some of those, I presume, to whom the official had referred, for they, came from the country in the vicinity ot P * station. Statements of this character, made both by the two mutilated persons 1

   4. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 67

      but little to seek out the real culprit. The prestations were due from the village as a whole; when they were not forthcoming the chiefs were arrested and some of the inhabitants taken at random, often the women were held as hostages. This system had for its purpose the moral compulsion upon the delinquents to stimulate their efforts in order to liberate their chief or their wives. This proved efficacious and, perhaps, as we were often told, did not appear in the eyes of the natives, imbued with the idea of solidarity, so reprehensible as it would to us. But whatever one may think of the ideas of the natives, any procedure, such as the detention of the women as hostages, outrages our notion of justice too violently to be tolerated. The State has, for a long time, forbidden this practice, but has been unable to suppress it. Likewise the arrest of the chiefs, who are not always personally to blame, has the effect of diminishing their authority or even

Tested against the primary record

1. SupportedThe General Act allocated no territory to any Power and drew no border.

   Rests on documents from: Plenipotentiaries at the Conference of Berlin; UK government.

   The Act's own list of its six documents and its Articles 34 and 35 name no Power's possession and no line; the British government told the Commons on 20 November 1884, with the conference sitting, that territorial claims were not among its bases. Two producers. The only line the Act draws is in Article I, the watershed and parallels that bound the free-trade basin, which is a limit on where a rule applies, not a grant of the land to anyone; the adjudication of the African account below carries that.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)table of contents

      Freedom of Trade in Basin of the Congo , &c. 1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other provisions connected therewith. (See p. 471.) Slave Trade hy Sea or Land. 2. A Declaration relative to the slave trade, and the operations by sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade. (See p. 474.) Neutrality of Territories comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo. 3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories comprised in the Conventional basin of the Congo. (See p. 474.) Navigation of the Congo , &c. 4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and the waters in its system (“ eaux qui leur sont assimilees ”), the general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII to CXYI of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna,* and intended to regulate, as between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of the waterways separating or traversing several States — these said principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube with the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856) f of Berlin (1878) J and of London (1871 and 1883).§ (See p. 475.) Navigation of the Niger. 5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII to CXVI, of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. (See p. 481.) Future Occupations on the Coast of Africa. 6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coast of the African Continent. (See p. 484.) And deeming it expedient that all these several documents should

   2. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 34Exhibit 1

      Art. XXXIV.f — Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own.

   3. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 35

      Art. XXXV. — The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognize the obligation to insure the establishment of authority in regions occupied by them on the coasts of the African Continent sufficient to protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions agreed upon.

   4. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, answering Jacob Bright, Arthur Arnold and Sir Herbert Maxwell in the House of Commons, The West African Conference (Action of the English... (1884)whole document

      HC Deb 20 November 1884 vol 294 cc57-8 MR. JACOB BRIGHT asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has seen the following statement from the London Correspondent of The Manchester Guardian , and if there is any truth in it:— It is, I understand, finally decided that our representative at the forthcoming Conference on the Affairs of the Congo at Berlin shall he instructed to support with firmness the claims of Portugal, which had been practically conceded before the Conference was proposed? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE Her Majesty's Government must decline at present to give any information in regard to the instructions given to their Representatives; but I have already stated that the decision of territorial claims is not among the bases of the Conference. MR. JACOB BRIGHT What I wish to ask is this—Whether the noble Lord is not aware that the proposition for conceding the Sovereignty of the Congo to Portugal has been all but universally condemned in this House and in the country? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I am aware that considerable hostility was manifested, both in this House and "elsewhere," towards the Treaty of last year. MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD asked whether, if the Conference at Berlin should arrive at any conclusion on this subject, it would be laid before this House before it was accepted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE No, Sir; I am not aware that it would. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL May I ask whether it is true, as reported in The Times this morning, that a Committee of Experts has been appointed to arrange the details of the agreement; and, if that is the case, can the noble Lord say to whom the interests of Great Britain are to be entrusted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I cannot undertake from day to day to give information of the proceedings of the Conference, and for this reason—that a pledge of secrecy has been given by all the Powers in regard to those proceedings; and if I were to depart from the rule of this House in one particular I should be obliged to depart from it from day to day, until I had departed from it altogether.

2. Cannot be tested from the free recordThe borders were set by later bilateral treaties.

   Rests on an absence in the free record.

   No delimitation treaty after 1885 is held as an extract in this record; Uzoigwe's chapter states that the treaties did the work, but that is a Tier B statement and the treaties themselves would settle it.

   The extract it rests on

   1. G. N. Uzoigwe, European partition and conquest of Africa (1985)p. 30

      that the conference, contrary to popular opinion, did not partition Africa*® is correct only in the most technical sense. To all intents and purposes the appropriation of territory did take place at the conference and the question of future appropriation is clearly implied in its decisions. By 1885, in fact, the broad lines of the final partition of Africa had already been drawn.

3. Cannot be tested from the free recordThe Act's importance is symbolic and legal, not territorial.

   Rests on an absence in the free record.

   Craven's argument could not be read and the Kinshasa article is paywalled, so the claim is known here only from two titles; the Act's text bears on what it allocated, not on what it came to mean.

   The extract it rests on

   1. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)table of contents

      Freedom of Trade in Basin of the Congo , &c. 1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other provisions connected therewith. (See p. 471.) Slave Trade hy Sea or Land. 2. A Declaration relative to the slave trade, and the operations by sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade. (See p. 474.) Neutrality of Territories comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo. 3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories comprised in the Conventional basin of the Congo. (See p. 474.) Navigation of the Congo , &c. 4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and the waters in its system (“ eaux qui leur sont assimilees ”), the general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII to CXYI of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna,* and intended to regulate, as between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of the waterways separating or traversing several States — these said principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube with the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856) f of Berlin (1878) J and of London (1871 and 1883).§ (See p. 475.) Navigation of the Niger. 5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII to CXVI, of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. (See p. 481.) Future Occupations on the Coast of Africa. 6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coast of the African Continent. (See p. 484.) And deeming it expedient that all these several documents should

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedTo all intents and purposes the appropriation of territory took place at the conference.

   Rests on documents from: Plenipotentiaries at the Conference of Berlin; UK government.

   The Act names no Power's territory and the British government said territorial claims were not on its agenda, so the claim is contradicted as a matter of text; but Article I bounds a basin by watersheds and parallels in which the Powers' rules run, and Articles 34 and 35 lay down how future possessions on the coasts will be recognised, which is what Uzoigwe means by the appropriation being implied. Two producers, both European: qualified, and the position's own 'in the most technical sense' concedes the text.

   The 5 extracts it rests on

   1. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)table of contents

      Freedom of Trade in Basin of the Congo , &c. 1. A Declaration relative to freedom of trade in the basin of the Congo, its embouchures and circumjacent regions, with other provisions connected therewith. (See p. 471.) Slave Trade hy Sea or Land. 2. A Declaration relative to the slave trade, and the operations by sea or land which furnish slaves to that trade. (See p. 474.) Neutrality of Territories comprised in the Conventional Basin of the Congo. 3. A Declaration relative to the neutrality of the territories comprised in the Conventional basin of the Congo. (See p. 474.) Navigation of the Congo , &c. 4. An Act of Navigation for the Congo, which, while having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river, its affluents, and the waters in its system (“ eaux qui leur sont assimilees ”), the general principles enunciated in Articles CVIII to CXYI of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna,* and intended to regulate, as between the Signatory Powers of that Act, the free navigation of the waterways separating or traversing several States — these said principles having since then been applied by agreement to certain rivers of Europe and America, but especially to the Danube with the modifications stipulated by the Treaties of Paris (1856) f of Berlin (1878) J and of London (1871 and 1883).§ (See p. 475.) Navigation of the Niger. 5. An Act of Navigation for the Niger, which, while likewise having regard to local circumstances, extends to this river and its affluents the same principles as set forth in Articles CVIII to CXVI, of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. (See p. 481.) Future Occupations on the Coast of Africa. 6. A Declaration introducing into international relations certain uniform rules with reference to future occupations on the coast of the African Continent. (See p. 484.) And deeming it expedient that all these several documents should

   2. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 34Exhibit 1

      Art. XXXIV.f — Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own.

   3. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 35

      Art. XXXV. — The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognize the obligation to insure the establishment of authority in regions occupied by them on the coasts of the African Continent sufficient to protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions agreed upon.

   4. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 1

      Art. I. — -The trade of all nations shall enjoy complete freedom : — Basin of the Congo Defined. 1. In all the regions forming the basin of the Congo and its outlets. This basin is bounded by the watersheds (or mountain ridges) of the adjacent basins, namely, in particular, those of the Niari, the Ogowe, the Schari, and the Nile on the north ; by the eastern watershed line of the affluents of Lake Tanganyika on the east ; and by the watersheds of the basins of the Zambesi and the Loge on the south. It therefore comprises all the regions watered by the Congo and its affluents, including Lake Tanganyika, with its eastern tributaries.

   5. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, answering Jacob Bright, Arthur Arnold and Sir Herbert Maxwell in the House of Commons, The West African Conference (Action of the English... (1884)whole document

      HC Deb 20 November 1884 vol 294 cc57-8 MR. JACOB BRIGHT asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has seen the following statement from the London Correspondent of The Manchester Guardian , and if there is any truth in it:— It is, I understand, finally decided that our representative at the forthcoming Conference on the Affairs of the Congo at Berlin shall he instructed to support with firmness the claims of Portugal, which had been practically conceded before the Conference was proposed? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE Her Majesty's Government must decline at present to give any information in regard to the instructions given to their Representatives; but I have already stated that the decision of territorial claims is not among the bases of the Conference. MR. JACOB BRIGHT What I wish to ask is this—Whether the noble Lord is not aware that the proposition for conceding the Sovereignty of the Congo to Portugal has been all but universally condemned in this House and in the country? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I am aware that considerable hostility was manifested, both in this House and "elsewhere," towards the Treaty of last year. MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD asked whether, if the Conference at Berlin should arrive at any conclusion on this subject, it would be laid before this House before it was accepted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE No, Sir; I am not aware that it would. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL May I ask whether it is true, as reported in The Times this morning, that a Committee of Experts has been appointed to arrange the details of the agreement; and, if that is the case, can the noble Lord say to whom the interests of Great Britain are to be entrusted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I cannot undertake from day to day to give information of the proceedings of the Conference, and for this reason—that a pledge of secrecy has been given by all the Powers in regard to those proceedings; and if I were to depart from the rule of this House in one particular I should be obliged to depart from it from day to day, until I had departed from it altogether.

2. SupportedArticle 35's requirement of authority sufficient to protect existing rights was the doctrine of effective occupation, and Article 34's notification rule the doctrine of spheres of influence.

   Rests on documents from: Plenipotentiaries at the Conference of Berlin; UK government.

   Article 35 says what Uzoigwe quotes it as saying, Article 34 is the notification rule he names spheres of influence, and both are confined to the coasts; the British government's answer of 20 November 1884 shows the conference was understood in London as rule-making. Two producers.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 35

      Art. XXXV. — The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognize the obligation to insure the establishment of authority in regions occupied by them on the coasts of the African Continent sufficient to protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions agreed upon.

   2. The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Norway, Turkey and the United States, General Act of the Conference of Berlin, signed at... (1885)art. 34Exhibit 1

      Art. XXXIV.f — Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African Continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own.

   3. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, answering Jacob Bright, Arthur Arnold and Sir Herbert Maxwell in the House of Commons, The West African Conference (Action of the English... (1884)whole document

      HC Deb 20 November 1884 vol 294 cc57-8 MR. JACOB BRIGHT asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has seen the following statement from the London Correspondent of The Manchester Guardian , and if there is any truth in it:— It is, I understand, finally decided that our representative at the forthcoming Conference on the Affairs of the Congo at Berlin shall he instructed to support with firmness the claims of Portugal, which had been practically conceded before the Conference was proposed? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE Her Majesty's Government must decline at present to give any information in regard to the instructions given to their Representatives; but I have already stated that the decision of territorial claims is not among the bases of the Conference. MR. JACOB BRIGHT What I wish to ask is this—Whether the noble Lord is not aware that the proposition for conceding the Sovereignty of the Congo to Portugal has been all but universally condemned in this House and in the country? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I am aware that considerable hostility was manifested, both in this House and "elsewhere," towards the Treaty of last year. MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD asked whether, if the Conference at Berlin should arrive at any conclusion on this subject, it would be laid before this House before it was accepted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE No, Sir; I am not aware that it would. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL May I ask whether it is true, as reported in The Times this morning, that a Committee of Experts has been appointed to arrange the details of the agreement; and, if that is the case, can the noble Lord say to whom the interests of Great Britain are to be entrusted? LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE I cannot undertake from day to day to give information of the proceedings of the Conference, and for this reason—that a pledge of secrecy has been given by all the Powers in regard to those proceedings; and if I were to depart from the rule of this House in one particular I should be obliged to depart from it from day to day, until I had departed from it altogether.

3. QualifiedThe great majority of African rulers chose to defend their sovereignty.

   Rests on documents from: Menelik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia; Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein of the Witbooi Nama; Parliament of the United Kingdom; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   Three rulers speak in this record and all three defend a sovereignty: Witbooi tells Maharero he has given his land and his right of government into the hands of the white people, Lobengula tells the Queen he has not given away the whole country, Menelik proposes that a French text be the witness between the parties because he cannot compare the English with the Amharic; Daniel Kariko's affidavit says the Herero chose war. Three rulers and one under-chief are not the majority the claim counts, so the claim is borne out for every ruler this record holds and untested for the rest: qualified. Four producers on three sides.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein of the Witbooi Nama, Hornkrans, Die Dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein van die... (1890)p. 79Exhibit 3

      te worden, van de Duitsche regering, maar lieve kapitein ! weet gy wat gy gedaan hebt, en voor wien gy gedaan heb, dat, wat gy gedaan hebt, of hebben anderer menschen U ingeraden, of hebt U zelven uit Uw eigen zelfstandige verlichte verstand gedaan? miesschien hebt U alleen my zien voor staan, in Uw hart, en voor Uw heel leven, als een hinderpaal, en als een steen des aanstoots, zoo hebt U deze magtige ander regering aangenomen, om my met deze magtige man te verniedigen dat is miesschien al Uwe oogmerk, waarom TU zoo gemaak hebt, maar het is zeer zwaar, om te zeggen, en te weten, dat het U zeker zal gelukken, of niet, maar het lyk my, U hebt niet genoegzaam op Uwe kanft] gezien, voor Uw land en volk, en ook Uwe nakomelingen, en ook niet voor Uwe kapiteinschapsreg,”) en U denk, dat U alle deze dingen van U als zelfstandige kapitein zal behouden, nadat U my zal verniedig hebben als het U geluk, zoo als U meent maar lieve kapitein ! het zal U toch eindelyk zwaarlyk berouwen, en gy zult eeuwig berouw hebben, dat U Uwe land en regeringsreg in de handen der witte menschen afgegeven hebben, want onze oorlog, wat wy hebben, die is niet zoo erg, en zwaar, zoo als U

      Void translation, not a published quotationby the German government; but dear captain! do you know what you have done, and for whom you have done it, what you have done, or have other people advised you, or have you done it yourself out of your own independent enlightened understanding? Perhaps you have seen only me standing before you, in your heart and for your whole life, as a hindrance and as a stumbling-block, and so you have accepted this mighty other government, to destroy me with this mighty man; that is perhaps your whole aim, why you have acted so; but it is very hard to say and to know whether it will surely succeed for you or not; but it seems to me you have not looked enough on your own side, for your land and people, and also your descendants, and also not for your right of captaincy, and you think that you will keep all these things as an independent captain after you will have destroyed me, if you succeed, as you suppose; but dear captain! it will in the end weigh heavily on you with regret, and you will have everlasting regret, that you have given your land and your right of government into the hands of the white people, for our war, the one we have, is not so bad and heavy as you

   2. Henry Labouchere in the House of Commons, reading Lobengula's letters of 1889 and Lord Knutsford's replies, Motion for Adjournment (Matabeleland), 9 November 1893p. 547

      The advice was practically to be very careful about giving concessions, and under no circumstances to give an exclusive concession. The Indunas returned to Matabeleland with this letter from the Queen. On August 10 Lobengula writes— The white people are troubling me very much about gold. If the Queen hears that I have given away the whole country it is not so. I have no one in my country who knows how to write. I do not understand where the dispute is, because I have no knowledge of writing. I thank the Queen for the word which my messengers gave me by mouth, that the Queen says I am not to let anyone dig for gold in my country except to dig for me as my servants. That was how Lobengula understood the letter of the Queen. In October, 1889, without any further communication with Lobengula, the Company's Charter was granted. This change was notified to Lobengula in the following letter from the Queen, and the document was a very important one:—

   3. Menelik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia, to James Rennell Rodd, The Emperor Menelek to Mr. Rodd (1897)p. 425

      The Emperor Menelek to Mr. Rodd. (Translation.) From Menelek II, by the grace of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah. May this reach James Rennell Rodd. Peace be unto you. With reference to the Treaty which we have written in the Amharic and English languages at Adis Abbaba, as I have no interpreter with me who understands the English language well enough to compare the English and Amharic versions, if by any possibility in the future there should ever be found any misunderstanding between the Amharic and English versions in any of the Articles of this Treaty, let this translation, which is written in the French language, and which I enclose in this letter, be the witness between us, and if you accept this proposal, send me word of your acceptance by letter. Dated 7th Genbot, 1899 (14th May, 1897). (Seal of His Majesty the Emperor Menelek II.)

   4. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)pp. 54 to 55

      Under-Chief Daniel Kariko states on oath : — Our people were compelled to work on farms, and the farmers had them chained up by the police and flogged without mercy for the slightest little thing. . . . Then the wite of Barmenias Zerua (the daughter-in-law of Chief Zacharias Zerua of Otjimbingwe) was cruelly murdered in cold blood near Omaruru by a German named Dietrich. She was shot by him 14 days after her baby was born because she refused to be false to Herero law and to her own husband. ‘This broke our hearts, because the family of Zerua is a great old Herero family from which many big chiefs had come in past years, and nearly all the reigning chiefs in 1903 were related to the Zerua family. We were more than astonished too when the German murderer was declared not guilty and liberated.. This decided us for war. Later on we heard that the. murderer had been re-arrested and on a new trial given three years. Three years for a chief’s daughter’s life when we ourselves would have sentenced a Herero murderer to death. We could see then that there was no justice for us and no protection. Dietrich was released from gaol after a short time and made an Under-Officer of the German troops who shot down our men, women, and children in the rebellion.

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe concession Lobengula signed was read to him as containing his words and gave away more than he had granted.

   Rests on documents from: Queen Victoria in Council; Parliament of the United Kingdom.

   The king's two letters say so, and the Crown's editor records that a concession was granted on 30 October 1888 and that the Company was chartered to use it 'so far as they are valid'. The letters and the footnote are both British records of the exchange, so under Rule A the verdict is capped at qualified: the papers show a king who denied the paper and a Crown that reserved the question of validity, and the concession itself is not held.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Henry Labouchere in the House of Commons, reading Lobengula's letters of 1889 and Lord Knutsford's replies, Motion for Adjournment (Matabeleland), 9 November 1893p. 546Exhibit 4

      HC Deb 09 November 1893 vol 18 cc543-627 British dominions. On October 15, 1889, Lord Knutsford, on a Petition signed by the two Dukes, Mr. Rhodes, Lord Gifford, and others, granted the Charter, by which the Company were empowered to use and retain the full benefit of concessions so far as they were valid, and to acquire, by concession or agreement, rights and jurisdictions for the purpose of government in the lands referred to, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. He must now explain how this concession was obtained from Lobengula, for it appeared that he had always absolutely denied that he ever granted it on the terms which appeared on the face of the instrument. When Lobengula was told that he had granted a concession of this nature he sent two Indunas to the Cape, with orders (as could be seen on reference to the Blue Book) to discover, first, whether such a place as England existed; and next, whether, if they discovered that such a place did exist, there was such a person as the Queen of England; and if there was such a place and such a Monarch, they were to lay before her the following letter and to ask her advice on the subject:— "To Her Majesty Queen Victoria, from Lobengula. "Some time ago a party of white men came into my country, the principal one appearing to be a man named Rudd. They asked me for a place where they could dig for gold, and said they would give me certain things for the right to do so. I told them to bring it to me, and I would see what I would do. A document was read and presented to me for signature. I asked what it contained, and was told that in it were my words and the words of those men. I put my hand to it. About three months after I heard from other sources I had given the right to all the minerals in my country. I called a meeting of my Indunas and of the white men, and demanded a copy of the document. It was proved to me that I had signed away the right to minerals of the whole country to Rudd and his friends. I have since had a meeting of my Indunas, and they will not recognise the paper, as it contains neither my words nor the words of those who got it from me."

   2. Henry Labouchere in the House of Commons, reading Lobengula's letters of 1889 and Lord Knutsford's replies, Motion for Adjournment (Matabeleland), 9 November 1893p. 547

      The advice was practically to be very careful about giving concessions, and under no circumstances to give an exclusive concession. The Indunas returned to Matabeleland with this letter from the Queen. On August 10 Lobengula writes— The white people are troubling me very much about gold. If the Queen hears that I have given away the whole country it is not so. I have no one in my country who knows how to write. I do not understand where the dispute is, because I have no knowledge of writing. I thank the Queen for the word which my messengers gave me by mouth, that the Queen says I am not to let anyone dig for gold in my country except to dig for me as my servants. That was how Lobengula understood the letter of the Queen. In October, 1889, without any further communication with Lobengula, the Company's Charter was granted. This change was notified to Lobengula in the following letter from the Queen, and the document was a very important one:—

   3. Queen Victoria in Council (the Charter); Sir E. Hertslet (the footnote), Charter of Incorporation of the British South Africa... (1889)p. 174

      t On the llth Febrnarj, 1888, an Agreement was entered into by Lobengnla, Ruler of the tribe known as the Amandebele, together with the Mashona and Makakalalca, tributaries of the same, by which he agreed, on behalf of himself and people, that he would refrain from entering into a.ny correspondence or Treaty with any foreign State or Power to sell, alienate, or cede, or permit or coiaitenance any sale, alienation, or cession of the whole or any part of the said Amandebele country under liis chieftainship, or upon_any other subject, without the previous knowledge and sanction of Her Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa (S.P., vol. Ixxix, p. 868) ; and on the 30th October, 1888, a Concession was granted by Lobengu'a, King of Matabeleland, to the representatives of the British South Africa Company.

2. QualifiedThe German protection Maharero accepted in 1890 would cost him his land and his right of government.

   Rests on documents from: Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe; Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein of the Witbooi Nama; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   Witbooi wrote it in May 1890 and repeated in June 1891 that the Germans said they protected the chiefs against other nations but seemed to be the man who wanted the land; fourteen years later the German commander's order told the Herero to leave the country, and a Herero under-chief swore that their people had been compelled to work on farms and flogged. The order is the German army's own record, the affidavit is a British one, the letters the chief's own: three producers agree, but the order and the affidavit describe 1904, not the terms of 1890, so the prediction is borne out by what followed rather than tested against the protection treaty itself, which is not held: qualified.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein of the Witbooi Nama, Hornkrans, Die Dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein van die... (1890)p. 79Exhibit 3

      te worden, van de Duitsche regering, maar lieve kapitein ! weet gy wat gy gedaan hebt, en voor wien gy gedaan heb, dat, wat gy gedaan hebt, of hebben anderer menschen U ingeraden, of hebt U zelven uit Uw eigen zelfstandige verlichte verstand gedaan? miesschien hebt U alleen my zien voor staan, in Uw hart, en voor Uw heel leven, als een hinderpaal, en als een steen des aanstoots, zoo hebt U deze magtige ander regering aangenomen, om my met deze magtige man te verniedigen dat is miesschien al Uwe oogmerk, waarom TU zoo gemaak hebt, maar het is zeer zwaar, om te zeggen, en te weten, dat het U zeker zal gelukken, of niet, maar het lyk my, U hebt niet genoegzaam op Uwe kanft] gezien, voor Uw land en volk, en ook Uwe nakomelingen, en ook niet voor Uwe kapiteinschapsreg,”) en U denk, dat U alle deze dingen van U als zelfstandige kapitein zal behouden, nadat U my zal verniedig hebben als het U geluk, zoo als U meent maar lieve kapitein ! het zal U toch eindelyk zwaarlyk berouwen, en gy zult eeuwig berouw hebben, dat U Uwe land en regeringsreg in de handen der witte menschen afgegeven hebben, want onze oorlog, wat wy hebben, die is niet zoo erg, en zwaar, zoo als U

      Void translation, not a published quotationby the German government; but dear captain! do you know what you have done, and for whom you have done it, what you have done, or have other people advised you, or have you done it yourself out of your own independent enlightened understanding? Perhaps you have seen only me standing before you, in your heart and for your whole life, as a hindrance and as a stumbling-block, and so you have accepted this mighty other government, to destroy me with this mighty man; that is perhaps your whole aim, why you have acted so; but it is very hard to say and to know whether it will surely succeed for you or not; but it seems to me you have not looked enough on your own side, for your land and people, and also your descendants, and also not for your right of captaincy, and you think that you will keep all these things as an independent captain after you will have destroyed me, if you succeed, as you suppose; but dear captain! it will in the end weigh heavily on you with regret, and you will have everlasting regret, that you have given your land and your right of government into the hands of the white people, for our war, the one we have, is not so bad and heavy as you

   2. Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein of the Witbooi Nama, Hornkrans, Die Dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi, kaptein van die... (1890)p. 105

      op deze grond van ons rooi menschen, en ik kan niet verstaan, wat de eigenlyke voornemens is van de Duitschters hy zeg tot de hoofden van deze land, dat zy met hem vriendschap maken, omdat de andere sterke naties hunne grond zal vatten, maar het lyk nu, dat hy die man is wat de land wil vatten, ik heb

      Void translation, not a published quotationon this ground of ours, of the red people, and I cannot understand what the real intentions of the Germans are; he says to the chiefs of this land that they should make friendship with him, because the other strong nations will seize their ground; but it looks now as if he is the man who wants to seize the land; I have

   3. Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe, Lothar von Trothas Vernichtungsbefehl (2. Oktober 1904)whole documentExhibit 6

      Ich der große General der Deutschen Soldaten sende diesen Brief an das Volk der Herero. Die Herero sind nicht mehr Deutsche Untertanen. Sie haben gemordet und gestohlen, haben verwundeten Soldaten Ohren und Nasen und andere Körperteile abgeschnitten und wollen jetzt aus Feigheit nicht mehr kämpfen. Ich sage dem Volk: Jeder der einen der Kapitäne an eine meiner Stationen als Gefangenen abliefert, erhält tausend Mark, wer Samuel Maherero bringt, erhält fünftausend Mark. Das Volk der Herero muß jedoch das Land verlassen. Wenn das Volk dies nicht tut, so werde ich es mit dem Groot Rohr [kapholländisch, Geschütz, Kanone] dazu zwingen. Innerhalb der Deutschen Grenze wird jeder Herero mit oder ohne Gewehr, mit oder ohne Vieh erschossen, ich nehme keine Weiber und keine Kinder mehr auf, treibe sie zu ihrem Volke zurück oder lasse auch auf sie schießen. Dies sind meine Worte an das Volk der Herero. Der große General des mächtigen Deutschen Kaisers. Dieser Erlaß ist bei den Appells den Truppen mitzuteilen mit dem Hinzufügen, daß auch der Truppe, die einen der Kapitäne fängt, die entsprechende Belohnung zu teil wird, und daß das Schießen auf Weiber und Kinder so zu verstehen ist, daß über sie hinweggeschossen wird, um sie zum Laufen zu zwingen. Ich nehme mit Bestimmtheit an, daß dieser Erlaß dazu führen wird, keine männliche Gefangene mehr zu machen, aber nicht zu Grausamkeiten gegen Weiber und Kinder ausartet. Diese werden schon fortlaufen, wenn zweimal über sie hinweggeschossen wird. Die Truppe wird sich des guten Rufes der Deutschen Soldaten bewußt bleiben. Der Kommandeur. gez. v. Trotha Generalleutnant.

   4. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)pp. 54 to 55

      Under-Chief Daniel Kariko states on oath : — Our people were compelled to work on farms, and the farmers had them chained up by the police and flogged without mercy for the slightest little thing. . . . Then the wite of Barmenias Zerua (the daughter-in-law of Chief Zacharias Zerua of Otjimbingwe) was cruelly murdered in cold blood near Omaruru by a German named Dietrich. She was shot by him 14 days after her baby was born because she refused to be false to Herero law and to her own husband. ‘This broke our hearts, because the family of Zerua is a great old Herero family from which many big chiefs had come in past years, and nearly all the reigning chiefs in 1903 were related to the Zerua family. We were more than astonished too when the German murderer was declared not guilty and liberated.. This decided us for war. Later on we heard that the. murderer had been re-arrested and on a new trial given three years. Three years for a chief’s daughter’s life when we ourselves would have sentenced a Herero murderer to death. We could see then that there was no justice for us and no protection. Dietrich was released from gaol after a short time and made an Under-Officer of the German troops who shot down our men, women, and children in the rebellion.

Tested against the primary record

1. SupportedThe rubber system took women as hostages and was enforced by armed sentries who killed.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma; Parliament of the United Kingdom.

   The Free State's own commission found that when the prestations were not forthcoming the chiefs were arrested and 'often the women were held as hostages', that the State had forbidden the practice and been unable to suppress it, and that the sentries detailed to villages were 'by far the worst sort'; the consul saw two mutilated people at Lake Mantumba and was told of many more; the Commons resolved that the guarantees had been given. Three producers, one of them the perpetrator state.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 67

      but little to seek out the real culprit. The prestations were due from the village as a whole; when they were not forthcoming the chiefs were arrested and some of the inhabitants taken at random, often the women were held as hostages. This system had for its purpose the moral compulsion upon the delinquents to stimulate their efforts in order to liberate their chief or their wives. This proved efficacious and, perhaps, as we were often told, did not appear in the eyes of the natives, imbued with the idea of solidarity, so reprehensible as it would to us. But whatever one may think of the ideas of the natives, any procedure, such as the detention of the women as hostages, outrages our notion of justice too violently to be tolerated. The State has, for a long time, forbidden this practice, but has been unable to suppress it. Likewise the arrest of the chiefs, who are not always personally to blame, has the effect of diminishing their authority or even

   2. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 70

      2. The Sentries One means by sentries ( sentili , native word, taken from the English) the black overseers, armed with a muzzle-loading gun, who have the official duty of directing the work of the natives in the forest and of preventing the devastation of the same by the cutting of the rubber vines, but whose labours for the greater part of their time, are limited to calling to the minds of the natives their obligations, seeing to it that they go to the forest and accompany the gatherers when they come to the post. Two kinds of sentries can be distinguished. Amongst the overseers, some, who belong to the personnel of the post and who are nearly always strangers to the region, patrol the villages at the time when the natives should be at work, and report to the whites those who instead of being at work are staying at home. Very often, in order to exercise a more complete control, they are detailed to a special village where they permanently establish themselves. These are the sentilis , strictly speaking. They are by far the worst sort. In their quality as strangers, they are not interested in the blacks with whom they deal.

   3. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 34

      had undoubtedly had an " awful past" at the hands of some of the officials who had preceded him in the local administration, and that it would take -time for confidence to be restored. Men, he said, still came to him whose hands had been cut off by the Government soldiers during those evil days, and he said there were still many victims of this species of mutilation in the surrounding country. Two cases of the kind came to my actual notice while I was in the lake. One, a young man, both of whoso hands had' been beaten off with the butt ends of rifles against a tree, the other a young lad of 11 or 12 years of age, whose right hand was cut off at the wrist. Tins boy described the circumstances of his mutilation, and, in answer to my inquiry, said that although wounded at the time he was perfectly sensible of the severing of his wrist, but lay still fearing that if he moved he would be killed! In both these cases tM Government soldiers had been accompanied by white officers whose names were, given to'me. 'Of sis natives (one a girl, three little boys, one youth, and one old woman) who. had been mutilated in this way during the rubber regime, all except one were dead at the date of my visit. The old woman had died at the beginning of this year, and her .niece described to mo how the act of mutilation in her case. ha{l been accomplished. The day I left Lake Man turn ba five men whose hands had been cut oft came 'to the village of T * across the lake to see me, but hearing that I had already gone away thev returned to their homes. A messenger came in to tell me, and I sent to T * to find them, but they had then dispersed. Three of them subsequently returned, but too late for me to see them. These were some of those, I presume, to whom the official had referred, for they, came from the country in the vicinity ot P * station. Statements of this character, made both by the two mutilated persons 1

   4. Herbert Samuel, Sir John Gorst and the House of Commons, Congo Free State (1903)p. 1332

      Motion amended— By leaving out the words 'and both these guarantees having been constantly violated.' Resolved, "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, this House requests His Majesty's Government to confer with the other Powers, signatories of 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."

2. QualifiedWhole districts were emptied by the system.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma.

   The consul counted Bolobo down from fully 40,000 to 7,000 or 8,000 and the south shore of Stanley Pool from fully 5,000 Bateke to fewer than 100 at Leopoldville; the commission agreed that a large part of the river population had disappeared and that some fled the impositions to the French bank. But the consul himself gave sleeping sickness a prominent place among the causes, and the commission put smallpox and sleeping sickness above every other cause. Two producers on opposite sides agree on the emptying and disagree on the cause: qualified.

   The 5 extracts it rests on

   1. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 22

      my journey into the interior was the great reduction observable everywhere in native life. Communities I had formerly known as large and flourishing centres of population are to-day entirely gone, or now exist in such diminished numbers as to he no longer recognizable. The southern shores of Stanley Pool had formerly a population of fully 5,000 Batekes, distributed through the three towns of Ngaliema's ( Leopold ville), Kinchasa, and ISTdolo, lying within a few miles of each other. These people, some twelve years ago, decided to abandon their homes, and in one night the great majority of them crossed over into the French territory on the north shores of Stanley Pool. Where formerly had stretched these populous native African villages, I saw to-day only a few scattered European houses, belonging either to Government officials or local traders. In Leopoldville to-day there are not, I should estimate, 100 of the original natives or their descendants now residing. At Kinchasa a few more more may he found dwelling around one of the European trading dep6ts, while at Ndolo none remain, and there is nothing there but a station of the Congo Kailway Company and a Government post. These Bateke people were not, perhaps, particularly desirable subjects for an energetic Administration, which desired, above all things, progress and speedy results. They were themselves interlopers from the northern shores of the Congo River, and derived a very profitable existence as trading middlemen, exploiting the less sophisticated population among whom they had established themselves. Their loss to the southern

   2. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 27

      a, somewhat similar state of affairs prevails to that existing at F *. Bolobo used to be one of the most important native Settlements along the south bank of the Upper Congo, and the population in the early days of civilized rule numbered fully 40,000 people, chiefly of the Bohangi tribe. To-day the population is believed to be not more than 7,000 or 8,000 souls. The Bolobo men were famous in former days for their

   3. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 21

      noticed many improvements, both in the permanent way and in the general management, since the date of my last visit to Stanley Pool in January 1901. The cataract region, through which the railway passes, is a generally unproductive and even sterile tract of some 220 miles in breadth. This region is, I believe, the home, or birthplace, of the sleeping sickness — a terrible disease, which is, all too rapidly, eating its way into the heart of Africa, and bas even traversed the entire continent to well-nigh the shores of the Indian Ocean. The population of the Lower Congo has been gradually reduced by the unchecked ravages of this, as yet, undiagnosed and incurable disease, and as one cause of the seemingly wholesale diminution of human life which I everywhere observed in the regions revisited, a prominent place must be assigned to this malady. The natives certainly attribute their alarming death-rate to this as one of the inducing causes, although they attribute, and I think principally, their rapid decrease in numbers to other causes as well. Perhaps the most striking change observed during

   4. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 115

      DEPOPULATION SEVERAL missionaries heard by the Commission reported the depopulation which they had verified in certain regions with which they were particularly familiar. It is evident that the Commission was not able itself to form a definite opinion regarding this statement. However, if the word of Stanley is accepted, it is certain that a large part of the population has disappeared, for going from Stanley Pool to New Antwerp and even further up, the banks of the river are almost deserted. It is easily realised that it was the river population which, being first reached by the requirements of the whites, had sought to avoid these prestations and fled to the French bank or to those parts of the territory where they thought the impost could not reach them. Sometimes the population was drained by the frequent enrollment of soldiers or of workmen ; such has been the fate of the villages immediately below New Antwerp. Their inhabitants have been scattered rather than destroyed. It is known how the Bangalas, who at the time of occupation formed a large part of the native portion of the constabulary and made up the entire crew of the marine, were

   5. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 117

      All of these causes of depopulation are secondary in importance. The effect of all these factors united fades away in comparison with the ravages committed during the past few years by smallpox and the sleeping sickness. Great smallpox epidemics have decimated the population of certain districts, especially the eastern part of Lake Leopold. These epidemics have been made still more fatal by the habit which the natives have of abandoning in the forest those who are attacked by the disease. The patient left, most of the time, without care and nourishment, soon dies. The sleeping sickness, this terrible scourge, for which science has as yet found no remedy, has followed in its devastating march the banks of the great river and is now penetrating the interior.

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe causes of depopulation other than disease are secondary in importance.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma.

   The commission wrote it, and the consul gave the disease a prominent place too; but the consul also recorded that the people themselves attributed their decrease principally to other causes, and that the Bateke of Stanley Pool crossed to the French shore in one night, while the commission's own chapter says the river people fled the impositions. Two producers, and they divide on the weight of the causes: qualified.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 117

      All of these causes of depopulation are secondary in importance. The effect of all these factors united fades away in comparison with the ravages committed during the past few years by smallpox and the sleeping sickness. Great smallpox epidemics have decimated the population of certain districts, especially the eastern part of Lake Leopold. These epidemics have been made still more fatal by the habit which the natives have of abandoning in the forest those who are attacked by the disease. The patient left, most of the time, without care and nourishment, soon dies. The sleeping sickness, this terrible scourge, for which science has as yet found no remedy, has followed in its devastating march the banks of the great river and is now penetrating the interior.

   2. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 21

      noticed many improvements, both in the permanent way and in the general management, since the date of my last visit to Stanley Pool in January 1901. The cataract region, through which the railway passes, is a generally unproductive and even sterile tract of some 220 miles in breadth. This region is, I believe, the home, or birthplace, of the sleeping sickness — a terrible disease, which is, all too rapidly, eating its way into the heart of Africa, and bas even traversed the entire continent to well-nigh the shores of the Indian Ocean. The population of the Lower Congo has been gradually reduced by the unchecked ravages of this, as yet, undiagnosed and incurable disease, and as one cause of the seemingly wholesale diminution of human life which I everywhere observed in the regions revisited, a prominent place must be assigned to this malady. The natives certainly attribute their alarming death-rate to this as one of the inducing causes, although they attribute, and I think principally, their rapid decrease in numbers to other causes as well. Perhaps the most striking change observed during

   3. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 22

      my journey into the interior was the great reduction observable everywhere in native life. Communities I had formerly known as large and flourishing centres of population are to-day entirely gone, or now exist in such diminished numbers as to he no longer recognizable. The southern shores of Stanley Pool had formerly a population of fully 5,000 Batekes, distributed through the three towns of Ngaliema's ( Leopold ville), Kinchasa, and ISTdolo, lying within a few miles of each other. These people, some twelve years ago, decided to abandon their homes, and in one night the great majority of them crossed over into the French territory on the north shores of Stanley Pool. Where formerly had stretched these populous native African villages, I saw to-day only a few scattered European houses, belonging either to Government officials or local traders. In Leopoldville to-day there are not, I should estimate, 100 of the original natives or their descendants now residing. At Kinchasa a few more more may he found dwelling around one of the European trading dep6ts, while at Ndolo none remain, and there is nothing there but a station of the Congo Kailway Company and a Government post. These Bateke people were not, perhaps, particularly desirable subjects for an energetic Administration, which desired, above all things, progress and speedy results. They were themselves interlopers from the northern shores of the Congo River, and derived a very profitable existence as trading middlemen, exploiting the less sophisticated population among whom they had established themselves. Their loss to the southern

   4. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 115

      DEPOPULATION SEVERAL missionaries heard by the Commission reported the depopulation which they had verified in certain regions with which they were particularly familiar. It is evident that the Commission was not able itself to form a definite opinion regarding this statement. However, if the word of Stanley is accepted, it is certain that a large part of the population has disappeared, for going from Stanley Pool to New Antwerp and even further up, the banks of the river are almost deserted. It is easily realised that it was the river population which, being first reached by the requirements of the whites, had sought to avoid these prestations and fled to the French bank or to those parts of the territory where they thought the impost could not reach them. Sometimes the population was drained by the frequent enrollment of soldiers or of workmen ; such has been the fate of the villages immediately below New Antwerp. Their inhabitants have been scattered rather than destroyed. It is known how the Bangalas, who at the time of occupation formed a large part of the native portion of the constabulary and made up the entire crew of the marine, were

2. QualifiedThe State had long forbidden the taking of women as hostages.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; E. D. Morel.

   The commission says so and says in the same sentence that the State had been unable to suppress it; Morel's summary of the missionary Sjoblom describes sentries bringing hands to the Commissioner in 1897. The prohibition is stated by the State alone, so under Rule A the verdict cannot rise above qualified, and the same document records the practice continuing.

   The 2 extracts it rests on

   1. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 67

      but little to seek out the real culprit. The prestations were due from the village as a whole; when they were not forthcoming the chiefs were arrested and some of the inhabitants taken at random, often the women were held as hostages. This system had for its purpose the moral compulsion upon the delinquents to stimulate their efforts in order to liberate their chief or their wives. This proved efficacious and, perhaps, as we were often told, did not appear in the eyes of the natives, imbued with the idea of solidarity, so reprehensible as it would to us. But whatever one may think of the ideas of the natives, any procedure, such as the detention of the women as hostages, outrages our notion of justice too violently to be tolerated. The State has, for a long time, forbidden this practice, but has been unable to suppress it. Likewise the arrest of the chiefs, who are not always personally to blame, has the effect of diminishing their authority or even

   2. E. D. Morel, Red Rubber (1906)pp. 46 to 47

      sunset. The people had never seen a white man and had returned from their hunt for rubber. As he was speaking to them, a soldier rushed in among the crowd, and seized an old man guilty of having been fishing in the river instead of gathering rubber ; shoots him before Sjoblom’s eyes. Right hand cut off. People flee out of the town. “All except the old chiefs are forced to go away and work rubber.” The sentries are “ from the wildest tribes.” “ When they get to this work they are many times worse. They are really small kings in the towns and often kill the people for the sake of the rubber. If the rubber does not reach the full amount required the sentries attack the natives. They kill some and bring the hands to the Commissioner. Others are brought to the Commissioner as prisoners. Hundreds are constantly taken down in large steamers.” . “ From this village I went on to another where I met a soldier who pointed to a basket, and said to me, ‘ Look, I have only two hands.’ He meant there were not enough to make up for the rubber he had not brought.’ He had several prisoners tied to trees. When I came back, some of the villages were in an uproar. . . . When I reached the river I turned and saw that the people had large hammocks in which they were gathering the rubber to be taken to the Commissioner. I also saw smoked hands, and the prisoners waiting to be taken to the Commissioner. This is only one of the places in which these practices occur. There is a small island in a stream at Lake Mantumba.' The people had

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedThe maximalist estimate of roughly fifty per cent, or ten million, rests on data the agnostics call shaky, and no firm estimate is possible.

   Rests on documents from: Congo Free State Government; Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   The two contemporary counts this record holds are local: Bolobo, from fully 40,000 to 7,000 or 8,000, and the south shore of Stanley Pool, from fully 5,000 to under 100 at Leopoldville; the commission counted nothing and said the banks were almost deserted. Nothing in the primary record holds a figure for the whole territory, so the position's statement that no firm count exists is borne out by the absence of one, which under Rule B cannot be more than qualified; the local counts show the direction, not the total. Two producers.

   The 4 extracts it rests on

   1. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 27

      a, somewhat similar state of affairs prevails to that existing at F *. Bolobo used to be one of the most important native Settlements along the south bank of the Upper Congo, and the population in the early days of civilized rule numbered fully 40,000 people, chiefly of the Bohangi tribe. To-day the population is believed to be not more than 7,000 or 8,000 souls. The Bolobo men were famous in former days for their

   2. Roger Casement, His Majesty's Consul at Boma, Correspondence and Report from His Majesty's Consul at... (1904)p. 22

      my journey into the interior was the great reduction observable everywhere in native life. Communities I had formerly known as large and flourishing centres of population are to-day entirely gone, or now exist in such diminished numbers as to he no longer recognizable. The southern shores of Stanley Pool had formerly a population of fully 5,000 Batekes, distributed through the three towns of Ngaliema's ( Leopold ville), Kinchasa, and ISTdolo, lying within a few miles of each other. These people, some twelve years ago, decided to abandon their homes, and in one night the great majority of them crossed over into the French territory on the north shores of Stanley Pool. Where formerly had stretched these populous native African villages, I saw to-day only a few scattered European houses, belonging either to Government officials or local traders. In Leopoldville to-day there are not, I should estimate, 100 of the original natives or their descendants now residing. At Kinchasa a few more more may he found dwelling around one of the European trading dep6ts, while at Ndolo none remain, and there is nothing there but a station of the Congo Kailway Company and a Government post. These Bateke people were not, perhaps, particularly desirable subjects for an energetic Administration, which desired, above all things, progress and speedy results. They were themselves interlopers from the northern shores of the Congo River, and derived a very profitable existence as trading middlemen, exploiting the less sophisticated population among whom they had established themselves. Their loss to the southern

   3. The Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Congo Free State Government (Janssens, Nisco, de Schumacher), The Congo (1906)p. 115

      DEPOPULATION SEVERAL missionaries heard by the Commission reported the depopulation which they had verified in certain regions with which they were particularly familiar. It is evident that the Commission was not able itself to form a definite opinion regarding this statement. However, if the word of Stanley is accepted, it is certain that a large part of the population has disappeared, for going from Stanley Pool to New Antwerp and even further up, the banks of the river are almost deserted. It is easily realised that it was the river population which, being first reached by the requirements of the whites, had sought to avoid these prestations and fled to the French bank or to those parts of the territory where they thought the impost could not reach them. Sometimes the population was drained by the frequent enrollment of soldiers or of workmen ; such has been the fate of the villages immediately below New Antwerp. Their inhabitants have been scattered rather than destroyed. It is known how the Bangalas, who at the time of occupation formed a large part of the native portion of the constabulary and made up the entire crew of the marine, were

   4. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)p. 67

      Out of between 80,000 and 90,000 souls only about 15,000 starving and fugitive Hereros were alive at the end of 1905, when von Trotha relinquished his task. What happened to the survivors will be told in the concluding parts of this report.

Tested against the primary record

1. SupportedThe order of 2 October 1904 declared that every Herero within the German frontier, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, would be shot, and that no women or children would be taken in.

   Rests on documents from: Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe; Scholarship; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   The German army's own copy of the order says it; the British administration's report and Gewald's translation of von Estorff describe the campaign that followed. The perpetrator's record and its enemy's record agree: supported, two producers.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe, Lothar von Trothas Vernichtungsbefehl (2. Oktober 1904)whole documentExhibit 6

      Ich der große General der Deutschen Soldaten sende diesen Brief an das Volk der Herero. Die Herero sind nicht mehr Deutsche Untertanen. Sie haben gemordet und gestohlen, haben verwundeten Soldaten Ohren und Nasen und andere Körperteile abgeschnitten und wollen jetzt aus Feigheit nicht mehr kämpfen. Ich sage dem Volk: Jeder der einen der Kapitäne an eine meiner Stationen als Gefangenen abliefert, erhält tausend Mark, wer Samuel Maherero bringt, erhält fünftausend Mark. Das Volk der Herero muß jedoch das Land verlassen. Wenn das Volk dies nicht tut, so werde ich es mit dem Groot Rohr [kapholländisch, Geschütz, Kanone] dazu zwingen. Innerhalb der Deutschen Grenze wird jeder Herero mit oder ohne Gewehr, mit oder ohne Vieh erschossen, ich nehme keine Weiber und keine Kinder mehr auf, treibe sie zu ihrem Volke zurück oder lasse auch auf sie schießen. Dies sind meine Worte an das Volk der Herero. Der große General des mächtigen Deutschen Kaisers. Dieser Erlaß ist bei den Appells den Truppen mitzuteilen mit dem Hinzufügen, daß auch der Truppe, die einen der Kapitäne fängt, die entsprechende Belohnung zu teil wird, und daß das Schießen auf Weiber und Kinder so zu verstehen ist, daß über sie hinweggeschossen wird, um sie zum Laufen zu zwingen. Ich nehme mit Bestimmtheit an, daß dieser Erlaß dazu führen wird, keine männliche Gefangene mehr zu machen, aber nicht zu Grausamkeiten gegen Weiber und Kinder ausartet. Diese werden schon fortlaufen, wenn zweimal über sie hinweggeschossen wird. Die Truppe wird sich des guten Rufes der Deutschen Soldaten bewußt bleiben. Der Kommandeur. gez. v. Trotha Generalleutnant.

   2. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)p. 59

      too lenient, was superseded by von Trotha. This new commander was noted in Berlin for his merciless severity in dealing with natives. In the Chinese Boxer rebellion he had e¢arried out his Imperial master’s instructions to the letter; and no more worthy son of Attila could have been selected for the work in hand. He had just suppressed the Arab rebellion in German Hast Africa by bathing that country in the blood of thousands and thousands of its inhabitants, men, women and children; and his butchery there ended, he was ordered by Wilhelm II. to proceed to German South-West Africa and deal with the rebel natives. Von Trotha was indifferent as to the means by which his objects should be attained... Treachery and breaches. of faith were to him admissible. No doubt the reason and excuse advanced was as usual the inferior kultur-position of the natives. Shortly after he took command the Hereros were given to understand that reasonable terms of peace might be granted if their leaders came in and treated.. The subtle German . felt that it would be easier to dispose of the masses, once their best leaders were gone. In the meantime von Trotha was drawing his cordon of troops into position and preparing for the final massacre. Let us read in the words of two Herero eyewitnesses the manner in which von Trotha initiated his campaign. Gottlob Kamatoto (who was a servant to one of the officers in the field) states on oath :— I accompanied the troops to Ombakaha above Gobabis and near Epikiro intheSandveld. Ata farm called Otjihaenena the Germans sent out messages to the Hereros that the war was now over and they were to come in and make peace. As a result of this message seven Herero leaders came into the German camp to discuss peace terms. As soon as they came in they were asked where Samuel Maherero the chief was. They said he had gone towards the desert on his way to British Bechuanaland. That evening at sunset,the seven peace envoys were caught and tied with ropes. They were led aside and shot. Before being shot they protested bitterly; but seeing that they were doomed they accepted their fate. Relating another instance, the well-known story of German treachery at Ombakaha, Gerard Kamaheke (at present Herero headman at Windhuk and a

   3. Jan-Bart Gewald, Imperial Germany and the Herero of Southern Africa (2004)pp. 62 to 63

      ally feil into our hands [unsere Gewalt kamen]; sections of the people escaped now and later through the Sandveld into English territory [present-day Botswana]. It was a policy as gruesome as it was senseless, to hammer the people so much; we could have still saved many of them and their rieh herds, if we had pardoned and taken them up again; they had been punished enough. I suggested this to General von Trotha, but hè wanted their total extermination. (von Estorff, 1979: 117; author's translation) In early 1905, the German parliament rescinded von Trotha's extermination order, after which time captured Herero were placed into concentration camps (Konzentrationslager) and put to work as forced laborers. By late 1905, an estimated 8,800 Herero were conflned in camps, working on

2. QualifiedHerero leaders who came in to make peace were shot.

   Rests on documents from: Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa). One producer, so the verdict is capped at qualified.

   Two Herero witnesses swore it before the British administration in 1917 and 1918, thirteen years after the event, and the report that prints them was compiled by Germany's enemy in wartime; no German record of Ombakaha is held. One producer's record of two witnesses: qualified.

   The 2 extracts it rests on

   1. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)p. 59

      too lenient, was superseded by von Trotha. This new commander was noted in Berlin for his merciless severity in dealing with natives. In the Chinese Boxer rebellion he had e¢arried out his Imperial master’s instructions to the letter; and no more worthy son of Attila could have been selected for the work in hand. He had just suppressed the Arab rebellion in German Hast Africa by bathing that country in the blood of thousands and thousands of its inhabitants, men, women and children; and his butchery there ended, he was ordered by Wilhelm II. to proceed to German South-West Africa and deal with the rebel natives. Von Trotha was indifferent as to the means by which his objects should be attained... Treachery and breaches. of faith were to him admissible. No doubt the reason and excuse advanced was as usual the inferior kultur-position of the natives. Shortly after he took command the Hereros were given to understand that reasonable terms of peace might be granted if their leaders came in and treated.. The subtle German . felt that it would be easier to dispose of the masses, once their best leaders were gone. In the meantime von Trotha was drawing his cordon of troops into position and preparing for the final massacre. Let us read in the words of two Herero eyewitnesses the manner in which von Trotha initiated his campaign. Gottlob Kamatoto (who was a servant to one of the officers in the field) states on oath :— I accompanied the troops to Ombakaha above Gobabis and near Epikiro intheSandveld. Ata farm called Otjihaenena the Germans sent out messages to the Hereros that the war was now over and they were to come in and make peace. As a result of this message seven Herero leaders came into the German camp to discuss peace terms. As soon as they came in they were asked where Samuel Maherero the chief was. They said he had gone towards the desert on his way to British Bechuanaland. That evening at sunset,the seven peace envoys were caught and tied with ropes. They were led aside and shot. Before being shot they protested bitterly; but seeing that they were doomed they accepted their fate. Relating another instance, the well-known story of German treachery at Ombakaha, Gerard Kamaheke (at present Herero headman at Windhuk and a

   2. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)pp. 59 to 60

      The chiefs Saul, Joel and I with a number of our followers were camped in the veld at Ombuyonungondo, about 30 kilos. from Ombakaha. This was in September. A messenger, a German soldier, came to our camp on horseback. He said he had come from the German commander at Ombakaha, who had sent him to tell us to come to Ombakaha and make peace. Joel then sent the schoolmaster Traugott Tjongarero personally to Ombakaha to confirm the truth of the soldier’s message and to inquire if peace were intended whether the Herero leaders would be given safe conduct and protection if they went into Ombakaha. Traugott came back a few days later and said he had seen the German commander, who had confirmed the message brought by the soldier. Traugott said that the German commander had invited us all to come in and make peace; that our lives would all be spared; that we would be allowed to retain our cattle and other possessions ; and that we would be allowed to go to Okahandja to live. I fell in with the wishes of the majority and we left for Ombakaha in the evening, and arrived — at the German camp at noon the next day. With me were the chiefs Saul and Joel, and the under-chiefs Traugott, Elephas, Albanus, Johannes Munqunda, Elephas Mumpurua and two others whose names I now forget. We had with us 70 Herero soldiers. The wives and children we had left at ourcamp. On arrival at Ombakaha the 70 men who were under my command were halted near the German camp under some trees, as the sun was hot and we were very tired. gJoel and the other leaders went on to the German commander’s eee about 100 yards away; they left their arms -with us. The Germans then came to me and said we were to hand over our arms. I said, ‘‘ [ cannot do so until I know that Joel and the other leaders who are now in the camp have made peace.” I sat there waiting, when suddenly the Germans opened fire on us. We were nearly surrounded, and my people tried to make their escape. I tried to fight my way through, but was shot in the right shoulder and fell to the ground (I show the wound), and I lay quite still and pretended to be dead. I was covered with blood. The German — soldiers came along bayoneting the wounded; and as I did not move they thought I was dead already and left me. The chiefs Saul-and Joel and all the other headmen were killed. I got up in the night and fled back to our camp, where I found our women and children still safe and also some survivors of my 70men. We then fled away further towards the Sandveld and scattered in all directions.

3. QualifiedNo fewer than 80 per cent of the Herero lost their lives.

   Rests on documents from: Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages; Scholarship; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   Gewald states the share; the Blue Book counted about 15,000 alive at the end of 1905 out of 80,000 to 90,000; the Bundestag's research service reports pre-war estimates from 35,000 to 100,000 and post-war from 14,000 to 25,000, which it says yields loss rates from 29 to 86 per cent. The share is inside every range the record holds and is the top of none but the Blue Book's; three producers, and they do not agree on a number: qualified.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Jan-Bart Gewald, Imperial Germany and the Herero of Southern Africa (2004)pp. 60 to 61

      to impose their vision of'order' on the territory and its inhabitants. The personal involvement of the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, in deciding how the war was to be fought in German South West Africa signalled the highest authorization and endorsement for acts committed in the name of Imperial Germany. In a conscious policy of genocide, German soldiers and settlers sought, shot, beat, hanged, starved, and raped Herero men, women, and children. When the war fmally ended, no fewer than 80 per cent of the Herero had lost their lives. Those who remained in Namibia, primarily women and children, survived in concentration camps as forced laborers employed on state, military, and civilian projects (Gewald, 1999: 141-230).

   2. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)p. 67

      Out of between 80,000 and 90,000 souls only about 15,000 starving and fugitive Hereros were alive at the end of 1905, when von Trotha relinquished his task. What happened to the survivors will be told in the concluding parts of this report.

   3. Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages, Fachbereich XI (Geschichte, Zeitgeschichte und Politik), Die Niederschlagung des Hereroaufstandes 1903-1907 (2004)pp. 19 to 20

      In der Geschichtswissenschaft ist bis heute umstritten, wie hoch die Kriegsverluste der Herero tatsächlich ausfielen. Dies hängt vor allem damit zusammen, dass weder für die Zeit vor dem Krieg noch für die Zeit danach genaue Zahlen über die Größe des Hererovolkes überliefert sind. Aus diesem Grunde sind alle Versuche zur quantitativen Bestimmung der Kriegsopfer mit großer Vorsicht zu genießen. So beruhen die Schätzungen für die Vorkriegszeit auf nicht überprüften und in ihrer Zuverlässigkeit sehr zweifelhaften Angaben von Missionaren; den Nachkriegsangaben werden zumeist Gefangenenzählungen durch die deutsche Militäradministration zugrunde gelegt. Angesichts der mangelhaften Überlieferung der entsprechenden Daten wundert es wenig, dass die Spannweite für die jeweils präsentierten Daten sehr groß ist. So schwanken die Angaben für die gesamte Hererobevölkerung in der Vorkriegszeit zwischen 35.000 und 100.000 Personen, die Nachkriegsbevölkerung wird auf 14.000 bis 25.000 Personen beziffert, was – bei Berücksichtigung der jeweiligen Extremwerte – auf Verlustquoten zwischen 29 und 86 Prozent hinausläuft. Weitere Verunsicherungen über die quantitativen Verhältnisse ergeben sich daraus, dass seit Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts mehrere größere Epidemien unter den Herero mit vielen Opfern gewütet haben, ohne dass mit Sicherheit feststellbar wäre, ob dieser Sachverhalt bei den Angaben zur Gesamtpopulation jeweils Berücksichtigung gefunden hat. Auffallend ist zudem, dass offensichtlich in keine der Berechnungen die natürliche Bevölkerungsentwicklung (Geburts-, Sterbe-, Zu- und Abwanderungsrate) einbezogen worden ist. Es liegt auf der Hand, dass bei

      Void translation, not a published quotationIn historical scholarship it is disputed to this day how high the war losses of the Herero actually turned out. This is above all because no exact figures on the size of the Herero people survive either for the time before the war or for the time after it. For this reason all attempts at a quantitative determination of the war's victims are to be taken with great caution. Thus the estimates for the pre-war period rest on unverified statements by missionaries that are very doubtful in their reliability; the post-war figures are mostly based on counts of prisoners by the German military administration. Given the deficient transmission of the relevant data it is little wonder that the range of the data presented in each case is very great. Thus the figures for the whole Herero population before the war fluctuate between 35,000 and 100,000 persons, the post-war population is put at 14,000 to 25,000 persons, which, taking the respective extreme values into account, amounts to loss rates of between 29 and 86 per cent. Further uncertainties about the quantitative relations arise from the fact that since the end of the 19th century several larger epidemics have raged among the Herero with many victims, without it being possible to establish with certainty whether this state of affairs has been taken into account in the figures for the total population. It is also striking that evidently in none of the calculations has the natural development of the population (birth, death, immigration and emigration rates) been included. It is obvious that with

Tested against the primary record

1. QualifiedBetween October 1904 and March 1907 a total of 7682 prisoners died in the camps.

   Rests on documents from: Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages; Scholarship; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   The German paper states the count, citing Zimmerer; the British report prints the amnesty proclamation of 1 December 1905 that called the survivors in and says thousands then died in the camps; Gewald puts 8,800 Herero in camps by late 1905. The count is one producer's, the German state's, and the other two producers give no figure that tests it: qualified under Rule A.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages, Fachbereich XI (Geschichte, Zeitgeschichte und Politik), Die Niederschlagung des Hereroaufstandes 1903-1907 (2004)p. 19

      Swakopmund den sicheren Tod.54 So starben zwischen Oktober 1904 und März 1907 insgesamt 7682 Gefangene, was einer Sterberate von 30-50 Prozent entsprach. 55 Susan-

      Void translation, not a published quotationSwakopmund certain death.[54] Thus between October 1904 and March 1907 a total of 7682 prisoners died, which corresponded to a death rate of 30-50 per cent. [55] Susan-

   2. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)pp. 102 to 103

      It will be interesting to reproduce the famous Amnesty Proclamation of von Lindequist. .It is a document which speaks tellingly of what the treatment of Hereros had been prior to its publication. | When one considers the fate and treatment of these unfortunates who, ‘ like broomsticks,” and so thin that ‘one could see through their bones,” came in and surrendered to German “mercy,” it seems doubtful, in view of the aforegoing statements, whether they would not have been as well off if they had remained to perish of starvation in the bush. The Proclamation, dated 1st December 1905, reads as follows :— Hereros! His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, the high Lord Protector of this Land, has graciously nominated me Governor of this Land a few days after General von Trotha, who commanded the German troops against you, returned to Germany. His departure means that the war will now cease. Hereros! You know me! Formerly I was for five years in this land as Imperial Judge, and, as Assessor and Councillor, the representative of Governor Leutwein in the days when Manasse of Omaruru and Kambazembi of Waterberg, who were always loyal supporters of mine, still lived. It is my desire that the Rebellion which your Chiefs and Headmen (and the children who followed them) so wickedly began and which has desolated the land should now come to an end, so that Peace and Order may again rule. I therefore call upon the Hereros who still are wandering about the veld and in the mountains and who nourish themselves by eating wild roots and by theft. Come and lay down your arms, Hereros! Thousands of your fellow tribesmen have already surrendered and are being clothed and fed by the Government. I have taken every precaution to ensure that you will be justly treated. That I also personally guarantee to you. Further, it is ordained that from 20th December onwards, that is three weeks from to-day, no Herero habitations will be searched after and taken, as I wish to give you time personally to come in peacefully to me and surrender yourselves. Come to Omburo and Otjihaenena! Your Missionaries will be sent there by me. They will also take provisions with them, so that your first and great hunger may be appeased. Some small stock will also be left for provisional use of your wives and children in so far as you still possess such for their support. Those who are strong and can work will, when they work with exceptional diligence, receive a small wage. No European soldiers will be stationed at Omburo and Otjihaenena, so that you need not have fear and imagine that further shooting will take place. The sooner you come in and surrender your arms, the sooner can the question of amelioration of the present lot of your captive fellow tribesmen be considered and their freedom later again given to them. If Omburo and Otjihaenena are too far away, anyone may hand in the arms at any Military Post and surrender there. The soldiers at those stations will not shoot either. In addition, the soldiers escorting the transport and travelling through the land will not shoot at you as long as you attempt nothing hostile towards them. Therefore do not be afraid of them when you see them. So come quickly in Hereros, before it is too late. In Namaland also there will soon be quiet, as Hendrik Witbooi has been killed by a German bullet and Samuel Isaac has surrendered and is in our hands. . On. this Proclamation the surviving Hereros surrendered, and thousands of them then met the fate already depicted at Luderitzbucht and Swakopmund and in the Railway Concentration Labour Camps.

   3. Jan-Bart Gewald, Imperial Germany and the Herero of Southern Africa (2004)pp. 62 to 63

      ally feil into our hands [unsere Gewalt kamen]; sections of the people escaped now and later through the Sandveld into English territory [present-day Botswana]. It was a policy as gruesome as it was senseless, to hammer the people so much; we could have still saved many of them and their rieh herds, if we had pardoned and taken them up again; they had been punished enough. I suggested this to General von Trotha, but hè wanted their total extermination. (von Estorff, 1979: 117; author's translation) In early 1905, the German parliament rescinded von Trotha's extermination order, after which time captured Herero were placed into concentration camps (Konzentrationslager) and put to work as forced laborers. By late 1905, an estimated 8,800 Herero were conflned in camps, working on

2. QualifiedThe critics of the genocide thesis hold that the camps were set up on humanitarian grounds and that the counts are inflated.

   Rests on documents from: Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe; Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages; Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa).

   The paper describes the critics' position; the order the critics must read around told the troops to take no more male prisoners, and the amnesty proclamation that filled the camps promised the survivors food, clothing and just treatment. The order is the German army's record and the proclamation is reproduced by the British; the critics' claim is described, not tested, and the documents cut both ways: qualified.

   The 3 extracts it rests on

   1. Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages, Fachbereich XI (Geschichte, Zeitgeschichte und Politik), Die Niederschlagung des Hereroaufstandes 1903-1907 (2004)p. 25

      Die Kritiker der Völkermordthese bezweifeln auch den Wahrheitsgehalt der Berichte über die elenden Zustände in den Gefangenenlagern. Der Begriff „Konzentrationslager“ würde in diesem Zusammenhang bewusst in diffamierender Absicht verwendet. Tatsächlich seien die Lager aus humanitären Überlegungen eingerichtet worden, um die Herero vor dem sicheren Tod in der Wüste zu retten. Auch werde die Zahl der in den Lagern gestorbenen Herero bei einer Reihe von Autoren viel zu hoch angegeben. 84 Der quantitative Umfang der Vernichtung wird bei den Gegnern der Genozidthese erheblich geringer veranschlagt. Auch wenn grundsätzlich nicht abgestritten wird, dass die Zahl der Opfer insgesamt sehr hoch war, sehen diese Autoren den Vorwurf des Völkermords auch in quantitativer Hinsicht als nicht gerechtfertigt an. 85

      Void translation, not a published quotationThe critics of the genocide thesis also doubt the truth of the reports on the wretched conditions in the prisoner camps. The term 'concentration camp' is, in this context, said to be used deliberately with defamatory intent. In fact the camps are said to have been set up out of humanitarian considerations, to save the Herero from certain death in the desert. The number of Herero who died in the camps is also said to be put far too high by a number of authors. [84] The quantitative extent of the destruction is put considerably lower by the opponents of the genocide thesis. Even if it is not fundamentally denied that the number of victims was very high in total, these authors regard the accusation of genocide as unjustified in quantitative terms as well. [85]

   2. Lothar von Trotha, Kommandeur der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe, Lothar von Trothas Vernichtungsbefehl (2. Oktober 1904)whole documentExhibit 6

      Ich der große General der Deutschen Soldaten sende diesen Brief an das Volk der Herero. Die Herero sind nicht mehr Deutsche Untertanen. Sie haben gemordet und gestohlen, haben verwundeten Soldaten Ohren und Nasen und andere Körperteile abgeschnitten und wollen jetzt aus Feigheit nicht mehr kämpfen. Ich sage dem Volk: Jeder der einen der Kapitäne an eine meiner Stationen als Gefangenen abliefert, erhält tausend Mark, wer Samuel Maherero bringt, erhält fünftausend Mark. Das Volk der Herero muß jedoch das Land verlassen. Wenn das Volk dies nicht tut, so werde ich es mit dem Groot Rohr [kapholländisch, Geschütz, Kanone] dazu zwingen. Innerhalb der Deutschen Grenze wird jeder Herero mit oder ohne Gewehr, mit oder ohne Vieh erschossen, ich nehme keine Weiber und keine Kinder mehr auf, treibe sie zu ihrem Volke zurück oder lasse auch auf sie schießen. Dies sind meine Worte an das Volk der Herero. Der große General des mächtigen Deutschen Kaisers. Dieser Erlaß ist bei den Appells den Truppen mitzuteilen mit dem Hinzufügen, daß auch der Truppe, die einen der Kapitäne fängt, die entsprechende Belohnung zu teil wird, und daß das Schießen auf Weiber und Kinder so zu verstehen ist, daß über sie hinweggeschossen wird, um sie zum Laufen zu zwingen. Ich nehme mit Bestimmtheit an, daß dieser Erlaß dazu führen wird, keine männliche Gefangene mehr zu machen, aber nicht zu Grausamkeiten gegen Weiber und Kinder ausartet. Diese werden schon fortlaufen, wenn zweimal über sie hinweggeschossen wird. Die Truppe wird sich des guten Rufes der Deutschen Soldaten bewußt bleiben. Der Kommandeur. gez. v. Trotha Generalleutnant.

   3. The Administrator's Office, Windhuk (Union of South Africa military administration), for the Union Government, Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their... (1918)pp. 102 to 103

      It will be interesting to reproduce the famous Amnesty Proclamation of von Lindequist. .It is a document which speaks tellingly of what the treatment of Hereros had been prior to its publication. | When one considers the fate and treatment of these unfortunates who, ‘ like broomsticks,” and so thin that ‘one could see through their bones,” came in and surrendered to German “mercy,” it seems doubtful, in view of the aforegoing statements, whether they would not have been as well off if they had remained to perish of starvation in the bush. The Proclamation, dated 1st December 1905, reads as follows :— Hereros! His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, the high Lord Protector of this Land, has graciously nominated me Governor of this Land a few days after General von Trotha, who commanded the German troops against you, returned to Germany. His departure means that the war will now cease. Hereros! You know me! Formerly I was for five years in this land as Imperial Judge, and, as Assessor and Councillor, the representative of Governor Leutwein in the days when Manasse of Omaruru and Kambazembi of Waterberg, who were always loyal supporters of mine, still lived. It is my desire that the Rebellion which your Chiefs and Headmen (and the children who followed them) so wickedly began and which has desolated the land should now come to an end, so that Peace and Order may again rule. I therefore call upon the Hereros who still are wandering about the veld and in the mountains and who nourish themselves by eating wild roots and by theft. Come and lay down your arms, Hereros! Thousands of your fellow tribesmen have already surrendered and are being clothed and fed by the Government. I have taken every precaution to ensure that you will be justly treated. That I also personally guarantee to you. Further, it is ordained that from 20th December onwards, that is three weeks from to-day, no Herero habitations will be searched after and taken, as I wish to give you time personally to come in peacefully to me and surrender yourselves. Come to Omburo and Otjihaenena! Your Missionaries will be sent there by me. They will also take provisions with them, so that your first and great hunger may be appeased. Some small stock will also be left for provisional use of your wives and children in so far as you still possess such for their support. Those who are strong and can work will, when they work with exceptional diligence, receive a small wage. No European soldiers will be stationed at Omburo and Otjihaenena, so that you need not have fear and imagine that further shooting will take place. The sooner you come in and surrender your arms, the sooner can the question of amelioration of the present lot of your captive fellow tribesmen be considered and their freedom later again given to them. If Omburo and Otjihaenena are too far away, anyone may hand in the arms at any Military Post and surrender there. The soldiers at those stations will not shoot either. In addition, the soldiers escorting the transport and travelling through the land will not shoot at you as long as you attempt nothing hostile towards them. Therefore do not be afraid of them when you see them. So come quickly in Hereros, before it is too late. In Namaland also there will soon be quiet, as Hendrik Witbooi has been killed by a German bullet and Samuel Isaac has surrendered and is in our hands. . On. this Proclamation the surviving Hereros surrendered, and thousands of them then met the fate already depicted at Luderitzbucht and Swakopmund and in the Railway Concentration Labour Camps.