“The object which unites us here to-day is one of those which deserve in the highest degree to occupy the friends of humanity.  To open to civilisation the only part of our globe where it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness which envelops entire populations, is, I venture to say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress.”—­KING LEOPOLD II., Speech to the Geographical Congress of 1876 at Brussels.

The Congo Free State owes its origin, firstly, to the self-denying pioneer-work of Livingstone; secondly, to the energy of the late Sir H.M.  Stanley in clearing up the problems of African exploration which that devoted missionary had not fully solved, and thirdly, to the interest which His Majesty, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, has always taken in the opening up of that continent.  It will be well briefly to note the chief facts which helped to fasten the gaze of Europe on the Congo basin; for these events had a practical issue; they served to bring King Leopold and Mr. Stanley into close touch with a view to the establishment of a settled government in the heart of Africa.

In 1874 Mr. H.M.  Stanley (he was not knighted until the year 1899) received a commission from the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph to proceed to Central Africa in order to complete the geographical discoveries which had been cut short by the lamented death of Livingstone near Lake Bangweolo.  That prince of explorers had not fully solved the riddle of the waterways of Central Africa.  He had found what were really the head waters of the Congo at and near Lake Moero; and had even struck the mighty river itself as far down as Nyangwe; but he could not prove that these great streams formed the upper waters of the Congo.

Stanley’s journey in 1874-1877 led to many important discoveries.  He first made clear the shape and extent of Victoria Nyanza; he tracked the chief feeder of that vast reservoir; and he proved that Lake Tanganyika drained into the River Congo.  Voyaging down its course to the mouth, he found great and fertile territories, thus proving what Livingstone could only surmise, that here was the natural waterway into the heart of “the Dark Continent.”

Up to the year 1877 nearly all the pioneer work in the interior of the Congo basin was the outcome of Anglo-American enterprise.  Therefore, so far as priority of discovery confers a claim to possession, that claim belonged to the English-speaking peoples.  King Leopold recognised the fact and allowed a certain space of time for British merchants to enter on the possession of what was potentially their natural “sphere of influence.”  Stanley, however, failed to convince his countrymen of the feasibility of opening up that vast district to peaceful commerce.  At that time they were suffering from severe depression in trade and agriculture, and from the disputes resulting from the Eastern Question both in the Near East and in Afghanistan.  For the time “the weary Titan” was preoccupied and could not turn his thoughts to commercial expansion, which would speedily have cured his evils.  Consequently, in November 1878, Stanley proceeded to Brussels in order to present to King Leopold the opportunity which England let slip.