Colonel Joll's Heartless Motives

Colonel Joll is clearly a man after adventure and power, and a man devoid of morals, which is a trait that comes in handy as he asserts his dominance over the barbarians and the magistrate. Colonel Joll comes across the first set of prisoners, a young boy and his grandfather who were supposedly caught after a stock-raid, though the grandfather claims they were only traveling to see the doctor as his grandson has a soar to prove it, and treats them without any humanity. Even with the evidence of the boy's soar and the unthreatening nature of the prisoners, Colonel Joll persists on interrogating the prisoners, and when the magistrate volunteers to translate for him, the Colonel tells him the job will be too “tedious,” and would be better left to the guard. When the magistrate next sees the prisoners, the boy has been beaten and is sleeping in the same hut with his dead grandfather’s body, which is disgusting and crude. It is therefore apparent the magistrate already planned on torturing these prisoners, regardless of their guilt or innocence, and therefore needed a subordinate translator who he could perform his ruthless interrogations in front of, unlike the magistrate. The colonel is obviously lying when he claims the grandfather, an old and calm man, attacked his interrogators and was killed when he fell against a wall. It is apparent the man was tortured to death as the magistrate describes his body when he says, “the lips are crushed and drawn back, the teeth are broken. One eye is rolled back, the other eye-socket is a bloody hole.” The colonel is therefore not after the truth, but is after fulfilling the sense of satisfaction he gets by imprisoning, torturing, and killing the barbarians.

It also becomes apparent that the colonel does not have a clear-cut plan to find these “dangerous barbarians” he speaks of, and is overly eager to set out on his expedition to find prisoners. The fact that the Colonel’s first batch of prisoners are members of a fishing village, which includes old women and even a newborn baby, shows his only intention was to find any barbarians and imprison them, as the fishermen’s crime was hiding and trying to run from the Colonel and his men. The Colonel therefore proves himself to be heartless and already holding onto set beliefs about the barbarians, as he will imprison and torture any he comes across, regardless of the fact that they are peaceful and innocent of any crimes.

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1910 Encyclopedia Britannica [European Reaction to Leopold's Abuses]

* Article explains how King Leopold exploited the natives of the Congo Free State through his control of the land.

* In 1891 when wealth in ivory and rubber were discovered in vast regions, a secret decree was made that state had control of the ivory and rubber monopoly in "vacant lands." Vacant lands=lands belonging to the state (disregarded natives).

*Trade between the natives and private trading companies was ruined, this goes against Berlin Act.

* Ended up giving some power to private companies though natives were still restricted (couldn't leave certain territories).

* Leopold II created The Fondation (most valuable rubber region) where natives were treated with the most severity.

*Charges against the state were brought at the end of 19th century: humanitarian charges and exploitation of land.

*Series of "reforms" in June 1906-no real change.

*King Leopold wrote a letter where he described his plan to restrict Belgium's liberty of action in the Congo State when it became a Belgian colony. Native restrictions (enslavement), and state's land control would be law.

*Great Britain intervened first. Sir Edward Grey said, " it will be impossible for us to continue to recognize indefinitely the present state of things without a very close examination of our treaty rights and the treaty obligations of the Congo State."

*Reform associations for the Congo in America, France, and Belgium also started reforming public opinion.

*In July 1907, the Belgian premier announced that negotiations with the Congo State would be renewed. Grey intervened and said the Congo State had "morally forfeited every right to international recognition."

*Forced to surrender The Fondation ("government within a government") though Leopold still received 155 sq. mi. in Africa and other subsidies.