EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...
EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...
EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...
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Rogier to reloc<strong>at</strong>e funds and make them available for this project was a far more<br />
aggressive stance than the cabinet had taken before. Additionally, the breakup <strong>of</strong> the<br />
union party which began after 1842, and was completed by the 1850 election, gave the<br />
government a more radical shift as the C<strong>at</strong>holic Party and the Liberal Party took<br />
increasingly more strident positions as each rot<strong>at</strong>ed in and out <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice. <strong>The</strong> advantage<br />
the cabinet had enjoyed up to this point was th<strong>at</strong> the powers listed in the constitution<br />
had not been fixed. With the increasing acrimony in the chambers, the cabinet,<br />
seemingly reflecting Leopold’s views <strong>at</strong> least on colonial expansion, was willing to risk<br />
a somewh<strong>at</strong> questionable transfer. This seemed reasonable because Rio Nunez was <strong>at</strong><br />
least backed by current Belgian commercial activity th<strong>at</strong> was pr<strong>of</strong>itable, and there had<br />
been not one but two tre<strong>at</strong>ies, one <strong>of</strong> which was legitim<strong>at</strong>e on its face giving a legal<br />
basis for Belgian colonial claims.<br />
<strong>The</strong> scrutiny received as a result <strong>of</strong> the b<strong>at</strong>tle <strong>of</strong> Boké and the tre<strong>at</strong>y, and the<br />
poor way it was handled by the cabinet, however, seems to have emboldened the<br />
chambers in face <strong>of</strong> Leopold’s previous and continuing disaster in Santo Tomas. 386 <strong>The</strong><br />
breakup <strong>of</strong> the union party was in effect the end <strong>of</strong> the Belgian honeymoon. <strong>The</strong> actions<br />
exercise is to prevent mischief where I can, which occasionally succeeds: if war can be avoided, and the<br />
same ends obtained, it is n<strong>at</strong>ural th<strong>at</strong> they should be tried first…” Leopold to Victoria, Pollman, 212.<br />
386 A member <strong>of</strong> the chambers remarked in 1848 upon the terms <strong>of</strong> the tre<strong>at</strong>y, “It appears th<strong>at</strong> the<br />
Government decided to make the acquirement <strong>of</strong> a land situ<strong>at</strong>ed on the western coast <strong>of</strong> Africa, to the 15°<br />
degree th<strong>at</strong> is under tropics. I will so really ask one has the intention to send unhappy Belgians to look for<br />
the de<strong>at</strong>h on this pestilential”, “Il paraît que le Gouvernement s'est décidé à faire l'acquisition d'un terrain<br />
situé sur la côte occidentale d'Afrique, au 15° degré c'est-à-dire sous les tropiques. Je demanderai si<br />
réellement on a l'intention d'envoyer de malheureux Belges chercher la mort sur cette terre pestilentielle.”<br />
Demougeot.<br />
180