EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

observations, the primitive medicine of the time was simply too backward to be
effective.
Rio Nunez is also significant in another way. The use of the Belgian military,
alongside that of the French, in an action that not only damaged the goods of British
citizens but challenged its colonial power, raised the temperature and ire of Britain and
especially Palmerston. Leopold had sought advance clearance from Palmerston, as well
as France, before it became involved in the Rio Nunez. There was no negative response,
and in fact the foreign office had encouraged commercial expansion as it would
improve the overall situation in that part of Africa. 395 The Battle of Boké, however, and
the subsequent action by Braithwaite and Martin had created a cause célèbre in England
and eventually Belgium and France. Lord Palmerston's personal advocacy of the claims
of these merchants created a severe strain on Belgian-English relations. 396 It was only
the deteriorating relations between Palmerston and Queen Victoria that prevented a
worst case scenario. Palmerston’s attitude toward the queen and other actions resulted
in his firing in 1851, to the great joy of both Leopold and Victoria. Although it would
eventually result in Palmerston’s return as foreign minister and later prime minister, it
sufficiently removed the pressure on Leopold and the matter eventually faded away.
Here Leopold clearly used his connections with Victoria and Palmerston, but again, to
no avail, at least in relation to this colonial endeavor.
The Belgian involvement in Rio Nunez once again showed the scientific and
cartographic weakness in Leopold’s quest for colonies. There were apparently no
395 Braithwaite, 121-2.
188