Stanley, in 1878, had crossed the African
continent and had reached the mouth of the Congo, he took ship for
Europe. He had reached Marseilles, where, in the railway-station, he was
met by two commissioners who had been sent by Leopold II., King of the
Belgians, for the express purpose of interesting Mr. Stanley in the
project entertained by that king of founding a State in the heart of
Africa. This project was subsequently accepted, and all the powers of
Europe entered into the scheme. Mr. Stanley now relates, for the first
time, the story of the founding,--a story which is as entertaining as
the liveliest piece of fiction, and as marvellous in its unfolding as
would be the sudden discovery of a new and habitable world. From the
mouth of the Congo to Stanley Falls is about fifteen hundred miles, and
the basin of this immense river contains more than a million and a half
square miles; that is, a territory nearly one-half as large as that of
the United States. The opening of this great country to the commerce of
the world is one of the greatest events of the nineteenth, indeed of
any, century. By the agreement of the sovereigns of Europe, no European
power is ever to be permitted to seize the sea-coasts of the continent,
or to levy differential customs and high tariffs upon the commerce of
the world such as our New England and Middle States now levy upon the
West and South.
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