CONGO, September 16.
Warn the passage through the Belgian Senate of the Bill for the annexation of the Congo Free State has been brought to a close the discussion which for the nine months since the measure was first submitted to the Chamber has ex-excised acately the whole Belgian people. The Congo question, as it has been well put, is the Belgian, affaire Dreyfus. Among intelligent men it has produced similar differences of opinion and similar searchings of heart; among the mass of the people, although at first indifferent to the subject, it of late been no less keenly canvassed. After long delay, attributable to the importance of the subject and to parliamentary ex-agencies, no less than to a decision to consider the Colonial Law before taking the vote on the treaty of annexation, the two Houses of Parliament have at last recorded their assent to the Bill and the Independent Congo Free State becomes a Belgian colony. The debate has been conducted throughout in a manner worthy' of the subject, and it has been to the credit of the Government that it made no attempt to put any obstacle in the way of free discussion. If the speeches were serious and, for the most part, to the point, they were, nevertheless, characterized by extreme outspokenness. Frank recognition was given to the outrageous character of the Congo regime and no hesitation was shown in accepting the identity of the Sovereign of the Free State and the King of the Belgians. One point, we are told, that could not fail to impress an observer of the debate was the way in which the most full-blooded condemnation of the King passed without protest. But recriminations were not the sole order of the day. The dis cussion can hardly have failed to lead the country to a more intelligent interest in its own affairs, while it has secured wider admission of the fact that the " English campaign" against Congo rale. supported as it has been by the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.