Chapter 39 The Necessity of Acquiring Congo

"Your Excellency, the dignity of the British Empire does not allow it to abandon its allies anyway," Gladstone said casually.

"Your Congo Commission is too fanciful. You simply cannot establish an effective government agency to maintain order in the Congo region."

"Our ally Portugal is different. With the help of the British Empire, Portugal is the best choice for the Congo master."

Constantine could no longer tolerate Gladstone's arrogance and stood up: "Since the British government is so confident and firmly supports Portugal to manage Congo, I will immediately inform those employees who have just passed the Commission that their work in Congo is meaningless and ask them to withdraw immediately."

"Let the Portuguese compete with the French. I just don't know if they have the courage and whether Britain will go to war with the French for the Portuguese Congo," Constantine said solemnly.

Hearing Constantine's threat to withdraw the Congo Commission, Gladstone hesitated and bowed his head in thought.

If the Congo Commission withdraws, there is no doubt that the colonists in Brazza supported by the French government will immediately reoccupy it. You know, the two sides are now in a standoff on the north and south of the Congo River.

It is easy to seize Congo from the Congo Commission. After all, it is just a privately funded organization with limited financial resources and no confidence to dare to resist the authority of the British Empire.

However, if the French take advantage of the Congo Commission's withdrawal and completely occupy the Congo River Basin, Britain will have no good way.

Unlike the weak Congo Commission, France is Britain's old rival. If you don't make a big move, don't even think about taking food from the French population. Old European powers like France will not give up the fat meat in their mouths because of the British verbal threats.

Gladstone was also in a dilemma when he heard Constantine's rebuttal. For a while, he really didn't know how to deal with this Congo Commission that he looked down on.

The Congo Commission will withdraw, and the French will take over immediately. No matter how powerful Britain is, distant water cannot quench near thirst, and the French are on the north bank of the Congo River, close at hand. Portugal's colonial troops in Angola alone dare not do anything to the French.

If the Congo Commission does not withdraw, then after this Berlin Conference, the international community will certainly recognize the Congo Commission's management of the Congo region, because the reason why this Berlin Conference was held was nominally to resolve disputes in the Congo region, and by the way, the countries divided their spheres of influence in Africa.

"Your Excellency the Duke, please be patient, I need to discuss colonial affairs with other cabinet ministers"

After that, Gladstone left in a hurry.

Only Constantine and Banning were left in the reception room.

Banning walked back and forth, looking very uneasy. After all, in the past few years, he had gone to Africa without any effort to assist Stanley in leading the complicated affairs of the Congo Commission.

And now, it is finally time to know the result.

"Your Highness, do you think the British will agree to let our Congo Commission manage Congo?" Banning looked at Constantine who was resting with his eyes closed on the high-backed chair. Banning, who was not familiar with international diplomatic affairs, was really unconfident in the face of such an opponent as the undisputed world hegemon today.

Naturally, he could not be as calm as Constantine.

"Banning, you don't have to be anxious. Congo can't be lost. It can only belong to our Congo Commission."

"You should think about how to get the international community to allow us to collect tariffs in Congo," Constantine said with a serious face.

In fact, obtaining the management rights of the Congo Commission is just the beginning, which does not mean that Constantine can sit back and relax in the future.

If the management rights of Congo can be obtained after the Berlin Conference, then another thorny issue will be faced, that is, the source of money to maintain order in the Congo River.

The Congo region has a population of about 20 million and an area of ​​about 2 million square kilometers. In such a large area, the establishment of an effective judicial system, administrative system, garrison issues, and transportation issues must be maintained by stable income.

If the royal family continues to pay to maintain the expenses of the committee, I am afraid that the royal family's finances will soon go bankrupt, which is simply unrealistic.

This level of expenditure has far exceeded the limit of personal burden.

In history, King Leopold II of Belgium, in order to maintain the initial development funds of the colony, begged and pleaded with bankers and racked his brains to get a loan.

In Africa, far away from the civilized world, a primitive piece of Africa, it is expensive to maintain an institution with effective management capabilities.

Colonies in Africa, especially those in tropical areas, are actually not profitable.

Colonies are not profitable? Then are the colonial countries crazy? Why do they fight for colonies?

Not all colonies are not profitable, but most of the colonies in Africa are not profitable.

When talking about colonies, you may think of Britain's India, the Netherlands' Indonesia, France's Vietnam, etc.

Indeed, these colonies can certainly make huge profits. Colonies like India have large arable land areas, high grain production, dense populations, and hundreds of millions of people.

When industrial products from Britain came to India, they were like mice in a rice jar, eating only the brains and intestines. In fact, India made great contributions to the British Empire becoming the British Empire.

The same reasoning can also be applied to Vietnam and Indonesia, because they have some things in common.

For example, they have dense populations, abundant food, and rich products, and can produce some special products.

For example, Vietnam's Hongji Coal Mine produces high-quality anthracite, and is located in the coastal area. It is used as power coal for merchant ships traveling to and from the South China Sea. The French make money while lying down, and Vietnam's rice is harvested three times a year.

Indonesia is famous for producing various spices, such as cloves and cardamoms, and the Dutch almost monopolize the market for cinchona bark, which is used to extract quinine. It also produces rubber, a very important industrial raw material.

But not all colonies are like these three, the most fertile places in the hands of various colonial countries.

Just like these colonies in Africa, basically, countries began to divide Africa after the Berlin Conference in 1884. If these colonies were really profitable, would they wait until now to start?

In fact, for colonies like Congo, which are located in the tropics and have difficult transportation, the most economically efficient colonial method is to let others maintain order and then their own merchants come to trade.

In this way, they can enjoy the profits of trade without spending a high price to maintain local order.

Kill two birds with one stone.

The reason why Constantine was anxious to acquire Congo was because Greece was short of resources and needed Congo's resources to develop industry.

As for buying industrial raw materials from other countries, it's just a thought. It's not realistic at all. The huge outflow of gold and silver may cause the Greek economy to collapse directly.

The international business rules of this year are to do everything possible to export, to do everything possible to prevent imports, and to obtain a trade deficit.

This trade deficit is not paper money, it is real gold and silver. International trade only recognizes precious metals these days.

If a large amount of continuous imports are made, it is necessary to find a way to export to make up for the deficit.

In this era, international trade is popular because of the mercantile ideas. All countries have adopted the policy of not importing if they can, and it is best to use their own products.

In this way, the country can have more and more gold and silver, and the richer the country will be.

And a country that continues to be in a trade deficit will lead to a shortage of domestic currency and cause chaos in the financial order.

Therefore, Constantine can only find a way to control a colony that produces various resources.

In this way, no matter how industrial raw materials, such as rubber and copper ore, were traded, money only flowed within the Greeks.