Restrictions on Missionary Work in Kongo
The Kongo Free State is not appropriately named, if late reports be true. Following recent statements of extreme cruelty to natives by Belgians, there comes the complaint of Bishop Tucker, of the Church Missionary Society, that a Belgian officer near Lake Albert Edward, which is within the bounds of the Free State, has forbidden the preaching of the Gospel in the kingdom of Toro, except by Roman Catholic fathers. There is a special prohibition of the entrance of English missionaries from the east side in the direction of Uganda. Only those who come up from the Kongo State are allowed to teach. Bishop Tucker pleads for some Protestant French-speaking missionaries, either Belgians or Americans, to enter by way of the Kongo for the evangelization of the interior region. The "Free State" is a dependency of Belgium.