Mr. Henry Lane Wilson to the Secretary of State.

No. 74.]

Sir: In acknowledging the receipt of the department’s No. 55, of March 2, inclosing a copy of a letter of the Secretary of State to the Hon. Edwin Denby concerning conditions in the Kongo Free State, I have the honor to report that this letter had, prior to the receipt of the department’s No. 55, been given general circulation by the Belgian press. The full text has been printed by almost every respectable newspaper in Belgium, and the editorial comments have been uniformly expressive of high appreciation and approval of the position assumed by Mr. Root.

I inclose a copy and translation of an editorial excerpt from Independence Belga, the leading daily paper of Brussels, and also a translation of a part of an article by Kurt Wolff in the German magazine Handel und Industrie, bearing upon the subject treated by Mr. Root in his letter to Mr. Denby. (Not printed.)

The Kongo Government are greatly pleased with the attitude of the United States, as outlined by Mr. Root, as it has recently had to meet attacks not only from foreign sources but also from Belgium. It has issued a pamphlet in English containing Mr. Root’s letter, and has had the same translated into French and German.

I have, etc.,

Henry Lane Wilson.