It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  Magistracy  was
powerless  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  Caudron  was
defended — a  rare  occurrence  in  the  Congo — and  the
prosecution  did  not,  and,  could  not  deny  that  Caudron
was  mer'ely  a  servant  of  the  Executive;  that  he  received,
with  the  consent  of  the  Executive,  which  took  three-
fourths  of  the  profits  derived  by  the  "  Company  "^  from
its  rubber  operations,  3  per  cent,  commission  on  all  the
rubber  he  secured;  that  the  "  Company"  had  no  lands
of  its  own  and  was  merely  acting  as  rubber-collector  for
the  Executive ;  that  its  raids  were  conducted  with  the
open  assistance  of  Government  officers  and  troops;  that
the  arms  and  munitions  of  war  utilised  by  the  "  Com-
pany "  constituted  in  itself  the  proof  that  the  Executive
recognised  the  right  of  the  "  Company  "  to  employ  them,
since  they  could,  by  law,  only  be  placed  in  the  hands  of
those  specially  so  authorised  by  the  Governor-General ;
that  every  rifle,  and  cartridge,  in  the  possession  of  the
"  Company  "  was  passed  through  the  Custom  House  and
conveyed  to  the  "Company's"  station  in  Government
vessels;  that  in  the  year  1903 — the  year  of  Caudron 's
raids — these  Government  vessels  had  conveyed  40,000
rounds  of  ball  cartridge  to  the  "  Company,"  and,  finally,

1  Caudron  was  an  agent  of  the  Anversoise.     Vide  Section  IV.
JUSTICE  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  CRITIC     105

that  for  the   results  of  sucli   illegal  raids  the   Executive
itself  was  solely  responsible.
