People From Mons

"Whatever my desire to acquire a colony for Belgium, I hardly regret the impossibility in which I am to act. I do find that our position is only getting worse."

"The stay in Madrid having made me lose the few illusions I still had about the Philippines affair, I asked and already obtained, several months ago, permission to no longer deal with it and since then, I had never heard of it again."

"Thanks for explanations. Since Belgian nationality is useless, isn't it better to travel an African traveler who will have more authority than me? Fear of increasing financial embarrassment. Nevertheless am at the disposal of the King, but of course I will never be under the orders of a foreigner"

"His conduct will very soon give rise to a very lively debate; or it will justify itself and it will be very good to use; or he will fail to do so and, in this case, we will be glad to have no connection or relationship of any kind with a compromising ally."

"Obviously, we are leaving the humanitarian and scientific plan to risk a business whose commercial aspects seem to lack sufficient bases, and which, on top of that, seems fraught with national and international difficulties."

"Both peers gain each other's trust. Leopold gives Jules Greindl new courage."

"The King wants a colony, and Greindl is only aiming for commercial expansion"

"There is no such thing as exclusively national thinking. The work intended to benefit science and humanity necessarily interests everyone, but Belgium and its Sovereign will indirectly derive honor and great moral benefit from it; in this sense, there is a truly and usefully Belgian thought. We do not have a view of colonial acquisition, but over time trade will undoubtedly find its value there as well."