First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"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"
"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."
"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."
"But it would not be reckless to say that from the start the King dreamed of founding a Belgian colony. Many times I have heard him say, when the Independent State emerged from its swaddling clothes like a newborn baby trying to walk: "I work there for Belgium"."
"The prevailing opinion at court was that the founding of a colony was beyond the strength of the Sovereign of a small state and that he would swallow up his private fortune, unable to create anything lasting. The King sought for the execution of his designs collaborators possessed of the faith which he himself had and which lifts mountains."
"Nothing that impressed Africa was foreign to him. Without needing to go and look there, he knew the dark continent, as if he had been its explorer, and he followed step by step the discoveries, which he noted in his prodigious memory and on the maps displayed on it. Table."
"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."
"The King wants a colony, and Greindl is only aiming for commercial expansion"
"Both peers gain each other's trust. Leopold gives Jules Greindl new courage."
"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."
"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."
"Everything you say about Tonkin. is very fair, this one is a dangerous toy."
"I am the most opposed to these dreams of settlements. ... I am convinced that these are companies that can only lead to setbacks of all kinds. ... I'm telling you this to explain my extreme coldness on the subject."
"Did he believe in Tonkin, and in the advantages it could offer for Belgium? It is permissible to doubt it, and even to believe the contrary."
"Beyens for Tonkin, certainly did not encourage him, he just obeyed."
"Van Praet and Devaux were not concerned with the Congo. They both expressed a desire to be kept out of the "African adventure." For Mr. Van Praet, laden with years and involved for half a century in the history of the dynasty, this abstention was natural. As for his nephew, he had not concealed from the King, with his usual frankness, the disappointments and the dangers he faced. The prevailing opinion at court was that the founding of a colony was beyond the strength of the Sovereign of a small country and that he would encompass his private fortune, without being able to create anything lasting. ... He (Leopold II) did not try to overcome Mr. Devaux's disbelief and did without his services."
"A Prince must not speak the language of the tribunes and proclaim absolute principles in terms which are likely to deeply offend those who are of another opinion than his own."
"I'm still working, but we have to start by putting forward a diplomatic arrangement. This point obtained, we would have a good chance of success. For the moment, the Belgian shipping word in China should not be used at any price."
"I am not telling you this, Monsignor, in the interest of the project that I am going to defend in the chamber and in front of the country, but in your personal interest. Believe me, Monsignor, we are entering an era where a Prince cannot be too circumspect and cautious. Avoid getting into our discussions and our controversies, avoid taking sides in our struggles."
"I think sire, that you would be wrong to give the slightest publicity to this writing, and even to communicate it to the person who asked you for it."
"The King decreases his alms. All of this. All the money saved goes to Africa. What will it be like when you have conquered Tonkin?"
"I am dragged in spite of myself in this damn Africa business; a toy which, it is true, will hurt no one; which excites geographers, but which will make people laugh here."
"I thought about it carefully and I remained convinced that there is no place in Belgium that it could be more desirable for me to represent than Antwerp. ... I have always been imbued with the conviction that matters which particularly affect the prosperity of Antwerp should have a large part in the care of the government. Belgium had its era of commercial activity, because at that time it had ready-made means of selling the products of its manufactures. I think that the efforts of the government must tend to restore life to maritime trade, to multiply the means of exchange with overseas countries, to replace the colonial outlets which we have lost, to facilitate commercial relations with a liberal legislation."
"Always tell the truth, even if it should make him jump out of his shoe."
"His Majesty has long been imbued with the immense utility which would result for Belgium from the possession of some commercial establishment outside her territory, outside the European continent. This thought constantly preoccupied the King."
"There is no longer a single government that colonizes. There is only individual colonization."
"My dear Mr. Banning, I am returning the 2nd sheet to you. I find this of extreme interest. You would have to read many volumes to acquire the geographical notions that you have so condensed into a few pages. I read this with great charm. You're giving the matter a nice boost. I have no comments to make. I made a small cross at the top of page 28, because I thought it was better to put "revise" instead of "revis" or "undertook" instead of "undertakes." A thousand friendships. (s) Jules Van Praet."
"He was not the result of an eminent virtue: a small dose of male selfishness, coupled with a certain contempt or rather a slight disdain for women, always kept him away from the sacrament of marriage."
"No one knows if Leopold I made Van Praet, or if Van Praet made Leopold I."
"He is hardly interested in foreign matters, except when they are of direct and immediate interest to the country."
"A man of struggle and controversy, discussed and often vilified by the small press, I have always been an embarrassment to those who have employed me. My character and my faults are not an obstacle to my useful service in the active army, but they will make me ill-suited to fulfill the duties of the King's aide-de-camp which require extreme reserve and prudence."
"From the start of his career, Lambermont sensed that the Chinese Empire could one day become a vast field for our activity and offer us virtually inexhaustible resources."
"The slave trade has another character; it is the very denial of every law, of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high treason against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be reached, on land as well as by sea."
"No doubt whatever exists as to the strict and literal sense which should be assigned to the term in commercial matters. It refers exclusively to traffic, to the unlimited power of every one to sell and to buy, to import and to export products and manufactured articles. No privileged situation can be created under this head, the way remains open without any restrictions to free competition in the domain of commerce, but the obligations of local Governments do not go beyond that point."
"It is experience, which will then inspire the interested Powers with the most favourable resolutions for the development of commercial progress in their possessions."
"Those who want to know my thoughts will always be able to do so: it will suffice for them to consult my work."
"It was no coincidence that dictated my choice. Peace was definitively signed, the country's political constitution in full force, but Belgium was still looking for its ways in the commercial field. That’s where the point was."
"When Leopold had an idea in his head, it was impossible to make him quit."
"With regard to the industrial and commercial relations that China seeks to create in Europe, and the agents that it would like to recruit there for internal works or its administration, Belgium can offer it resources equal to those of the States of first order. In addition, the country's situation, its essentially peaceful character, precludes any possibility of political conflict."
"Mistrust of the foreigner is still at the bottom of the minds of the Chinese. One way if not to destroy, at least to mitigate these prejudices, would be to put the study committee under a neutral banner. The committee would be made up of capitalists and industrialists eager to prepare for the success of lucrative enterprises or of politicians willing to serve the cause of civilization with their help."
"Feelings of humanity and commiseration erupt on their own when we deliberate with our feet in the blood."
"The ivory issue worries me more and more. I am not forgetting any of the considerations that Your Majesty has deigned to point out to me, but commerce will want to be reassured as to the limits of competition."
"Never have I had the impression of such a moral and civic downfall. In no country, not even the last of the last, what is happening here would be possible."
"He even carried on me the paternal feeling, that his bachelor's heart could not find to spend."
"It is difficult in each case and in each of these innumerable projects, to determine with rigorous precision what was the role of Lambermont; but always, we will see him intervening as a political or legal adviser, pointing out the possible steps of clerics, opening the eyes of the Prince to difficulties he had not perceived, channeling his ardor in the direction of realism and 'efficiency."
"The choice of Baron Lambermont, secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, collaborator and intimate adviser to the King, consummate diplomat and world celebrity, was appropriate. It was to him that in 1874 the King had said: “I would like to do something in Africa; I've been thinking about this for a few days now and would like you to help me. Here are my first impressions, think about it. I know your talent and your sagacious and devoted mind; I know that the day you get down to it, I will be able to count on you. peaceful and humanitarianism is my only concern.""
"What is lacking to Lambermont's glory is a book signed with his name, summarizing his doctrine and the lessons of his experience. But if one searched the archives of the Foreign Ministry, one would find countless reports, a multitude of notes and instructions written by his hand or at his dictation. It is hoped that their counting will tempt some historian who will undertake to write the annals of the Leopoldian period."