One more since I have time. It sets the stage for what I see happening in the Philippines - Leopold's more direct rule since Philippse couldn't "stop the rebels" and his crackdown. I won't have time to post tomorrow, but others may have a few ideas for the mid-1870s, also.
Excerpts from "A Fool and His Colony," Simon and Schuster Publishing, 1952
April, 1875 - He might have been celebrating a royal birth. Instead, Prince Philippe of Belgium was becoming increasing distressed.
Then, he opened the latest telegram from Leopold II. He did what in modern terms would be called a facepalm., then turned to his wife. "Well, at least we will be done with this wretched place. I have seen myself hung in effigy so much, I begin to worry they will one day do the real thing."
"Don't worry, Dear," she told him. "They hang the governor-general twice as much."
I was true. He had, at least made some friends in Manila and created some form of decent autonomy for a segment of people who might have risen to lead as some sort of Dominion, perhaps like the British were doing with Canada, in a decade or so.
Yet, his attempts to tread lightly upon the Filipinos - attempts which might not have won anyway - were often countermanded from back home in Belgium by Leopold II. He had tried to reason with the people, act as if he were the real ruler. And, the educated in the PHilippines, at least, had grown to, well, not necessarily like, but feel comfortable with him. It was mostly those in the Southern islands, like Mindanao, who were hanging him in effigy because he had dared to banish them.
His plan had been crafty, and might have worked, though there was no guaranteee: Get all those who disapproved of him into the South and then work thoward their freedom. He had to take baby steps toward this, for fear of angering his brother Leopold, but in some small ways it had been working. And, a saner, less greedy man might have accepted the idea that "half a colony is better than noe."
But, noooo. Leopold II had maintained that, with only around 2,000 of the islands of the Philippines inhabited, there were lenty of uninhabited oens which would have been, in Leopold's words, 'perfect for putting them on to starve them.' He had also claimed that Philippe's ideas of restraint and of accepting local autonomy in some things were "not what I had mind when I bought this colony."In other words, he wanted to siphon every bit of money he could from the place so he could then buy even more colonies.
Philippe shook his head. "That will never happen," he told himself. And, it was true. With this edict, Philippe knew he had two choices.
He coudl declarea revolution. He *might* be able to win; but the problem was, what then? Would he only be ruling over a few islands? Or at all? And, would they really wi? The Belgian navy was small, but they could put a hurt on the Filipinos, and if he himself was captured, he would be executed just like what the governor general was ordering with a lot of people, as per Leopold's orders.
His other was to give up. He could leave and just wash his hands of everything. His oldest son would be six once he returned, and Philippe could teach him about leadership and dealing with others in ways Leopold II never could. Yes, Philippe knew he was needed back there. Right now, he felt like he had aged 10 years in the three he'd been there, trying to put out all the diplomatic fires. He might not live to be king, which meant his son would no doubt rule, in his mind, as he certainly couldn't foresee Baudouin's death in 1891.
he could rebel, but the more he thought about it, it wasn't worth it. Even with foreign help, he had about a one in four chance, if that, of surviving, because if he did, surely Leopold II would be gunning for him first.
He didn't want a price on his head. But, boy, was he going to let Leopold have it when he got back on that ship Leopold II had sent to bring him home.
Or, if Leopold didn't start shouting at him, maybe he'd just let the man watch the rebellion get worse. Because it seemed like he wanted to do some dastardly things here, thigns which Philippe wasn't allowing. Maybe he should just let leopold II suffer the cruel fate of having those revealed years from now, as the crackdown Leopold envisioned couldn't last forever. He might be making thigns tough now with his draconian measures. But, someday, he would pay.
Philippe smiled for the first time in what seemed like years. Yes, the man was too stubborn to listen to reason. But, either the Filipinos would rebel successfully, or Leopold would crack down so severely he would have egg on his face and be hated the world over. Maybe that's just what the man deserved, Philippe pondered."