22 February
The second day of the Amsterdam Conference. The Dutch legal team seemed quite weary, having been up most of the night, consulting the best legal minds in the Netherlands and historians of state matters.
Before Louis Beel could begin the official agenda John Hattambina leapt up and read out a statement. “We, the representatives of the people of the Grand Duchy of Ubangi-Shari feel bound to point out that with all due respect to ancient legal wordings we have to raise the matter of our people’s wishes. Are we to be summoned here to be told we are the playthings of a King? To be bought and sold like cattle in the market? This is 1948, not 1648, the world has moved on. Not long ago men fought and died in a brutal conflict to decide the future of Ubangi-Shari, many of your own brave sons fought and died alongside us. We owe it to them and our children to point out that just following what the history books tell us is no longer the option for us to move forward. Our history books tell a different tale. Yes, Queen Wilhelmina was kind to us, treated us like errant children and tried to raise us to be good so we may sit your table and eat from your china someday. But the Belgian King before her was cruel and whipped us like dogs, stole our land and let his people starve. No disrespect for the deceased King, but Alexander was a foolish youth, too fond of women and fast cars and champagne parties. What little did we matter to him other than the knowledge he had power over us? King William may be a wise a ruler as his mother, but who says his children will be? No! We cannot go on waiting to see if our progress must be advanced or retarded depending on the whims of who happens to hold the title King or Queen.
Josef Mobuku was seen to nod along as Hattambina spoke and even Claude van Reiner, a Dutch settler in Ubangi, could not look entirely unsupportive. [Historians would later conclude that the speech had been by Prime Minister Julius Limbani and wired to Hattambina to read out at the conference.]
The conference, somewhat taken aback broke for a short recess. The Dutch knew Royal Prerogative was powerful, perhaps more so in the Netherlands than anywhere else among the few European monarchies still functioning. Yet, even they knew in some matters, such as the Queen’s Confederation Plan and the stripping of the Household Troops from King William, the State could override the Crown when enough pressure could be brought to bear. As Louis Beel sipped his coffee in the lobby, he quietly reflected that whatever legal powers King William had, his actions must be guided by events on the ground. But even so, he knew the more cracks that appeared in the edifice of Royal power that one day it would collapse. As he watched an observer from Batavia move over to talk with Hattambina to congratulate him on his speech he knew he must act.
After the recess Louis Beel made the surprising move of altering the agenda. He declared that after the moving speech it was only right that the other options should be discussed to, as he described it, “see if the alternatives have any solid basis, if not then it seems fair that we should move onto the proper legal questions without delay.”
This put the Kongolese and Ubangi delegations into a mild panic; they had little time to prepare their best cases for home-grown solutions and present a cast-iron case. If they did not it looked as though Beel would shut out any second attempt and they knew he would find in favour of the small group of disappointed looking legal experts in the corner of the room.
The Dutch delegation swiftly dropped all talk of its trawling through the family trees of Europe for suitable independent successors. The 24 year old Princess Marie-Adélaide, daughter of the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, Charlotte Aldegonde Élise Marie Wilhelmine, had been informally approached but she had recoiled at the idea. In a brief speech Willem van Rappard simply said that there was no suitable alternative beyond the House of Orange-Nassau. His statement implied one of the two surviving members of that House should succeed Alexander.
John Hattambina deftly let Josef Mobuku take the first stand to raise the situation of the Kongo.
He outlined the current political situation and the feeling among many Representatives in the First and Second Colleges that the time was ripe for a dedicated and focused Head of State. He reminded the conference that the Kongo is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa and the second largest in all of Africa. The current population was twelve million, more than the population of the Netherlands. “We are larger than many European nations and have a growing economy and have mineral wealth and not inconsiderable political standing in Africa. We also have our own problems, poverty, poor health, unemployment and growing cities.” The bottom line of his argument was, “a Dutch King can only give us some of the time and attention we need, but a man who knows what his country needs and how to achieve the best outcome and can devote all his time and energies is the best answer for us.”
He then outlined the shortlist of possible Barons who had the stature and character to become a worthy successor to Alexander. The shortlist had been drawn up by the Government and so featured a broad choice. The first was Baron Joseph Kengo, a technocrat of high ability having served as President General of the national electricity provider (NEM) and had served as foreign minister from 1936-37. Baron Nzanga Mobutu, from a well-connected family he has served terms as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Social Welfare in the last government. Baron Adam Kamerhe is a widely-known Kamina businessman and Baron Oscar Tshisekedi is well respected and one of the main fulcrums of power in the Second College. All were solidly conservative figures. Mobuku then quickly ran through a couple of non-Baronial possibilities, though he warned the Dutch not to be alarmed by any tainting of independence leanings as both were moderates in that regard. Joseph Kasa Vubu a senior civil servant experienced in dealing with the Dutch, as part of the Confederation Plan commission (indeed his nomination prevented him attending the Amsterdam Conference), and Moïse Kapenda Tshombe, a politician and businessman in the Katanga Province were the two best choices.
Copies of their histories were handed out as the Conference broke for the day.