Who was Edmund Morel?

E. D. Morel (1873 - 1924) was a British journalist, author of fifteen books and countless articles, and human rights activist, who led a campaign against African slavery with a special focus on atrocities perpetrated in the Congo. He founded, and was the editor and major contributor, the West African Mail, a periodical focusing on African human rights issues. During World War I, Morel espoused pacifism and served a six month term in Pentonville Prison for exporting anti-war material to a neutral country. Morel later entered politics, defeating Winston Churchill in his successful 1922 bid as a Labour candidate. Re-elected in 1924, Morel served little of his second term before succumbing to a heart attack.

The text considers Morel's involvement in human rights activities focused on the Congo. Morel secured a job as a clerk with Elder Dempster, an English shipping firm, and thereby gained access to shipping manifests for freight between Belgium and the Congo. He realized that nearly the only thing imported to the Congo were firearms and ammunition, whereas a steady stream of ivory and other precious goods left the Congo. The trade was obviously supremely unbalanced, and Morel rather quickly deduced that the only explanation was widespread slavery. Morel began publishing articles in 1900. By 1902 he resigned his position under pressure from Elder Dempster and in 1903 he founded the West African Mail, an illustrated weekly. Largely because of Morel's publications, public opinion in Great Britain demanded an official response to allegations of atrocities. In 1904 Roger Casement's official government report substantiated virtually all of Morel's claims. The two men quickly became friends; Casement referred to Morel as "Dear Bulldog."

Morel later founded the Congo Reform Association and developed friendships with such notables as Joseph Conrad, Anatole France, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mark Twain. Finally, in 1905, Leopold succumbed to public pressure and launched his own Commission of Inquiry, which—surprisingly—concluded that Morel and Casement were essentially correct. Continued international pressure, largely reported by Morel, led to the annexation of the Congo as a Belgian colony. The text notes Morel's single-minded determination to expose atrocities in the Congo and comments on his peculiar obsession, having no identifiable reason to pursue a decades-long task nearly devoid of remuneration. Morel is presented as an unwavering champion of human rights and is easily one of the most sympathetic persons portrayed in the book.