The act of July 1st
« Below, we shed some light on the genesis, nature and spirit of the act of July 1, 1932.
1e. M. le Résident français": As evidenced by the name ‘Résidence’ still used in Port-Gentil to designate the home of the Chief of the Oroungou district, ‘Résident’ was the title used by the European authorities of the time, who drafted and presented the Act of July 1, 1932 », Our aim was to examine mores and spirits, and to resurrect history. And here, although in our sense, past, present and future are one, we use this title to mean that: other is the time in which we place ourselves.
2e. « God's messenger": Jean-Jules Aurès, known as Benoît Ogoula Djemba, son of Ikuakua and Egoni, in charge of the ‘Physiological Celestial Mission’. Truth is one, and nothing comes from nothing. Once upon a time, drawn together by sympathies and spiritual affinities, two civilizations in the persons of two men met in this delta of the Ogoouée, the royal residence at the time being Ossengatanga (agglomeration, perfected, chosen city). The latter, an apostle of Catholic doctrine, came to teach the practice of his religion, of which monogamy and the abandonment of native tradition were the principal prescriptions, and faith in one God the principal commandment.
He, the spiritual leader, temporary and of monotheistic principles (for him, the spiritual and the temporal are one, the first leading the second) sees beneath the difference, the diversity, the variation, the inequality of symbols, of cult forms, of external practices, the identity of the efforts to be made, of the sacrifices to be imposed, the community of intention...
And it is for the common good of this unity, for the establishment of concord and harmony between the races, the associated opinions, it is in the service of social and moral truths that we declare our intention to place our activity.
We prevented any opinions or prejudices that might see us as the defender of any party or race, to the detriment of the friendship and mutual affection that should exist between men in any society, and of the social peace, harmony and public order we felt called to help strengthen. In our view, there is no indigenous policy, but a French policy, an idea, a soul, a French ideal to be planted, cultivated and enhanced in the colonies; a horizon for the influence of the French nation to be broadened; a human progress to the realization of which every man has a duty to collaborate.
Hard is the way of good, we affirm. Acknowledging the antagonism between spirit and matter, good and evil.
Such is the spirit of the act of July 1, 1932. But whatever the apprehensions, suppositions and fears of the chiefs responsible for law and order in Gabon may have been about our case ; only the explanations given above, the perfect calm that reigns in Port-Gentil, where no political disturbance has ever been observed, and the forty-five months' stay in Oubangui-Chari, free of any reproach, are rational and true proof of the innocence of our conduct, of our actions, and of the inanity for public order, for any French interest, of maintaining the severe measure imposed on us, which, in this very Oubangui, deprives us of the work that generates the material and moral well-being that nourishes the body, uplifts the soul, ennobles the heart, and by which we support a family; a measure which only the concern for public order could have dictated, and which it no longer justifies.
To maintain this pessimism, this regrettable error, according to which we are a danger to public order, would be tantamount, in order to support and justify a gospel opinion, to persisting today in the belief that it is the sun that revolves around the earth. We apologize for having held your attention for so long, but it was necessary and useful to represent things in their true physiognomy; to enlighten those who do not know and for whom the past has nothing to do with the present and the present with the future; the sages of the high seat of government, whose duty it is to uphold virtue, cherish the truth and ensure the triumph and reign of justice, on the meaning and real scope of expressions; the origin, nature and exact, true significance of facts. And now that, on our case, the sun of truth has risen, penetrating, illuminating the background and dispelling the phantoms of the night, and that a lenient look upon us would only be a manifestation of the great principles of gentle and spiritual France, and would only have the best effects on politics, we remain confident in the soul of our government, and faithful to our intention to serve it, in the sense above indicated and specified. Yours sincerely
Long live universal and spiritual France!
Bambari, July 18, 1936 Signed Benoît Ogoula Iquaqua
« Below, we shed some light on the genesis, nature and spirit of the act of July 1, 1932.
1e. M. le Résident français": As evidenced by the name ‘Résidence’ still used in Port-Gentil to designate the home of the Chief of the Oroungou district, ‘Résident’ was the title used by the European authorities of the time, who drafted and presented the Act of July 1, 1932 », Our aim was to examine mores and spirits, and to resurrect history. And here, although in our sense, past, present and future are one, we use this title to mean that: other is the time in which we place ourselves.
2e. « God's messenger": Jean-Jules Aurès, known as Benoît Ogoula Djemba, son of Ikuakua and Egoni, in charge of the ‘Physiological Celestial Mission’. Truth is one, and nothing comes from nothing. Once upon a time, drawn together by sympathies and spiritual affinities, two civilizations in the persons of two men met in this delta of the Ogoouée, the royal residence at the time being Ossengatanga (agglomeration, perfected, chosen city). The latter, an apostle of Catholic doctrine, came to teach the practice of his religion, of which monogamy and the abandonment of native tradition were the principal prescriptions, and faith in one God the principal commandment.
He, the spiritual leader, temporary and of monotheistic principles (for him, the spiritual and the temporal are one, the first leading the second) sees beneath the difference, the diversity, the variation, the inequality of symbols, of cult forms, of external practices, the identity of the efforts to be made, of the sacrifices to be imposed, the community of intention...
And it is for the common good of this unity, for the establishment of concord and harmony between the races, the associated opinions, it is in the service of social and moral truths that we declare our intention to place our activity.
We prevented any opinions or prejudices that might see us as the defender of any party or race, to the detriment of the friendship and mutual affection that should exist between men in any society, and of the social peace, harmony and public order we felt called to help strengthen. In our view, there is no indigenous policy, but a French policy, an idea, a soul, a French ideal to be planted, cultivated and enhanced in the colonies; a horizon for the influence of the French nation to be broadened; a human progress to the realization of which every man has a duty to collaborate.
Hard is the way of good, we affirm. Acknowledging the antagonism between spirit and matter, good and evil.
Such is the spirit of the act of July 1, 1932. But whatever the apprehensions, suppositions and fears of the chiefs responsible for law and order in Gabon may have been about our case ; only the explanations given above, the perfect calm that reigns in Port-Gentil, where no political disturbance has ever been observed, and the forty-five months' stay in Oubangui-Chari, free of any reproach, are rational and true proof of the innocence of our conduct, of our actions, and of the inanity for public order, for any French interest, of maintaining the severe measure imposed on us, which, in this very Oubangui, deprives us of the work that generates the material and moral well-being that nourishes the body, uplifts the soul, ennobles the heart, and by which we support a family; a measure which only the concern for public order could have dictated, and which it no longer justifies.
To maintain this pessimism, this regrettable error, according to which we are a danger to public order, would be tantamount, in order to support and justify a gospel opinion, to persisting today in the belief that it is the sun that revolves around the earth. We apologize for having held your attention for so long, but it was necessary and useful to represent things in their true physiognomy; to enlighten those who do not know and for whom the past has nothing to do with the present and the present with the future; the sages of the high seat of government, whose duty it is to uphold virtue, cherish the truth and ensure the triumph and reign of justice, on the meaning and real scope of expressions; the origin, nature and exact, true significance of facts. And now that, on our case, the sun of truth has risen, penetrating, illuminating the background and dispelling the phantoms of the night, and that a lenient look upon us would only be a manifestation of the great principles of gentle and spiritual France, and would only have the best effects on politics, we remain confident in the soul of our government, and faithful to our intention to serve it, in the sense above indicated and specified. Yours sincerely
Long live universal and spiritual France!
Bambari, July 18, 1936 Signed Benoît Ogoula Iquaqua