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"Sanford, who attended the Anti-Slavery Conference as an American delegate, was horrified. Six years earlier he had won United States recognition for Leopold's Congo in exchange for his own signature on an agreement promising free trade; here was Leopold suddenly asking for customs duties. His naïve admiration shattered, Sanford felt that the king had betrayed him. He died the year after the conference ended, bitterly disillusioned with Leopold and deeply in debt. His Congo investments came to nothing, and the only sign that remained of him there was a six-ton steamboat called the Général Sanford" (93)
Sanford and his wife Gertrude
close to the end of his life
"Henry Shelton Sanford tried to get himself a job as a top colonial executive in Brussels...His hopes were in vain, for Leopold knew that Sanford's ability to give sumptuous Washington dinner parties was not matched by talent as an administrator or by the ruthlessness the king would require. Instead, Leopold gave Sanford permission to gather ivory and other products in the Congo, and the promise of help (not followed through on, as it turned out) in the form of porters, buildings, and steamboat transportation. But the Sanford Exploring Expedition...soon went the way of Sanford's other businesses. As usual, he tried to manage everything from Belgium, where mounting debts forced him to sell of some of his art collection and move to a smaller château." (91)
Copy of a Letter about the Expedition (1888)
Sanford's lobbying skills were put to use as personal envoy of Leopold's agenda in the Congo, Sanford wining and dining many members of American government including president Chester A. Arthur. Sanford advocated for U.S. recognition of Leopold's claim to the Congo, and support of all he was doing there. Sanford compared the treatment of Africans to the highly regarded treatment of native Americans, spread Leopold's propaganda of philanthropy, and advocated for American slaves to be sent back to the Congo (to be used as laborers).
Sanford and his rather large family at his estate in Florida
Born in Woodbury, Connecticut, 1823
Family fortune made from brass tacks
a kind of nail used when corrosion may be an issue for steel nails
Descended from Governor Thomas Welles (1590-1660)
The only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary
“General” is an honorary title, he never served in the military.
He obtained the title after donating a cannon battery to the Union in the Civil War.
Antique Brass Tacks
"As a board member of Leopold's venture...[Sanford] made it sound almost like Travelers Aid. In New York, on a 1879 trip to tend to his money losing investments, Sanford gave a speech saying that the king's aim was to..." (66)
President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as Minister to Belgium in 1861, and after his 8 year tenure he stayed in Belgium, growing close to King Leopold, even naming a son after him.
Sanford's recent failure to attain a new diplomatic post, the train wreck business ventures dwindling his fortune away, and a "fondness for royalty" (59) all drew him to the crown.
In 1878 Leopold chose to use Sanford to recruit Henry Morton Stanley to the International African Association, sending Sanford and Greindl to France in secret. When that failed, Leopold sent Sanford to speak with him again until Stanley finally signed on.
Sanford, 1865