The prevailing opinion at court was that the founding of a colony was beyond the strength of the Sovereign of a small state and that he would swallow up his private fortune, unable to create anything lasting. The King sought for the execution of his designs collaborators possessed of the faith which he himself had and which lifts mountains.

All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 8. The Short Colonial Careers of Jules Greindl, Eugène père Beyens, Eugène Napoléon Beyens and Maximilien Strauch, Eugène Napoléon Beyens (1855-1934) Eugène Napoléon Beyens himself had a modest share in the creation of the Congo Free State. Shortly after 1883 he was in charge of private correspondence about the Congo. As a youngster he received this assignment, perhaps because Leopold II realized that the advisers associated with his 'Maison Civile' had little interest in those adventures. “Souvenirs sur Léopold II et la cour de Belgique.”, 545.