I am dragged in spite of myself in this damn Africa business; a toy which, it is true, will hurt no one; which excites geographers, but which will make people laugh here.
Source, in full
All the King's Men' A search for the colonial ideas of some advisers and "accomplices" of Leopold II (1853-1892). (Hannes Vanhauwaert), 4. Viceroys without colonial aspirations? Jules Devaux (1828-1886) STENGERS, J. “Leopold II between the Far East and Africa 1875-1876.” In: La Conférence de Géographie de Bruxelles, 1876. Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese wetenschappen, ed. Brussels, 1976, 349.