HoD Quotation Discussion

Pg. 70 "What redeems it [the conquest of the earth] is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; an unselfish belief in that idea--something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to..." Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

If you can believe that conquest of other lands can be redeemable, then our narrator seems to be saying, through use of religious terms such as "belief", "bow down before", and "sacrifice", that as long as religion is guiding you, then you can engage in conquest. He believes that the robbery, savagery, and unscrupulous gains which come of invading are detestable. However, that he says that there can be a 'redeeming value' to this practice is horrible...how can any of these aforementioned acts have any redeeming values? There can be only some very extreme situations in which conquest can be any good, such as to stop a genocide...not to spread a religion that will be imposed on unwilling subjects. The "sentimental pretense" lends itself to the Congo as some type of foreshadowing in the story (although people would have been hearing about the Congo conflict already), as Leopold was able to successfully use and discard Africans in his colony for financial gain under the guise of humanitarian efforts.