Roume claimed French rule introduced individual rights to Africans previously subject to arbitrary chiefs.

Evidence

With these actions in mind, Roume could with satisfaction proclaim that “the native, who knew no other regime than that of bloody conquest or of the absolute arbitrariness of chiefs, of whom he was almost always the victim, realizes that, thanks to us, the rights of the individual exist, and that a fair and firm authority is always at hand to make them respected.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 387