THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1889.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9263, 17 January 1889, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1889.

The discussion in the Reichstag on Germany's policy in East Africa, and Prince Bismarck's vindication of it mentioned in a Berlin despatch this morning, serve, to call attention to a question which is likely to assume serious proportions before long. We published the other day a cable massage announcing that the Arabs in Uganda had attacked the French and English mission stations, and destroyed them, together with all their stores. It was also stated that the Arabs had threatened to exterminate all missions in Central Africa in revenge for the anti-slavery policy of England. To those who have been watching the course of events along the shoreline of Eastern Africa, and the gradual development of the Bismarckian policy on the fringe of the Dark Continent, this news will not come as a surprise. When the German East African Company sometime ago commenced to manifest a disposition to extend their power and influence along the Zanzibar coast and in the back country, and began to put into force, after the characteristic manner of their race, their notions of colonising activity in a semi-barbarous country, there were not wanting reliable prophets to utter a warning as to the ultimate consequences of such a policy. It was pointed out that the irritating methods of the German Company were not only calculated to provoke the active hostility of tho natives as against themselves, but ; were not unlikely to rouse a widespread and dangerous feeling among ; the natives in the interior towards the various European mission stations which have been slowly and laboriously established by the patient efforts and self-sacrificing devotion of a handful of Christian workers. It was also shown that the success of the English East African Company was greatly jeopardised by the course of action adopted by their German rival. The prospects of the former Company had been almost from the first of the most inviting description. They had won the confidence and respect of the natives, and were gradually Duilding up an extensive trade on a solid foundation. All that, however, is now changed. The Zanzibar seaboard is aflame with the spirit of revolt and fanaticism, and the wave of warfare which has been raised is rolling far into the interior, obliterating in blood the Christian landmarks which have so long stood, like oases in the desert, amid a mass of superstition, barbarity, and fanaticism.

This state of things has an interest for us which it is scarcely possible to exaggerate. We have, through long years of difficulties and dangers, created for ourselves a position and prestige in Africa of which we have every reason to feel proud. It behoves English statesmen, therefore, to act with caution and circumspection in the new conditions which have arisen, and which, through the adroitness of those who watch over German interests in the capital of the Empire, render it almost impossible for England to refuse to indentify herself to some extent with the German policy. The ostensible object of that policy is the suppression of the African slave-trade, and the German Government have requested the co-operation of England, Italy, France, and other Powers in putting down that nefarious traffic. This is a duty which England is not likely to shirk. There is no brighter feature of her dealings with Africa, and of her noble and civilising mission in that country, than her constant and determined efforts to stamp out as far as she could, by her own single-handed energy and vigilance, the traffic in human beings which was decimating whole districts, and turning into melancholy wastes what were formerly prosperous and populous and smiling villages. This task England carried on without the assistance of any other Power, and when Germany's interest in the African slave had not been born, or at least before it had given any indication of a healthy vitality. England, therefore, cannot decline to co-operate with other Powers in a task which she has so long discharged alone. It is our traditional

policy, and must always remain our policy. At the same time it is not altogether unjustifiable to regard Germany's tardy recognition of that policy, and her sudden outburst of enthusiasm for the cause of the slave with some little suspicion. It is too new,, too closely connected with the abortive eftorts of the German East African Company, too directly and clearly the outcome of trading and colonising failures, to be accepted as purely disinterested. And it is precisely this uncertainty as to the real aims of Germany, this doubt as to the sincerity and purity of her motives, that is giving rise to a feeling of suspicion in the English mind, and a fear lest our too ready co-operation with her ■will, in the long run, prove detrimental to our interests in Africa, and verify more fully than has yet been the case, the predictions of those who have always warned us against identifying ourselves with the Germans in Africa.

Lord Salisbury apparently does not think that there is much to fear from joining Germany in blockading the Zanzibar coast. Nor would there be if the new departure were to be strictly confined within the limits he sets down. The blockade, he says, is to be against the importation of munitions of war and the exportation of slaves, and for nothing else. "There is no ground for believing," he says, " that the Germans have any intention to resort to any action on shore. I have strong grounds for believing the contrary ; but at all events, whether they do so or not, with that we have nothing to do. We have merely engaged in certain naval operations, and we have not the slightest intention of engaging in military operations." But there seems every reason for believing that Germany not only contemplates military operations, but military operations on an extensive scale. The Government have asked the Pieichstag for a vote of two million marks for *' the reinstatement of the German East , African Company," a pleasant euphemism for recruiting and equipping an armed force in East Africa. The vote will no doubt be granted. It is supported by Prince Bismarck, and the financial condition of Germany, according to the Kaiser's speech, is flourishing enough to stand the extraction of such a sum out of the Treasury chest without causing any loud outcry from the taxpayers. But those on the spot do not share Lord Salisbury's ligbtheartedness. A letter written from Zanzibar by Bishop Smythies says :— <; This new move is undoubtedly serious. Everyone here knows the slave trade has nothing to do with it. It looks very much as if it might result in exterminating the missionaries. I daresay the action of the Government may be to prevent worse alternatives; but it is much to be lamented that they should be joined with the German in the minds of the natives now." This letter was written in November, and no doubt accurately expresses the opinion which was entertained at the time ; and the news from Uganda shows that that opinion was not far wrong. It seems pretty certain that Germany, under cover of suppressing the slave trade in conjunction with other Powers, is about to embark on a course of territorial aggrandisement, and in view of that design it is most unfortunate, though under the circumstances unavoidable, that England should be actively associated with her in any way. In such circumstances it is not to be wondered at if the natives should fail to discriminate between the two Powers, and regard both as their common enemy and animated by the same greed of earth. However, it is some satisfaction to receive the assurance of Lord Salisbury that, come what may, England's co-operation is limited in all strictness to the discharge of her traditional task, and that with military operations "we have nothing to do." At the same time, after our experience of German policy in these seas, it will be necessary to keep a vigilant eye upon its course in East Africa.