The Scramble for Africa,

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5258, 14 May 1895, Page 1

The Scramble for Africa,

(From the Lyttelton Times.) Eecent reports regarding French encroachments in Africa are likely to give riße to uneasy apprehensions of trouble. It may be accepted afl true, in a general sense, that, as Lord Dufferin lately declared at a Chamber of Commerce banquet in Paris, Africa is •' not worth fighting for;" but the overcrowded nations of Europe nearly all betray a feverish desire to secure a slice of its territory. It is a scramble for a continent that is now going on, and the Bold scheme of Mr Cecil Rhodes for obtaining the lion's share for England is doubtless responsible for the access of activity on the part of France which has led to the present difficulty in the valleys of the Niger and the Nile. France has already largo African territories in Tunis, Algeria and Dahomey, with the back country over which she has some sort of shadowy claim. Portugal has long had African possessions; but among more modern achievements at the game of " grab " may be noted the German annexation in the Cameroons, the rights acquired by Belgium over the Congo country, the effort of Italy to wrest territory from Abyssinia and the Spanish campaign against Morocco. Evidently the nations think Africa worth spending blood and treasure upon. Probably what Lord Dufferin intended to convey was that it was not worth while for European nations to fight with each other about its possession ; yet that is the very contingency that just now seems to be imminent:

The French " Jingoes," whose views are expounded by M. Deloncle, are enthusiastic on the subject of African annexation, and they hope by a bold stroke in the centre of the Dark Continent to pay out England for her ascendency in Egypt. Here is what M. Deloncle wrote on the subject in the Matin of February 15: — "In Africa we have managed so ably that our Empire now extends from Algiers to the Soudan, to the coaat of the Niger, to Lake Tchad, to the Congo and to tho Nile. Only last week M. Hanotaux signed with the King of the Belgians a treaty, the practical effect of which cuts right across the famous route from the Cape to Cairo, which England dreamed of making an English route from end to end." That ia a programme which is in direct, conflict with English rights and interests, as Sir Edward Grey told the House of Commons in March last. . Sir Edward discredited the rumour that a French expedition had been sent to occupy the Nile Valley, and he declared that a French advance " from the west side of Africa into territory subject to British claims, would be not only an inconsistent and unexpected act, but also an unfriendly one, and would be regarded as such by the Government." Yet there seems no reason to doubt that this has substantially taken place. An expeditionary . force, led by the French Governor of Dahomey, has penetrated into territory within the British sphere, has eet up stations, and has made treaties with native chiefs. That this has been accomplished without a warlike collision must be largely due to the forbearance of the British Royal Niger Company, which has jurisdiction over the territory invaded, and has a native army a thousand strong, well armed and officered by Englishmen. It is not two years since there was a conflict between French and English troops at Wanna, in the debatable ground which constitutes the hinterland of Senegal and Sierra LeJne, and there is a danger that at any moment a similar collision may take place on the banks of the Niger, despite the excellent understanding that obtains between the Governments of England and France, The Warina incident was still the subject of diplomatic discussion in March last, and the outcome will doubtless be a definite delimitation of boundaries such aB will obviate any future difficulty.

There are indications that France is not acting in good faith in the matter of her expeditions towards the head waters of the Niger and Nile. Evidence of concerted action with a view to defeat the Rhodesian dream of a British highway from Capetown to Cairo iB afforded by the fact that M.

Savorgnan de Brazza, the Commis-sary-General o£ the French Congo, some time ago set forth a scheme " for France to go aa far as Lake Tchad and draw around her the population oT Darfur, and thence proceed eastwards." This is exactly on the lines of M. Deloncle's aspirations, and the action of the Governor of Dahomey in annexing the Dahomey an hinter- : land right up to the Niger is part of the same plan. The French Government at first denied that anyone belonging to that nation had been at .work within the sphere of the Royal Niger Company ; then, when the facts .could not be gainsaid, it advanced the plausible plea that the expedition was -composed pt " private travellers." These are tactics more BUggestive of the -wily Muscovite than of the .chivalrous people who have a standing sneer at joeifide Albion. The Russian Government has a convenient way. of despatching semirailitary expeditions to Asiatic countries, which expeditions, if they are successful in " sneaking " territory, ,eeee recognised as official, but if they i.ata found «at» they ere then dis.chimed as saere prif»te scientific iVindertakings. Th<» "private traveller" theory provides a convenient back | door "by which (ho Fiendi Government may escape from the eaibarrasaBtent of being found out in aa attempt to steal what waa banded ever to England by ..solejnn treaty, the . if ?esom*cea of ciFilitetiOD," the lie is, at \ aajr rate;/' preferable 'to . a dec!ars>tio& of ftar; The mala fides of. Franco iaalao apparent, in the suggestion of M, Deloncle that an International

Congress should be called to decide between the conflicting- claims of Prance and England in the Nile Valley. It is as though an area eneal^ when caught in the act of pilfering, should suggest an appeal to arbitration to decide the ownership of the stolen articles.

The country administered by the Eoyal Niger Company haa an area of half a million square miles, and a population estimated at twenty millions. The boundaries, which are but roughly defined, extend from the Gulf of Guinea to Lake Tchad, where the French and English lines meet at Barrawa. In 1893 the exports from the Niger region were valued at nearly a million sterling, comprising gum, ivory, palm oil, hides, &Q. The British Protectorate over the Niger country was only assumed in 1884, though it is nearly a century since the explorer Mango Park made the region known. It was in 1886 that the charter of the Eoyal Niger Company was issued. The administration is under an Imperial Commissioner, a post which is at present filled by Sir Claude Macdonald. This portion of Equatorial Africa ia not at all suited for European settlement, and its value for purposes of colonisation ib practically nil. If, therefore, no mere were in question than the ownership of a few thousands of miles more or less of malarial jungle, there would be no need to apprehend trouble between England and France. But, as we have endeavoured to show, the movements on the banks of the Niger have a deeper significance. They are aimed at British influence in Egypt ; they are so understood in France ; and the Anglophobists of that country will do their best to prevent a relinquishment of any advantage which the so-called private travellers may have gained in Africa. There is, however, still hope that diplomacy may effect a peaceful settlement of the difficulty that now threatens to engender excited and angry feelings.