main stream in the direction of the falls that bear his name.
Meanwhile de Brazza was far from idle. He had returned to
Africa at the beginning of 1880, and while the agents of King
Leopold were making treaties and founding stations along the
southern bank of the river, de Brazza and other French agents
were equally busy on the northern bank. De Brazza was sent
out to Africa by the French committee of the International
African Association, which provided him with the funds for the
expedition. His avowed object was to explore the region
between the Gabun and Lake Chad. But his real object was to
anticipate Stanley on the Congo. The international character
of the association founded by King Leopold was never more
than a polite fiction, and the rivalry between the French and
the Belgians on the Congo was soon open, if not avowed. In
October 1880 de Brazza made a solemn treaty with a chief on
the north bank of the Congo, who claimed that his authority
extended over a large area, including territory on the southern
bank of the river. As soon as this chief had accepted French
protection, de Brazza crossed over to the south of the
river, and founded a station close to the present site of
Leopoldville. The discovery by Stanley of the French station
annoyed King Leopold's agent, and he promptly challenged
the rights of the chief who purported to have placed the
country under French protection, and himself founded a Belgian
station close to the site selected by de Brazza. In the
result, the French station was withdrawn to the northern
side of Stanley Pool, where it is now known as Brazzaville.
The activity of French and Belgian agents on the Congo had
not passed unnoticed in Lisbon, and the Portuguese government
saw that no time was to be lost if the claims it had never
ceased to put forward on the west coast were not to go by
default. At varying periods during the 19th century
Portugal had put forward claims to the whole of the West
African coast, between 5 deg. 12' and 8 deg. south. North of
the Congo mouth she claimed the territories of Kabinda and
Molemba, alleging that they had been in her possession since
1484. Great Britain had never, however, admitted this
claim, and south of the Congo had declined to recognize
Portuguese possessions as extending north of Ambriz. In
1856 orders were given to British cruisers to prevent by
force any attempt to extend Portuguese dominion north of that
place. But the Portuguese had been persistent in urging their
claims, and in 1882 negotiations were again opened with the
British government for recognition of Portuguese rights over
both banks of the Congo on the coast, and for some distance
inland. Into the details of the negotiations, which were
conducted for Great Britain by the 2nd Earl Granville, who was
then secretary for foreign affairs, it is unnecessary to enter;
they resulted in the signing on the 26th of February 1884 of a
treaty, by which Great Britain recognized the sovereignty of
the king of Portugal ``over that part of the west coast of
Africa, situated between 8 deg. and 5 deg. 12' south latitude,'' and
inland as far as Noki, on the south bank of the Congo, below
Vivi. The navigation of the Congo was to be controlled by
an Anglo-Portuguese commission. The publication of this
treaty evoked immediate protests, not only on the continent
but in Great Britain. In face of the disapproval aroused
by the treaty, Lord Granville found himself unable to ratify
it. The protests had not been confined to France and
the king of the Belgians. Germany had not yet acquired
formal footing in Africa, but she was crouching for the
spring prior to taking her part in the scramble, and Prince
Bismarck had expressed, in vigorous language, the objections
entertained by Germany to the Anglo-Portuguese treaty.
For some time before 1884 there had been growing up a
general conviction that it would be desirable for the powers
who were interesting themselves in Africa to come to some
agreement as to ``the rules of the game,'' and to define
their respective interests so far as that was practicable.
Lord Granville's ill-fated treaty brought this sentiment
to a head, and it was agreed to hold an international
conference on African affairs. But before discussing the
Berlin conference of 1884-1885, it will be well to see what
was the position, on the eve of the conference, in other
parts of the African continent. In the southern section of
Africa, south of the Zambezi, important events had been
happening. In 1876 Great Britain had concluded an agreement
British influence consolidated in South Africa.
with the Orange Free State for an adjustment of frontiers, the
result of which was to leave the Kimberley diamond fields in
British territory, in exchange for a payment of L. 90,000 to the
Orange Free State. On the 12th of April 1877 Sir Theophilus
Shepstone had issued a proclamation declaring the Transvaal--
the South African Republic, as it was officially designated--to
be British territory (see TRANSVAAL.) In December 1880 war
broke out and lasted until March 1881, when a treaty of peace was
signed. This treaty of peace was followed by a convention,
signed in August of the same year, under which complete
self-government was guaranteed to the inhabitants of the
Transvaal, subject to the suzerainty of Great Britain, upon
certain terms and conditions and subject to certain reservations
and limitations. No sooner was the convention signed than
it became the object of the Boers to obtain a modification of
the conditions and limitations imposed, and in February 1884
a fresh convention was signed, amending the convention of
1881. Article IV. of the new convention provided that ``The
South African Republic will conclude no treaty or engagement
with any state or nation other than the Orange Free State,
nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the
Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the
Queen.'' The precise effect of the two conventions has been
the occasion for interminable discussions, but as the subject
is now one of merely academic interest, it is sufficient to
say that when the Berlin conference held its first meeting
in 1884 the Transvaal was practically independent, so far
as its internal administration was concerned, while its
foreign relations were subject to the control just quoted.
But although the Transvaal had thus, between the years 1875
and 1884, become and ceased to be British territory, British
influence in other parts of Africa south of the Zambezi
had been steadily extended. To the west of the Orange Free
State, Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape in 1880,
while to the east the territories beyond the Kei river were
included in Cape Colony between 1877 and 1884, so that in the
latter year, with the exception of Pondoland, the whole of
South-East Africa was in one form or another under British
control. North of Natal, Zululand was not actually annexed
until 1887, although since 1879, when the military power of
the Zulus was broken up, British influence had been admittedly
supreme. In December 1884 St Lucia Bay--upon which Germany was
casting covetous eyes--had been taken possession of in virtue
of its cession to Great Britain by the Zulu king in 1843, and
three years later an agreement of non-cession to foreign powers
made by Great Britain with the regent and paramount chief of
Tongaland completed the chain of British possessions on the
coast of South Africa, from the mouth of the Orange river
on the west to Kosi Bay and the Portuguese frontier on the
east. In the interior of South Africa the year 1884 witnessed
the beginning of that final stage of the British advance
towards the north which was to extend British influence from the
Cape to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. The activity
of the Germans on the west, and of the Boer republic on the
east, had brought home to both the imperial and colonial
authorities the impossibility of relying on vague traditional
claims. In May 1884 treaties were made with native chiefs
by which the whole of the country north of Cape Colony,
west of the Transvaal, south of 22 deg. S. and east of 20 deg. E.,
was placed under British protection, though a protectorate
was not formally declared until the following January.
Meanwhile some very interesting events had been taking place
or: the west coast, north of the Orange river and south of the
Portuguese province of Mossamaede. It must be sufficient here
to touch very briefly on the events that preceded the foundation
of the colony of German South-West Africa. For many years
before 1884 German missionaries had settled among the Damaras
(Herero) and Namaquas, often combining small trading operations
with their missionary work. From time to time trouble arose
between the missionaries and the native chiefs, and appeals
Germany enters the field.
were made to the German government for protection. The
German government in its turn begged the British government
to say whether it assumed responsibility for the protection of
Europeans in Damaraland and Namaqualand. The position of the
British government was intelligible, if not very intelligent.
It did not desire to see any other European power in these
countries, and it did not want to assume the responsibility
and incur the expense of protecting the few Europeans settled
there. Sir Bartle Frere, when governor of the Cape (1877-1880),
had foreseen that this attitude portended trouble, and had
urged that the whole of the unoccupied coastline, up to
the Portuguese frontier, should be declared under British
protection. But he preached to deaf ears, and it was as something
of a concession to him that in March 1878 the British flag was
hoisted at Walfish Bay, and a small part of the adjacent land
declared to be British. The fact appears to be that British
statesmen failed to understand the change that had come over
Germany. They believed that Prince Bismarck would never give
his sanction to the creation of a colonial empire, and, to
the German inquiries as to what rights Great Britain claimed
in Damaraland and Namaqualand, procrastinating replies were
sent. Meanwhile the various colonial societies established
in Germany had effected a revolution in public opinion,
and, more important still, they had convinced the great
chancellor. Accordingly when, in November 1882, F. A. E.
Luderitz, a Bremen merchant, informed the German government
of his intention to establish a factory on the coast between
the Orange river and the Little Fish river, and asked if he
might rely on the protection of his government in case of
need, he met with no discouragement from Prince Bismarck.
In February 1883 the German ambassador in London informed
Lord Granville of Luderitz's design, and asked ``whether
Her Majesty's government exercise any authority in that
locality.'' It was intimated that if Her Majesty's government
did not, the German government would extend to Luderitz's
factory ``the same measure of protection which they give
to their subjects in remote parts of the world, but without
having the least design to establish any footing in South
Africa.'' An inconclusive reply was sent, and on the 9th of
April Luderitz's agent landed at Angra Pequena, and after a
short delay concluded a treaty with the local chief, by which
some 215 square miles around Angra Pequena were ceded to
Luderitz. In England and at the Cape irritation at the news
was mingled with incredulity, and it was fully anticipated
that Luderitz would be disavowed by his government. But
