In April 1887 France was informed that the right of pre-emption accorded to her in 1884 had not been intended by King Leopold to prejudice Belgium's right to acquire the Congo State, and in reply the French minister at Brussels took note of the explanation, ``in so far as this interpretation is not contrary to pre-existing international engagements.'' By his will, dated the 2nd of August 1889, King Leopold made Belgium formally heir to the sovereign rights of the Congo Free State. In 1895 an annexation bill was introduced into the Belgian parliament, but at that time Belgium had no desire to assume responsibility for the Congo State, and the bill was withdrawn. In 1901, by the terms of a loan granted in 1890, Belgium had again an opportunity of annexing the Congo State, but a bill in favour of annexation was opposed by the government and was withdrawn after King Leopold had declared that the time was not ripe for the transfer. Concessionaire companies and a Domaine de la Couronne had been created in the state, from which the sovereign derived considerable revenues—facts which helped to explain the altered attitude of Leopold II. The agitation in Great Britain and America against the Congo system of government, and the admissions of an official commission of inquiry concerning its maladministration, strengthened, however, the movement in favour of transfer. Nevertheless in June 1906 the king again declared himself opposed to immediate annexation. But under pressure of public opinion the Congo government concluded, 28th of November 1907, a new annexation treaty. As it stipulated for the continued existence of the crown domain the treaty provoked vehement opposition. Leopold II. was forced to yield, and an additional act was signed, 5th of March 1908, providing for the suppression of the domain in return for financial subsidies. The treaty, as amended, was approved by the Belgian parliament in the session of 1908. Thus the Congo state, after an existence of 24 years as an independent power, became a Belgian colony. (See CONGO FREE STATE.)
The area of the Free State, vast as it was, did not suffice to satisfy the ambition of its sovereign. King Leopold maintained that the Free State enjoyed equally with any other state the right to extend its frontiers. His ambition involved the state in the struggle between Great Britain and France for the upper Nile. To understand the situation it is necessary to remember the condition of the Egyptian Sudan at that time. The mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed, had preached a holy war against the Egyptians, and, after the capture of Khartum and the death of General C. G. Gordon, the Sudan was abandoned to the dervishes. The Egyptian frontier was withdrawn to Wadi Haifa, and the vast provinces of Kordofan, Darfur and the Bahr-el-Ghazal were given over to dervish tyranny and misrule. It was obvious that Egypt would sooner or later seek to recover her position in the Sudan, as the command of the upper Nile was recognized as essential to her continued prosperity. But the international position of the abandoned provinces was by no means clear. The British government, by the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, had secured the assent of Germany to the statement that the British sphere of influence in East Africa was bounded on the west by the Congo Free State and by ``the western watershed of the basin of the upper Nile''; but this claim was not recognized either by France or by the Congo Free State. From her base on the Congo, France was busily engaged pushing forward along the northern tributaries of the great river. On the 27th of April 1887 an agreement was signed with the Congo Free State by which the right bank of the Ubangi river was secured to French influence, and the left bank to the Congo Free State. The desire of France to secure a footing in the upper Nile valley was partly due, as has been seen, to her anxiety to extend a French zone across Africa, but it was also and to a large
The contest for the upper Nile.
extent attributable to the belief, widely entertained in France, that by establishing herself on the upper Nile France could regain the position in Egyptian affairs which she had sacrificed in 1882. With these strong inducements France set steadily to work to consolidate her position on the tributary streams of the upper Congo basin, preparatory to crossing into the valley of the upper Nile. Meanwhile a similar advance was being made from the Congo Free State northwards and eastwards. King Leopold had two objects in view—-to obtain control of the rich province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and to secure an outlet on the Nile. Stations were established on the Welle river, and in February 1891 Captain van Kerckhoven left Leopoldville for the upper Welle with the most powerful expedition which had, up to that time, been organized by the Free State. After some heavy fighting the expedition reached the Nile in September 1892, and opened up communications with the remains of the old Egyptian garrison at Wadelai. Other expeditions under Belgian officers penetrated into the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and it was apparent that King Leopold proposed to rely on effective occupation as an answer to any claims which might be advanced by either Great Britain or France. The news of what was happening in this remote region Of Africa filtered through to Europe very slowly, but King Leopold was warned on several occasions that Great Britain would not recognize any claims by the Congo Free State on the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The difficulty was, however, that neither from Egypt, whence the road was barred by the khalifa (the successor of the mahdi), nor from Uganda, which was far too remote from the coast to serve as the base of a large expedition, could a British force be despatched to take effective occupation of the upper Nile valley. There was, therefore, danger lest the French should succeed in establishing themselves on the upper Nile before the preparations which were being made in Egypt for ``smashing'' the khalifa were completed.
In these circumstances Lord Rosebery, who was then British foreign minister, began, and his successor, the 1st earl of
The Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894.
Kimberley, completed, negotiations with King Leopold which resulted in the conclusion of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 12th May 1894. By this agreement King Leopold recognized the British sphere of influence as laid down in the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, and Great Britain granted a lease to King Leopold of certain territories in the western basin of the upper Nile, extending on the Nile from a point on Lake Albert to Fashoda, and westwards to the Congo-Nile watershed. The practical effect of this agreement was to give the Congo Free State a lease, during its sovereign's lifetime, of the old Bahr-el-Ghazal province, and to secure after His Majesty's death as much of that territory as lay west of the 30th meridian, together with access to a port on Lake Albert, to his successor. At the same time the Congo Free State leased to Great Britain a strip of territory, 15 1/2 m. in breadth, between the north end of Lake Tanganyika and the south end of Lake Albert Edward. This agreement was hailed as a notable triumph for British diplomacy. But the triumph was short-lived. By the agreement of July 1890 with Germany, Great Britain had been reluctantly compelled to abandon her hopes of through communication between the British spheres in the northern and southern parts of the continent, and to Consent to the boundary of German East Africa marching with the eastern frontier of the Congo Free State. Germany frankly avowed that she did not wish to have a powerful neighbour interposed between herself and the Congo Free State. It was obvious that the new agreement would effect precisely what Germany had declined to agree to in 1890. Accordingly Germany protested in such vigorous terms that, on the 22nd of June 1894, the offending article was withdrawn by an exchange of notes between Great Britain and the Congo Free State. Opinion in France was equally excited by the new agreement. It was obvious that the lease to the Congo Free State was intended to exclude France from the Nile by placing the Congo Free State as a barrier across her path. Pressure was brought to bear on King Leopold, from Paris, to renounce the rights acquired under the agreement, and on the 14th of August 1894 King Leopold signed an agreement with France by which, in exchange for France's acknowledgment of the Mbomu river as his northern frontier, His Majesty renounced all occupation and all exercise of political influence west of 30 deg. E., and north of a line drawn from that meridian to the Nile along 5 deg. 30' N.
This left the way still open for France to the Nile, and in June 1896 Captain J. Marchand left France with secret instructions to lead an expedition into the Nile valley. On the 1st of March in the following year he left Brazzaville, and began a journey which all but plunged Great Britain and France into war. The difficulties which Captain Marchand had to overcome were mainly those connected with transport. In October 1897 the expedition reached the banks of the Sue, the waters of which eventually flow into the Nile. Here a post was established and the ``Faidherbe,'' a steamer which had been carried across the Congo-Nile watershed in sections, was put together and launched. On the 1st of May 1898 Marchand started on the final stage of his journey, and reached Fashoda on the 10th of July, having established a chain of posts en route. At Fashoda the French flag was at once raised, and a ``treaty'' made with the local chief. Meanwhile other expeditions had been concentrating on
The French at Fashoda.
Fashoda—a mud-flat situated in a swamp, round which for many months raged the angry passions of two great peoples. French expeditions, with a certain amount of assistance from the emperor Menelek of Abyssinia, had been striving to reach the Nile from the east, so as to join hands with Marchand and complete the line of posts into the Abyssinian frontier. In this, however, they were unsuccessful. No better success attended the expedition under Colonel (afterwards Sir) Ronald Macdonald, R.E., sent by the British government from Uganda to anticipate the French in the occupation of the upper Nile. It was from the north that claimants arrived to dispute with the French their right to Fashoda, and all that the occupation of that dismal post implied. In 1896 an Anglo-Egyptian army, under the direction of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener, had begun to advance southwards for the reconquest of the Egyptian Sudan. On the 2nd of September 1898 Khartum was captured, and the khalifa's army dispersed. It was then that news reached the Anglo-Egyptian commander, from native sources, that there were white men flying a strange flag at Fashoda. The sirdar at once proceeded in a steamer up the Nile, and courteously but firmly requested Captain Marchand to remove the French flag. On his refusal the Egyptian flag was raised close to the French flag, and the dispute was referred to Europe for adjustment between the British and French governments. A critical situation ensued. Neither government was inclined to give way, and for a time war seemed imminent. Happily Lord Salisbury was able to announce, on the 4th of November, that France was willing to recognize the British claims, and the incident was finally closed on the 21st of March 1899, when an Anglo-French declaration was signed, by the terms of which France withdrew from the Nile valley and accepted a boundary line which satisfied her earlier ambition by uniting the whole of her territories in North, West and Central Africa into a homogeneous whole, while effectually preventing the realization of her dream of a transcontinental empire from west to east. By this declaration it was agreed that the dividing line between the British and French spheres, north of the Congo Free State, should follow the Congo-Nile water-parting up to its intersection with the 11th parallel of north latitude, from which point it was to be ``drawn as far as the 15th parallel in such a manner as to separate in principle the kingdom of Wadai from what constituted in 1882 the province of Darfur,'' but in no case was it to be drawn west of the 21st degree of east longitude, or east of the 23rd degree. From the 15th parallel the line was continued north and north-west to the intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with 16 deg. E. French influence was to prevail west of this line, British influence to the east. Wadai was thus definitely assigned to France.
When, by the declaration of the 21st of March 1899, France renounced all territorial ambitions in the upper Nile basin, King
Fate of the Bar-el-Ghazal.
Leopold revived his claims to the Bahr-el-Ghazal province under the terms of the lease granted by Article 2 of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of 1894. This step he was encouraged to take by the assertion of Lord Salisbury, in his capacity as secretary of state for foreign affairs during the negotiations with France concerning Fashoda, that the lease to King Leopold was still in full force. But the assertion was made simply as a declaration of British right to dispose of the territory, and the sovereign of the Congo State found that there was no disposition in Great Britain to allow the Bahr-el-Ghazal to fall into his hands. Long and fruitless negotiations ensued. The king at length (1904) sought to force a settlement by sending armed forces into the province. Diplomatic representations having failed to secure the withdrawal of these forces, the Sudan government issued a proclamation which had the effect of cutting off the Congo stations from communication with the Nile, and finally King Leopold consented to an agreement, signed in London on the 9th of May 1906, whereby the 1894 lease was formally annulled. The Bahr-el-Ghazal thenceforth became undisputedly an integral part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. King Leopold had, however, by virtue of the 1894 agreement administered the comparatively small portion of the leased area in which his presence was not resented by France. This territory, including part of the west bank of the Nile and known as the Lado Enclave, the 1906 agreement allowed King Leopold to ``continue during his reign to occupy.'' Provision was made that within six months of the termination of His Majesty's reign the enclave should be handed over to the Sudan government (see CONGO FREE STATE.) In this manner ended the long struggle for supremacy on the upper Nile, Great Britain securing the withdrawal of all European rivals.
The course of events in the southern half of the continent may now be traced. By the convention of the 14th of February
Portugal's trans-African schemes.
1885, in which Portugal recognized the sovereignty of the Congo Free State, and by a further convention concluded with France in 1886, Portugal secured recognition of her claim to the territory known as the Kabinda enclave, lying north of the Congo, but not to the northern bank of the river. By the same convention of 1885 Portugal's claim to the southern bank of the river as far as Noki (the limit of navigation from the sea) had been admitted. Thus Portuguese possessions on the west coast extended from the Congo to the mouth of the Kunene river. In the interior the boundary with the Free State was settled as far as the Kwango river, but disputes arose as to the right to the country of Lunda, otherwise known as the territory of the Muato Yanvo. On the 25th of May 1891 a treaty was signed at Lisbon, by which this large territory was divided between Portugal and the Free State. The interior limits of the Portuguese possessions in Africa south of the equator gave rise, however, to much more serious discussions than were involved in the dispute as to the Muato Yanvo's kingdom. Portugal, as has been stated, claimed all the territories between Angola and Mozambique, and she succeeded in inducing both France and Germany, in 1886, to recognize the king of Portugal's ``right to exercise his sovereign and civilizing influence in the territories which separate the Portuguese possessions or Angola and Mozambique.'' The publication of the treaties containing this declaration, together with a map showing Portuguese claims extending over the whole of the Zambezi valley, and over Matabeleland to the south and the greater part of Lake Nyasa to the north, immediately provoked a formal protest from the British government. On the 13th of August 1887 the British charge d'affaires at Lisbon transmitted to the Portuguese minister for foreign affairs a memorandum from Lord Salisbury, in which the latter formally protested ``against any claims not founded on occupation,'' and contended that the doctrine of effective occupation had been admitted in principle by all the parties to the Act of Berlin. Lord Salisbury further stated that ``Her Majesty's government cannot recognize Portuguese sovereignty in territory not occupied by her in sufficient strength to enable her to maintain order, protect foreigners and control the natives.'' To this Portugal replied that the doctrine of effective occupation was expressly confined by the Berlin Act to the African coast, but at the same time expeditions were hastily despatched up the Zambezi and some of its tributaries to discover traces of former Portuguese occupation. Matabeleland and the districts of Lake Nyasa werespecially mentioned in the British protest as countries in which Her Majesty's government took a special interest. As a matter of fact the extension of British influence northwards to the Zambezi had engaged the attention of the British authorities ever since the appearance of Germany in South-West Africa and the declaration of a British protectorate over Bechuanaland. There were rumours of German activity in Matabeleland, and