Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-06-01
The French on the Congo.

1nere can be no doubt that the French
Government have seriously undertaken
to make their protectorate effectual.
They have not only supplied NJ de
Brazza with arms and goods, but have
given him a commission and the sup
port of troops. The powers said TO
have been conferred on him are nearly
as wide as any given to the navigators
OF the sixteenth century. If he was
going to an unexplored continent he
could scarcely have a wider commission
The only limit placed on him is very
vaguely worded. He is to extend the
French protectorate as far as possible.
There is obviously very little knowledge
in Paris as to how far that may be.
Familiarity with geography has never
been the strong point of the French, and
they have very loose ideas both as to
what there is to take and as to its value.
But if their knowledge is little their
hopes are great. The ambition to pos
sess a great colonial empire has always
been strong among them and has re-
vived of late, for sufficiently obvious
reasons. They find the road blocked
everywhere except in Africa. and that
makes them all the more determined to
avail themselves of such opening as they
can get. The fact that the west coast
of Africa has been occupied at different
points by England, Holland, Portugal,
and even by themselves, and found to
be scarcely worth the trouble of keep
ing, is not likely to stop their present
enthusiasm to get better footing there
They thoroughly understand that when
they can not get what they would like
they must like what they can get. What
is to be obtained on the equatorial coast
of West Africa, is nothing very consid-
cradle. There is already French set
Element on the river Ogowai, some five
| degrees to the north of the Congo. 1t
is said to consist, like most of their coli
onies, chiefly of Government officials.
To extend this valuable possession
along some three hundred and twenty
miles of pestiferous coast does not seem
to be very magnificent colonial ambi-
ton. But they would extend their ter
ritory and their influence, and when
the French can feel that they have per-
formed that feat, they are not too curl
Gus In examining into the value of what
| they have obtained. In the present
case, too, they feel that there is some
thing behind the valueless coast which
is well worth having. There is all the
center of Africa to be opened up to trade
and made into colony. The Congo
has been shown by Mr.. Stanley to be
navigable above the Livingstone Falls,
and TO flow through rich countries in
which there are great things to be done.
Having been shut out from almost ev-
erywhere else, the French are eager to
profit by their last chance. The only
serious obstacle to their enterprises is
the trading post on the Upper Congo
established by the Belgian Company.
They do not of course openly propose
to expel the independent traders, but it
is obvious that. if once they obtain pos
session of the mouth of the river, they
can regulate the trade at their pleasure.
And it is the certainty that they will do
so which is causing so much uneasi-
ness to be felt about their schemes
among other nations interested in the
actual or possible commerce of Central
Africa--SdturdGy ReUietc.