The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-11
ENGLISH IN AFRICA.
Their Method Of Conquest Is Open Z
Grave Objections

Fhefr Method Of Conquest Is Open 70
Grave Objections
Africa has been of late the field OF
cur annexing operations, not because
| territory is valuable there, but because
It is difficult TO find territories To annex
elsewhere. Equatorial Africa is unfit
for European residence. 1t consists
mainly of swamps, iungies and i'm,
penetrable forests. In these black mer
have lived according 10 their own fash,
ion for centuries, and we and other M
tons have been satisfied with the occu,
patton of few seaports, where al,
venturous merchants have risked theif
health in endeavurs 70 grow rich by
trading with the natives inland. This
was not enough for the new school,
and 1t was determined TO extend the
area of empire. Therefore spectators
were encouraged 10 make treaties with
the chiefs of the various African tribes,
These treaties recognized our para.
mount rule, and, as the chiefs did not
understand them, they were ready &c
agree to them for bottle or two OF bad
spirits. Our next step was TO make
over these treaty-acquired territories
to some trading company. Other na-
tions soon followed our example. They.
too, made treaties, and these resulted in
. plurality of claims. These claims
were adjusted by Forthcoming out Africa
among the great European powers into
''spheres of influence" One power
agreed with another power on the ex.
tent of their respective spheres, and
other powers declined to recognize the
arrangement.
In western Africa we have included
in our sphere all the "hinterland,"
vague term borrowed from the German
language. Our neighbors are the
French, who have also their sphere.
But the frontier between the two
spheres is vague. In eastern Africa we
converted Zanzibar into a British pro-
fectorate. AS we had pledged ourselves
TO France not to do so without her as
sent, we obtained it by making her
present OF Madagascar, which did not
belong to us. Then we proceeded TO /
divide the eastern hinseriand between
ourselves and Germany, and, having
done SO, we coded our Sphere to. q /
company. Within our sphere was
Uganda, land separated from the /
coast by about 90 miles of desert. Its |
Inhabitants are mainly slaves, and its /
sole produce is a little ivory derived |
from hunting elephants. The COM
pany sent an envoy with an accom-.
paniment of Maxim guns to make a
treaty with IT'S king, and the poor
wretch had to acknowledge the COM
pany as his parnInoaht lord. His sub
jects objected, SO the company killed
many OF them. Finding, however, the
speculation valueiess, the company re-
tired. On this we declared Uganda I'M
der a British protectorate, paid the
company some 100000 for having left
IT, and since then we have been paying
cash at the rate of about 2 $4,000 per
nnnurn in salaries 20 officials there,
and in retaining in our service gang
of rufianly Soudanese to overawe the
inhabitants.
We are now about to build railroad
TO connect this wordroas acquisition
with the sea coast, and favorable esti-
mates were put forward to show that
If we run one train per week we shall
be able to perform this feat at cost of
not more than $4,000 per annum in
excess of all returns.
The most Of the population in the
are slaves, and it is no:
to free them. Moreover, in
the proposed snltanate of Zanzibar
there are about 100000 slaves so hardly
worked that their lives only average
ten years, and yet this'slaye population
IS on the Increase AS fornew markets,
t is equally vaguely stated that the
soil of Uganda might produce crops,
md that if produced The crops might be
exchanged for cotton goods. CONNER
,iany, the whole scheme is about as
absurd as il wouih be for US TO annex
he north of Greenland and to build a
abroad across that continent in the
lope of este blishinP a reIn,1nerative
irade with the Esquimaux - London
Truth.