New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-11
RENTN AND WIDE

Last year Great Britain moved for the re-
conquest Of the Eastern Soudan, and this year
will probably complete the Job. And now she
Is called TO move upon the Western SOudan
also. The massacre Of a peaceful expedition
by wild tribesncn of Benin and the defiant
aggrcssions Of the Emir of Nupe furnish this
latter provocation. 1t is an interesting region,
the Western Soudan and its littoral. Elsewhere
single cOlonZing Powers have taken up long
upbroken stretches of coast and 'hinterland."
But between Cape Verde and the mouth of the
Niger scarcely one-eighth of the Continents cir
conference. there are a dozen divisions; all
the coonZing Powers save one being repre-
scented there, mixed together in vcriest patch
work fashion. giving cause for nnumcrable
and interminablc disputes as to boundary lines
and trading rights.
Beginning at Cape Verde. we find the French
Senegal, a considerable bit of coast With n
'hnterland" of half the Sahara, extending to
Lake Tchad and TO the borders of Tripoli and
Algeria. Then driven into it like thin wedge,
comes the British colony of Gambia and Bath
hurst then a narrow tongue Of French terri
tory; then a bigger wedge of Portuguese
Guinea; then a broader tongue of French ter
.ritory; and then the biggest wedge, the Brit
ish Sierra Leone. Beyond Sierra Leone is the
Independent republic Of Liberia. and then
comes the French Ivory Coast. which, with the
tongues of territory already mentioned, is con-
tlnuouS with and part Of the great French
Sahara, which lies back of the other holdings,
or into which they are stuck like wedges. Next
comes the British Gold Coast and its "hinter-
land" Ashantee; then The German Togoland
whose inner limits are not yet determined; and
then the French DahOmey. whose "hinterland'
will probably be rcckoned 10 extend around
back OF TogOland and Ashantce and TO he in
that quarter continuous with the French Sahara
already described. Finally, there is the big
british territory Of the Royal Niger PrOtecto-
rate. including the whole lower basin of the
Niger and its chief tributary, the Binup, and
extending westward back of French DahOmey
and eastward 10 Lake Tchad. 1t is along its
iEncrs borders that the chief territorial dis
putes between France and Great Britain are
based.
The present troubles are in this British Niger
territory which we may call. for short NJ
gerla, and especially in the petty kingdom Of
Benin and the emirate of Nupe. Every school
boy az Macaulay would say. is familiar with
the old cOnundrum about the Blight OF Benin.
though the name is now generally omitted
from maps. The Kingdom Of Benin is on that
blight. west OF the Niger. extending some dis
lance inland geographically, 1t is swamp
and one of the foulest and most pestential
Politically and socially it is one OF the most
degraded despotisms. in its fetish worship and
human sacrifices rivalling Ashantee and Da-
honey at their worst. 1t will be an unalloyed
blessing to have the savage King deposed and
the horrid practices Of his court abolished
Whether the natives can ever be even approx
mately civilized and the country made haba-
BILE for Europeans is a problem which may well
be left to the British conquerors to solve. II
they cannot do it, no one can.
Nupe presents striking contrast to Benin.
II Is an inland region Of considerable extent,
lying north and east OF the Niger, above its
confluence with the Binue. The country Is
high, fertile and salubrlous and the natives are