The herald., 1898-11-10

seph Chamberlain said TO newspaper
reporter, who had asked him concern
ing the future of the Soudan provinces
which the Anglo-Egyptian military
expedition, under command or Sir
Herbert Kitchener. is now reconquer-
ing for Egypt on the Upper Nile:
"Young man. you will live to see the
time when q railway will be built
through that country to the Transvaal
and the Cape"
This important statement from the
Colonial Secretary of England derives
additional significance from the cir
cumstance that as the expedition has
advanced in its conquering march up
the Nile Valley the building of a rail-
way has accompanied the progress Of
its rear column-and its gauge is the
same as that of the Buluwayo road
which already extends from Capetown
1000 miles northward, to Buluwayo, IN
Matabeleland. Egypt's equatorial
provinces merge with British East
Africa, so that when the reconquest
Of the Egyptian territory is completed
England's way will be clear from the
mouth of the Nile to it's source, the
Victoria Nyganza, and to Albert Ed
ward Lake.
In South Africa Great Britain holds
uninterrupted domain northwardly,
through the interior, from Cape Agul-
has to the Congo Free State and Ger
man East Africa. In Cape of Good
Hope the progress of railway building
in the last quarter century has been
marked. In this colony, where in 1873
there was but 63 miles of railway
there were, by official report, on jan
uary last, 2,253 miles of government
railway, with 961s more miles under
construction, and 2541s miles of rail-
way owned by private parties. The
railway from Capetown which, few
months ago, was carried northwardly
to Buluwayo, is the important south
ern link in England's great project of
an African continental route. With her
possessfon or control of the country
beyond, there stands no insuperable
obstacle to the extension of the Bulu-
wayo railway to Lake Tanganyika, to
the point where the southern bound
ary of the Congo Free State comes to
the west shore of the lake. She is then,
taking into account her rights OF
water TRANSPORTATION on Lakes Tan
ganyika and Albert Edward, within
200 miles of her East African territory |
at the headwaters of the Nile.
1t is this 200 miles that so far has
baked England in her efforts to con-
uuer a clear right of way for the
building of a north h-and-south railway
through Africa; and so far her diplo-
macy has not been equal to overcom-
ing the difficulty. For this distance,
the distance between Lake Tangan-
yika and Lake Albert Edward, the
Congo Free State and German East
Africa adjoin each other, contributing
together a barrier of alien territory
extending completely across the Afri-
can continent. There is little doubt |
that England, If a free hand be given |
her by the other European powers and |
Abyssinia, will at no distant day re-
conquer and hold all of the southern
Egyptian provinces, thus securing a
clear field from the Niles mouth TO
Lake Albert Edward. It is the OBJ
tanning Of the right Of way across this
200 miles which separate Lake Albert
from Lake Tanganyika that
has long proved an unsolvable puz-
zle to the British government.
A solution Of the problem was an !
parently reached, four years ago, in
1894, when in convention of the repre-
sentatives of the two powers at Brus-
sells, the Congo Free State leased TO
England strip Of territory, 151s miles
In breadth, extending from the most
northerly port on Lake Tanganyika to
the southerly end of Lake Albert Ed
ward. The terms of the lease gave
England no administrative or police
over the territory thus ac-
quired, these powers being retained by
the Congo Free State; but the leasing
of the strip, for term virtually per-
petual, supplied the missing link in
England's scheme of land acquisition
preliminary to the building of her
great railway.
In return for this concession the use
of a strip of territory, 151a miles wide,
leased to the Congo Free
State the southernmost Egyptian
province, Bahr Ell Ghazal, which ex-
tends north and south from the second
to the tenth parallel of latitude, north.
from the Nile Valley to the 25th merid-
ian east and west; and includes the
port of Mahagi on the Albert Nyanza.
No political rights went with either
lease; but to the citizens of both coun-
tries concerned were granted recipro-
cal rights and immunities in the terri
tories leased. and to the Congo Free
State the right to connect its own svs-
TEN of telegraph lines with the En-.
glish line. Although Bahr El GhazaI
is an Egyptian province, which has
yet to be reconquered, the fact that
was willing to surrender the
Of a province, COMPRISING
more than 100000 square miles, for the
8 900 square miles of territory which
would give her the coveted right of
way, shows her determination to spare
no cost IN carrying through her under
Whether or not the game was worth
the candle there has been no chance to
demonstrate, for Germany made so
prompt and strenuous protest against
the leasing of the strip of territory to
that the Congo Free State |
cancelled the lease. England has by |
no means given the thing up, however,
and it is generally believed that the |
amity recently devel-
oped between that power and Germany
has it's origin in a mutual agreement |
reached as to the question of right of |
way between Lakes Tanganyika and !
Albert Edward.
With this right of way secured as
1t seems it ultimately will be, the path
seems plain for the building of the |
railroad between Capetown and the
headwaters of the Nile. That there
will be great engineering difficulties to
be overcome, with malaria, heat and
the attacks of savage tribes to be un-
dergOne during the exploration and |