Evening star., 1898-05-14
THE BRITISH IN AFRICA
About Everything That is Worth Having
Belongs to Them.
Other Nations Are Finding Their Pos.
sessions Anything but
Profitable.

W. L. Stead in the Independent.
Less than forty years ago it was COM
neniy received doctrine among British
statesmen that Africa was worthless.
select committee of the house of commons
in the early sixties reported that the set
Elements on the west coast of Africa cost
II ore than they were worth, and recon-
Tended the gradual abandonment of the
country Even in the seventies there were
eminent men who argued earnestly in favor
of the abandonment Of the whole of South
Africa, with the exception of a coaling
station at the Cape of Good Hope. But a
change came DER the spirit of the British
dream when, in the early eighties, they
saw all the nations of Europe prepare to
take part in a passionate scramble for the
dark continent. That which they despised
ana wished to throw away in the sixties,
became in the nineties the coveted objects
OF imperial ambition. Now. when the CEN
tuiy IS closing, the pick OF the continent
is colGred British red.
British Africa can be variously dc scribed
-geog1 aph. caiiy, politically, ethno ogicaily
and religfously. But the simplest denI-
ticn Is this, all Africa that is comfortably
haetable by white men is under the Brit
lsh Nag or under British protection. And
again, everything in Africa that pays div
idends lies within the sphere pegged out
for John Bull by his adventurous sons.
Wherever in Africa you find land in which
white-skinned children can hc bred and
reared, you will find ii lies within the Brit
ish zc1 {. And wherever there is in Africa
any paying property, that also will be
found to be within the same sphere of IN
fuence. All of Africa that is habitable and
all of Africa that pays it's way, that Is
British Africa.
The other nations have scrambled for
John Bulls leavings. France, for instance,
has annexed the Sahara. In her West
African colony of Senegal every fifth Euro
pean is a French official. Germany has
annexed 320,00 square miles of desert IN
the southwest and 100000 of semi-tropical
land in the east: but they have more Off
Gals than colonists, more subsidies than
dividends. Portugal has quite an empire
of malarial marshes on both coasts. Bel
gium has the Congo Free States mag
nificent empire in The heart of tropical
Africa which needs fSo,GU0 year subsidy
from Belgium to keep 1T from bankruptcy,
and which, Notwithstanding the subsidy.
has run up debt of over fS.000,O00 Italy,
the last to join in the scramble, has nearly
come 10 grief over her African adventure.
Africa stands solely the debit side of
the account of every European nation but
one, and even in the case of Britain the
cItries to the bad are neither few nor
small.
British Africa may be described in an
other way. Wherever you Iind good mar
Dor in Africa or a navigable river 4
great inland lake there you may be sure
the British flag is not far off. The Congo
is the only great African river which does
not enter he sea under British protection.
The Congo was opened MP, doomed and
made accessible by Mr.. Stanley Il British
explorer, and its waters are free to the
flags Of all nations as if they were British.
The only harbor in southern Africa that is;
worth having which is not British is Della
goa bay. and John Bull TO this day ruefully
recalls the fact that he only lost that by
allowing it TO be sent to arbitration before
a tribunal which took more account OF
muSty little deeds Of a remote past than the
necessities of the living present. The only
harhor on the southwest coast. the natural
Port of German southwest Africa is Wal
fisch bay, where d British sentry stands on
guard under the shade of the Union Jack.
Wherever naVigaDle water is. there the de-
stehdant of the old vikings recognizes his
fatherland even in the heart of Africa. OF
the great lakes which lie in long string
from the Zambesi to the Nile, there is not
one on whose shores there is not a British
possession. Even the smaller lakes, such
as Lake Tchad, seem TO attract the sea
lovers CT the North!and.