histoby]
A. F R I C A.
important events had been happening. In 1876 Great Britain had concluded an agreement with the Orange Great Free State for an adjustment of frontiers, the Britain in result of which was to leave the Kimberley South diamond fields in British territory, in exchange Africa. for a payment of £90,000 to the Orange Free State. On the 12th April 1877, Sir Theophilus Shepstone had issued a proclamation declaring the Transvaal—the South African Kepublic, as it was formerly designated— to be British territory. (See Tkansvaal.) On the 29th September 1879, Sir Garnet Wolseley, the commander-inchief in South Africa, issued another proclamation, declaring the Transvaal to be for ever an integral portion of the British dominions in South Africa. In December 1880 war broke out, and lasted until March 1881, when a treaty of peace was signed. This treaty of peace was followed by a convention, signed in August of the same year, under which complete self-government was guaranteed to the inhabitants of the Transvaal, subject to the suzerainty of Great Britain, upon certain terms and conditions and subject to certain reservations and limitations. ISTo sooner was the convention signed than it became the object of the Boers to obtain a modification of the conditions and limitations imposed, and in February 1884 a fresh convention was signed, amending the convention of 1881. Article IY. of the new convention provided that “ The South African Kepublic will conclude no treaty or engagement with any state or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has been approved by Her Majesty the Queen.” The precise effect of the two conventions has been the occasion for interminable discussions, but as the subject is now one of merely academic interest, it is sufficient to say that when the Berlin Conference held its first meeting in 1884 the Transvaal was practically independent, so far as its internal administration was concerned, while its foreign relations were subject to the control just quoted. As -early as 1875, in a protocol attached to a treaty of friendship, commerce, and boundaries, between the Transvaal and Portugal, an agreement had been made for the construction of a line between Delagoa Bay and Pretoria; and in 1884 a further agreement was made between the same parties to the same effect, both agreements receiving the sanction of Queen Victoria as suzerain. But although the Transvaal had thus, between the years 1875-84, become and ceased to be British territory, British influence in other parts of Africa south of the Zambezi had been steadily extended. To the west of the Orange Free State, Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape in 1877, while to the east the territories beyond the Kei river were included in Cape Colony between 1877 and 1884, so that in the latter year, with the exception of Pondoland, the whole of South-East Africa up to Natal was in one form or another under British control. North of Natal, Zululand was not actually annexed until 1887, although since the 1879 war, and the restoration of Cetewayo in 1882, British influence had been admittedly supreme. In December 1884 St Lucia Bay had been proclaimed a British possession, and three years later an agreement of non-cession to foreign powers made by Great Britain with the regent and paramount chief of Tongaland, completed the chain of British possessions on the coast of South Africa, from the mouth of the Orange river on the west to Kosi Bay and the Portuguese frontier on the east. In the interior of South Africa, the year 1884 witnessed the beginning of that final stage of the British advance towards the north which was eventually to extend British influence from the Cape to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika. The activity of
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the Germans on the west, and of the Boer republic on the east, had brought home to both the imperial and colonial authorities the impossibility of relying on vague traditional claims. In May 1884 treaties were made with native chiefs by which the whole of the country north of Cape Colony, west of the Transvaal, south of 22° S. latitude, and east of 20° E. longitude was placed under British protection, though a protectorate was not formally declared until the following January. The southern portion of this newly-acquired territory up to the Molopo river was in September 1875, under the name of British Bechuanaland, placed under the jurisdiction of the governor of Cape Colony, while the territory north of the Molopo river and south of 22° S. latitude, which included Khama’s country, Bathoen’s country, Sebele’s country, and the Kalahari desert, was at the same time declared a British protectorate, the local administration being left in the hands of the native chiefs. ?f Meanwhile some very interesting events had been taking place on the west coast, north of the Orange river, and south of the Portuguese province of Germany Mossamedes. In Germany a variety of circum- in Southstances had conspired to turn the thoughts of West both the rulers and the ruled towards the Africa' acquisition of territories overseas, where German colonists could settle under the German flag. It must be sufficient here to touch very briefly on the events that preceded the foundation of what is now the colony of German South-West Africa. For many years prior to 1884, German missionaries had settled among the Damaras and Namaquas, often combining small trading operations with their missionary work. From time to time trouble arose between the missionaries and the native chiefs, and appeals were made to the German Government for protection. The German Government in its turn begged the British Government to say whether it assumed responsibility for the protection of Europeans in Damaraland and Namaqualand. The position of the British Government was intelligible, if not very intelligent. It did not desire to see any other European Power in these countries, and it did not want to assume the responsibility and incur the expense of protecting the few Europeans settled there. Sir Bartle Frere, when Governor of the Cape (1877-81), had foreseen that this attitude portended trouble, and had urged that the whole of the unoccupied coast-line, up to the Portuguese frontier, should be declared under British protection. But he preached to deaf ears, and it was as something of a concession to him that in March 1878 the British flag was hoisted at Walfisch Bay, and the country for a radius of 15 miles was declared to be British. The fact appears to be that British statesmen failed to understand the change that had come over Germany. They believed that Prince Bismarck would never give his sanction to the creation of a colonial empire, and, to the German inquiries as to what rights Great Britain claimed in Damaraland and Namaqualand, procrastinating replies were sent. Meanwhile the various colonial societies established in Germany had effected a revolution in public opinion, and, more important still, they had convinced the great Chancellor. Accordingly when, in November 1882, Herr Liideritz, a Bremen merchant, informed the German Government of his intention to establish a factory on the coast between the Orange river and the Little Fish river, and asked if he might rely on the protection of his Government in case of need, he met with no discouragement from Prince Bismarck. In February 1883 the German ambassador in London informed Lord Granville of Herr Ltideritz’s design, and asked “ whether Her Majesty’s Government exercise any authority in that locality.” It was intimated that if Her S. L —19
