its mouth to a point in the unnavigable reaches, and in the interior the major part of the Congo basin. In the north-east the northern limit was 4° N. up to 30° E., which formed the eastern boundary of the state. The south-eastern frontier claimed by King Leopold extended to Lakes Tanganyika, Mweru and Bangweulu, but it was not until some years later that it was recognized and defined by the agreement of May 1894 with Great Britain. The international character of King Leopold’s enterprise had not long been maintained, and his recognition as sovereign of the Free State confirmed the distinctive character which the Association had assumed, even before that event.
In April 1887 France was informed that the right of pre-emption accorded to her in 1884 had not been intended by King Leopold to prejudice Belgium’s right to acquire the Congo State, and in reply the French minister at Brussels took note of the explanation, “in so far as this interpretation is not contrary to pre-existing international engagements.” By his will, dated the 2nd of August 1889, King Leopold made Belgium formally heir to the sovereign rights of the Congo Free State. In 1895 an annexation bill was introduced into the Belgian parliament, but at that time Belgium had no desire to assume responsibility for the Congo State, and the bill was withdrawn. In 1901, by the terms of a loan granted in 1890, Belgium had again an opportunity of annexing the Congo State, but a bill in favour of annexation was opposed by the government and was withdrawn after King Leopold had declared that the time was not ripe for the transfer. Concessionaire companies and a Domaine de la Couronne had been created in the state, from which the sovereign derived considerable revenues—facts which helped to explain the altered attitude of Leopold II. The agitation in Great Britain and America against the Congo system of government, and the admissions of an official commission of inquiry concerning its maladministration, strengthened, however, the movement in favour of transfer. Nevertheless in June 1906 the king again declared himself opposed to immediate annexation. But under pressure of public opinion the Congo government concluded, 28th of November 1907, a new annexation treaty. As it stipulated for the continued existence of the crown domain the treaty provoked vehement opposition. Leopold II. was forced to yield, and an additional act was signed, 5th of March 1908, providing for the suppression of the domain in return for financial subsidies. The treaty, as amended, was approved by the Belgian parliament in the session of 1908. Thus the Congo state, after an existence of 24 years as an independent power, became a Belgian colony. (See Congo Free State.)
The area of the Free State, vast as it was, did not suffice to
satisfy the ambition of its sovereign. King Leopold maintained
that the Free State enjoyed equally with any other state the
right to extend its frontiers. His ambition involved the
state in the struggle between Great Britain and France for
the upper Nile. To understand the situation it is necessary
to remember the condition of the Egyptian Sudan at that
time. The mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed, had preached a holy war
against the Egyptians, and, after the capture of Khartum and
the death of General C. G. Gordon, the Sudan was abandoned
to the dervishes. The Egyptian frontier was withdrawn to
Wadi Halfa, and the vast provinces of Kordofan, Darfur and
the Bahr-el-Ghazal were given over to dervish tyranny and
misrule. It was obvious that Egypt would sooner or later
seek to recover her position in the Sudan, as the command of
the upper Nile was recognized as essential to her continued
prosperity. But the international position of the abandoned
provinces was by no means clear. The British government,
by the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890, had secured the
assent of Germany to the statement that the British sphere
of influence in East Africa was bounded on the west by the
Congo Free State and by “the western watershed of the basin
of the upper Nile”; but this claim was not recognized either
by France or by the Congo Free State. From her base on the
Congo, France was busily engaged pushing forward along the
northern tributaries of the great river. On the 27th of April
1887 an agreement was signed with the Congo Free State by
which the right bank of the Ubangi river was secured to French
influence, and the left bank to the Congo Free State. The
desire of France to secure a footing in the upper Nile valley
was partly due, as has been seen, to her anxiety to extend
a French zone across Africa, but it was also and to a large
The contest for the
upper Nile.
extent attributable to the belief, widely entertained in
France, that by establishing herself on the upper Nile France
could regain the position in Egyptian affairs which she had
sacrificed in 1882. With these strong inducements France set
steadily to work to consolidate her position on the tributary
streams of the upper Congo basin, preparatory to crossing into
the valley of the upper Nile. Meanwhile a similar advance
was being made from the Congo Free State northwards and
eastwards. King Leopold had two objects in view—to obtain
control of the rich province of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and to
secure an outlet on the Nile. Stations were established on
the Welle river, and in February 1891 Captain van Kerckhoven
left Leopoldville for the upper Welle with the most powerful
expedition which had, up to that time, been organized by the
Free State. After some heavy fighting the expedition reached
the Nile in September 1892, and opened up communications
with the remains of the old Egyptian garrison at Wadelai.
Other expeditions under Belgian officers penetrated into
the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and it was apparent that King Leopold
proposed to rely on effective occupation as an answer to any
claims which might be advanced by either Great Britain or
France. The news of what was happening in this remote region
Of Africa filtered through to Europe very slowly, but King
Leopold was warned on several occasions that Great Britain
would not recognize any claims by the Congo Free State on the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. The difficulty was, however, that neither from
Egypt, whence the road was barred by the khalifa (the successor
of the mahdi), nor from Uganda, which was far too remote from
the coast to serve as the base of a large expedition, could
a British force be despatched to take effective occupation
of the upper Nile valley. There was, therefore, danger
lest the French should succeed in establishing themselves
on the upper Nile before the preparations which were being
made in Egypt for “smashing” the khalifa were completed.
In these circumstances Lord Rosebery, who was then British
foreign minister, began, and his successor, the 1st earl of
Kimberley, completed, negotiations with King Leopold which
resulted in the conclusion of the Anglo-Congolese agreement of
12th May 1894. By this agreement King Leopold recognized the
The Anglo-Congolese agreement
of 1894.
British sphere of The Anglo-Congolese agreement
of 1894. influence
as laid down in the Anglo-German agreement of July 1890,
and Great Britain granted a lease to King Leopold of certain
territories in the western basin of the upper Nile, extending on
the Nile from a point on Lake Albert to Fashoda, and westwards
to the Congo-Nile watershed. The practical effect of this agreement
was to give the Congo Free State a lease, during its
sovereign’s lifetime, of the old Bahr-el-Ghazal province, and to
secure after His Majesty’s death as much of that territory as
lay west of the 30th meridian, together with access to a port on
Lake Albert, to his successor. At the same time the Congo
Free State leased to Great Britain a strip of territory,
1512 m. in breadth, between the north end of Lake Tanganyika
and the south end of Lake Albert Edward. This agreement
was hailed as a notable triumph for British diplomacy. But
the triumph was short-lived. By the agreement of July 1890
with Germany, Great Britain had been reluctantly compelled
to abandon her hopes of through communication between the
British spheres in the northern and southern parts of the
continent, and to Consent to the boundary of German East
Africa marching with the eastern frontier of the Congo Free
State. Germany frankly avowed that she did not wish to have a
powerful neighbour interposed between herself and the Congo Free
State. It was obvious that the new agreement would effect
precisely what Germany had declined to agree to in 1890.
Accordingly Germany protested in such vigorous terms that, on
the 22nd of June 1894, the offending article was withdrawn by
an exchange of notes between Great Britain and the Congo Free
State. Opinion in France was equally excited by the new
agreement. It was
