Google
This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at |http: //books .google .com/I
HOOVER INSTITUTION
on War. Revolution, and Peace
irrANPOBD
Uf""
(/(yy^i^^i^cJCi'^-'^''*^
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
OR
I B E A
A HISTORY OF THE FORMATION AND WORK OF
THE IMPERIAL BRITISH EAST
AFRICA COMPANY
I
t
COMPILED WITH THE AUTHORITY OF THE DIRECTORS FROM
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS AND THE RECORDS OF THE COMPANY
BY
P. L. M^DERMOTT
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
ir/rN MAP AND FRONTISPIECE
LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ld.
1893
• » » , • • • .
• • • .
lA:i rifjh*" reserved]
\
\ M9I
1 .">!
200303
Eilinburgh : T. and A. CJoNSTAnLE, Priiitors to Her Majesty.
PREFACE
This work was undertaken at the express desire of the
late Sir William Mackinnon, who, to the last moments of
his life, was impressed with the responsibilities of an
enterprise promoted under his auspices; and was well
advanced at the period of his death.
Hence the obligation incumbent on his fellow-directors,
in conformity with the wishes of their late President,
to place on record a concise and authoritative account
of the circumstances which led to the formation of the
Imperial British East Africa Company, by way of ex-
plaining its constitution and character, and of vindicat-
ing its aims and ends.
If, from a Sh^ireholder's point of view, the success of
its operations has fallen short of expectation, the causes
are herein narrated, upon evidence, it is believed, that
cannot be gainsaid. It was recognised that large pre-
liminary measures directed to the security of administra-
tive occupation, on the lines prescribed by tlie Charter,
would be indispensable; and as their extension to the
far interior constituted, in the main, national purposes,
the extent to which these have been attained must be
vi BRITISH EAST A FRICA
the measure of the value of the work accomplished by
the Company.
That these purposes would eventually conduce to the
legitimate advantage of the Company was the considera-
tion that prompted its action, relying, as it did, upon
the support to which it was entitled in the exercise of
rights and privileges conferred by the Sultan's concession,
or foreshadowed by international Agreements. For their
realisation the Company's resources could not otherwise
be rendered adequate, without prejudice to the progress
of commercial, agricultural, and industrial development.
On the other hand, failing such action, it was evident
that neither coidd the Company fulfil its mandate as
the pioneer of the country's Colonial policy, while con-
fessedly advancing its own interests; nor could the
acquisition of the vast unexplored territory 'ceded to
it,* and destined to form the British sphere of influence,
be secured to the State.
Whether, politically speaking, the constitution of the
Company by Royal Charter was or was not expedient,
is a question with which the Company is not concerned.
One thing is certain, that Avhether, or not, the end justified
the method, the responsibility of its adoption rests with
equal weight upon all parties alike. To the Liberal
party belongs the merit of initiating it. Equally certain
is it, that no other means could be made available by
PREFACE vii
either party for the creation of the new field that pre-
sented itself for the extension of British trade and
colonisation in the immediate future.
The following pages record the results of private efforts
and the outlay of private capital in attaining a common
object, to the prosecution of which Foreign States were
content to devote the expenditure of large sums of public
money; and in surmounting obstacles from the burden
of which the enterprise of the latter was wholly free.
In this connexion it may be noted that the Koyal
Niger Company was authorised to impose taxes and
duties to meet administrative charges ; and, further, was
empowered, on receiving its Charter, to treat, as Capital
expenditure incurred for national purposes, a part of
the great outlay which had been forced upon it owing
to the rivalry of France and Germany. The stipulated
amount was £250,000, upon which interest was to be
secured at a fixed rate per annum by the levy of special
dues to be devoted to this purpose. The quarter of a
million, thus provided for, constitutes the recognition by
Her Majesty's Government of services done and outlay
incurred by the said Company in effecting territorial
expansion in the Niger basin, and represents a grant in
aid of costly expeditions identical in nature with those
undertaken by the Imperial British East Africa Company
for the like ends, and with the like reaplts.
viii BRITISH EAST AFRICA
lu her Majesty's Niger Coast Protectorate the ad-
ministration is permitted to collect a revenue, which,
by the last accounts/ amounted to no less a sum than
£73,000 for the year, on spirits imported into the
country. The Imperial British East Africa Company,
on the other hand, has voluntarily prohibited all impor-
tation or sale of spirits to natives in its territories, and
has applied, in the most rigorous form, the rules embodied
in the Brussels Act, in order to benefit the native races
in the British sphere of influence.
Such conditions of prosperity and thrift enjoyed by
other companies similarly situated may be contrasted with
the disabilities imposed on the Imperial British East
Africa Company — disabilities which were incidental
perhaps to the suzerainty of the independent Sultan of
Zanzibar, prior to the establishment of a British Pro-
tectorate; but which, on the Protectorate system (ex-
emplified in Chapter XV.) being extended to the con-
cession territory must lapse to the advantage of the
general administration of the Dominion in addition to the
adventitious aids accrunig to the Sultanate from the
transfer of portions of its territory to other Foreign
States. A. B. Kemball,
Chairman of (he Court of Directors.
Anffit'<t'29, 1893.
1 Foreign Oftiee, 189.3, Annual Series, No. 1215.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface, . ....... v
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
S«paration of Zanzibar' and Muscat — Lord Canning's Award —
Trade of E^t Africa— -Concession offered to Sir W. Mac-
kinnon — Why declined — German treaties — Uneasiness in
England — Lord Granville's action — Proposals for delimita-
tion of territory — the Delimitation of 1886— Concession
granted, May 1887 — Treaties made on behalf of British
Company — Formation of Company — Agreement with Ger-
many as to spheres west and south of Victoria Nyanza —
Charter granted — German aims — Necessity of clearer de-
finition of boundaries — Death of Barghash ... 1
CHAPTER H
THE NAVAL BLOCKADE — RUNAWAY .SLAVES
Outbreak on German Coast — Inauguration of British Company —
British and German blockade of coast — Declared objects
of — Effects apprehended on British coast — Runaway slaves
at mission stations — Dangerous situation — Mr. Mackenzie's
action — Colonel Euan-Smith's official testimony — Attitude
of missionaries . .16
CHAPTER HI
THE LAMU CONCESSION
Scope of original concession offered — Limited grant accepted
with promise of Lamu and Northern Ports — Witu— Action
of Germans in — Designs on Lamu— Efforts to obtain con-
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
PAOE
cession — Sultan decides to grant concession to British
Company, but is withheld by Grerman threats — Nature of
German pretension — Of British claims — Sultan's right to
grant concession referred to arbitration of Baron Lamber-
mont — Respective cases and award — Concession granted to
British Company, 31st August 1889 — Witu Company offer
to sell their rights .31
CHAPTER IV
BELESONI CANAL— MANDA AND PATTA
Origin of Canal — Custom-house placed on it by Sultan of Witu
— Sultan of Zanzibar not permitted to protect his rights
against Witu — German Government decline to interfere —
British Company informed by Lord Salisbury it would be
justified in protecting its territory against usurpation —
Inconsistency of German policy — Arms and gunpowder
brought to Witu by Herr Toeppen — Company's ultimatum
to Witu — Expedition despatched — Witu troops, etc., now
withdrawn by German Consul-General's orders — Sultan of
Witu's desire •f alliance with British — Germans now
contest Company's right to Manda and Patta— Inconsistency
of their pretensions ...... 45
CHAPTER V
THE NEW GERMAN PROTECTORATE — MANDA AND PAITA
QUESTION
Coast between Witu and Kismayu placed under German pro-
tectorate — British Company's rights in same region —
Question of British' protectorate being declared between
Tana and Juba — Opinion in Timea — Not€ Verbale from
German Ambassador maintaining right of Sultan of Witu
to Manda and Patta, and denying Zanzibar sovereignty —
Nature of respective claims — Harsh treatment of Company —
Compelled to withdraw from islands — Concession of British
•Government to German demands — Sultan of Zanzibar
compelled by Germany to suspend the concession of Manda
and Patta, having refused to cancel it .61
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER VI
\VA>fGA BOUNDARY QUESTION— DR. PETERS* EXPEDITION
PAGE
German objection to inclusion of Wanga in Britiflh Com-
pany's concession — Grounds of objection — Refuted by
terms of German concession and official records and
declarations — Company's rights established by naval sur-
vey — Company nevertheless compelled to withdraw from
the administration of Wanga — The German Emin Pasha
Expedition — Avowed objects of — Departure of Dr. Peters*
to lead — Proceedings of, in East Africa — Opinion of the
TimtM on German action— Conduct of Dr. Peters on way
up the Tana — Report of his death . . .77
CHAPTER VII
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT
British Company compelled to accept the Northern Ports pre-
maturely — Elxtent of concession — Relations of Italy and
Zanzibar — Intermediary offices of the Company — Italian
Government desirous of ports north of Kismayu — Agree-
ment between Italian Government and Company, 3rd
August 1889 — Deed of Transfer — Negotiations between
Great Britain and Italy for a delimitation of boundaries —
Terms of delimitation — Extinction of Company's responsi-
bilities north of Kismayu . . . .94
CHAPTER VIII
UGANDA
Peculiar importance of * hinterland ' in East Africa— Uganda a
country of special interest to Europeans, and particularly
to Great Britain — Duty imposed on the Company — British
Consul-General takes steps to open up friendly relations
with Uganda — Arab hostility to European influence — Over-
throw of Arab power — Despatch of Mr. Jackson's caravan
— Not to enter Uganda — The *race for Uganda' — Emin
Pasha enters the German service — Arrival of Dr. Peters at
Kavirondo — Feeling in Great Britain — Company urged to
occupy Uganda in British interest — Difficult position of
Directors — ^Views of the TimcJi . . • .103
xii BRITISH EAST AFRICA
CHAPTER IX
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA
PACJE
Consul-General strongly presses the Company to despatch ex-
pedition immediately to Uganda — Foreign Office urges
importance of friendly undertaking, and sends presents to
the king — Government warns Company of danger of delay
— Influence of Mr. Stanley on public mind — Company com-
pelled to yield to united pressure of Government and
public opinion — Captain Lugard instructed to proceed to
Uganda — Mr. Jackson's proceedings in Uganda — The French
missionaries unfriendly— Their aims — Action of Cardinal
Lavigerie in regard to Brussels conference — Flag accepted
by Mwanga — Account of Dr. Peters' expedition by his
followers — Mr. Jackson iuvited to Uganda by king ami
missionaries — Peters precedes him and makes a treaty by
the aid of the French priests — End of Dr. Peters' enterprise 120
CHAPTER X
THE BRITISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE— WITU EXPEDITION
Foresight of Sir W. Mackinnon in regard to boundaries — Value
of Company's agency in securing territory to Great Britain,
which would otherwise have been seized by Germany —
Delimitation Treaty of July 1, 1890 — Murder of Germans
in Witu— Punitive Expedition — Administration of Witu
accepted by Company . . 1 37
CHAPTER XI
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA
Organisation of expedition of Captain Lugard — Anxiety of
Consul-General that the expedition should be hastened —
Lugard^s arrival in Uganda — Treaty signed — Improvement
in affairs of country — Return of envoys from coast — Expe-
dition against the Mohammedans, and their defeat —
Lugard's expedition to Buddu, Ankole, and Albert Nyanza
— Enlistment of Soudanese soldiers of Emin Pasha's late
province — Lugard 's return to Uganda — Outbreak in January
1892 ; particulars of — Settlement with Roman Catholics ;
with Mohammedans — New treaty with Mwanga .161
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER XII
QUESTION' OF STATE CO-OPERATION
PAGE
Unaided efforts of the Company in Imperial interests — Respon-
sibilities assumed by Government at Brussels conference —
Brussels Act — Lord Salisbury's attention drawn to State
obligations imposed upon Company — Railway policy — Lord
Salisbury's action — Correspondence with Treasury — Pro-
}>osal of Government to guarantee interest on capital —
Indirect interest of the Company in the railway .169
CHAPTER XIII
THE RAILWAY QUESTION AND UGANDA
Estimates of cost of railway — Speech of Lord Salisbury at
Glasgow — Vote for survey to be asked for — Arrangement
with Company as to cost of survey — Vote opposed by Sir
William Harcourt in July 1891, and postponed ; disappoint-
ment of Company — Resolution to withdraw from Uganda —
Opinion of Times — Subscription to continue occupation till
end of December 1892 — The Company consents ; but ad-
vises Government in May 1892 that it will retire in Decem-
ber — Change of ministry— Company pressed to continue
longer — Decision of Government to bear expense of occu-
pation for three months longer — Despatch of Sir Gerald
Portal to Uganda as Imperial Commissioner .183
CHAPTER XIV
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY
Progress of exploration by Company's caravans — Cost of —
Works of development at the coast — Navigation of Tana
and Juba rivers — Transport — Railway — Telegraph line —
Fertility of soil and suitability for Indian agriculturists —
Labour question — Company's anti-slavery proceedings —
Effects of — Question of extinction of slavery 207
xiv BRITISH EAST AFRICA
CHAPTER XV
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS
PACE
Nature of fiscal Bystem under which the Company received
concession — Terms of contract between Company and
Sultan — Liberal arrangement agreed to by Company —
Refused right of commutation — Zanzibar declared a free
port — British administration instituted at Zanzibar —
Brussels Act — Zanzibar dominions placed within Free
Zone under Berlin Act — The act a breach of contract with
the Company — Attitude taken by her Majesty's Govern-
ment — Decision of Lord Salisbury in 1890 as to obligation
of Sultan consulting the Company before issuing decrees —
Anomalous situation created by British Protectorate, and
new position of Consul-General in control of Zanzibar
Government ....... 224
Memorandum by Sir John Kirk on the operation of the Berlin Act, 252
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
CONCESSION GIVEN BY THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR TO THE BRITISU
EAST AFRICAN AS.SOCIATION ..... 263
CONCESSION OF 9tH OCTOBER 1888 268
APPENDIX II
founders' a(;reement, 1888 ..... 276
APPENDIX III
ROYAL CHARTER, 3rD SEPTEMBER 1888 .... 282
CONTENTS
XV
APPENDIX IV
BARON L.VMB£RM0NT'S AWARD, 17tH AUGUST 1889
PAGE
292
APPENDIX V
LAMC COXCESSION, 31ST AUGUST 1889
ao3
APPENDIX VI
MAN DA AilD PATTA CONCESSION— GOBRESPONDENCE RELATING TO 306
APPENDIX VII
ITALIAN AGREEMENT, 3RD AUGUST 1889 .
309
APPENDIX VIII
ANliLO -GERMAN AGREEMENT, IST JULY 1890
313
APPENDIX IX
SETTLEMENT OF WITU : TERMS OF PEACE, ETC., AND AGREEMENT
BETWEEN HER MAJESTY*S GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPANY
320
APPENDIX X
TR£.\TY WITH KING OF UGANDA, MARCH 30tH, 1892
329
APPENDIX XI
CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO COMPANY'S WITHDRAWAL FROM
I, G AN DA .•••... O'O'O
XVI
BRITISH EAST AFRICA^
APPENDIX XII
PAOS
ARTICLE IX. OF GERMAN EAST AFRICAN COMPANY*^ CONCESSION . 347
APPENDIX XIII
DECREES, ETC., RELATING TO SLAVERY AND TUE SLAVE TRADE . 349
APPENDIX XIV
CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE PLACING OF COMPANY'S CON-
CESSION TERRITORY WITHIN THE FREE ZONE UNDER THE
BERLIN ACT .......
303
Index,
377
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece— Sir William Mackiunon, Bart., Founder of the
Imperial British East Africa Company.
Presenting Papers of Freedom to 1422 Runaway Slaves.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
Up to the year 1856 the East African possessions
belonging to Zanzibar, and the kingdom of Oman in
Arabia, were ruled as one dominion by the sovereign of
the latter state. In 1840 Seyyid Said, who had succeeded
to the throne of Oman in 1807 on the death of his father
Seyyid Sultan, selected Zanzibar as his permanent resid-
ence, committing the rule of Muscat and the other pro-
vinces to his sons or relations. In a letter which Seyyid
Said addressed to the Earl of Aberdeen in 1844 he ex-
pressed his wishes as to the succession to his dominions
after his death. His African possessions, extending from
Magadisho (about 2° 10' north latitude) to Cape Delgado
(about 10" 42' south latitude), with the adjacent islands, he
assigned to his son Khalid ; and his possessions in Oman
and the Persian Gulf he left to the sovereignty of his
son Thuwainy. Seyyid Khalid died in 1854, in the life-
time of his father, who then publicly appointed another
son, Majid, to the administration of the East African
possessions. Seyyid Said died at sea in 1856, and
a dispute arose between the two brothers, Thuwainy
and Majid, as to the succession. The former claimed,
as being the eldest son, ruling the parent state of
Oman, the right to hold these territories under his own
2 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
sovereignty, and a collision between the two brothers was
only avoided by their agreement to submit their rival
claims to the arbitrament of the Governor-General of
India.
By the award of Lord Canning, in 1861, the Arabian
and African domains \vere declared independent, and
Majid was confirmed as ruler of Zanzibar and the East
African possessions of his father, the late Sultan Seyyid
Said. The Sultan of Zanzibar was to pay the ruler of
Muscat an annual subsidy of 40,000 crowns (about
£8000), not as a tribute, but by way of compensation
to the state of Oman for the abandonment of its claim
on the African dominions held by the late Sultan, and
for the purpose of adjusting the inequality between the
two treasuries.
At this period, and for many years previously, almost
the entire local trade of the East African coast was in the
hands of British Indian subjects who had settled there,
and the reference of the dispute between the brothers
Majid and Thuwainy to the arbitrament of Lord Canning
was an acknowledgment of the paramount interest and
influence of the British Indian Empire in East Africa
as well as Muscat. At a later period the Indian
Government took upon themselves the payment of the
annual subsidy due by Zanzibar to Muscat ; but they did
so, firstly, out of consideration for the Sultan of Muscat,
to whom the Sultan of Zanzibar refused to make any
payment ; and, subsequently, because it was thought
important to British and Indian interests — so largely
concerned in East Africa — to maintain peace under the
terms of the Canning award.
INTRODUCTORY 3
Seyyid Majid died in 1870, and was succeeded by
Seyyid Barghash, his brother. In 1872 Zanzibar became
for the first time connected with the ports of India and
Europe by the establishment of a regular line of mail
steamers. This enterprise was carried out by Sir Wil-
liam Mackinnon, Chairman of the British India Steam
Navigation Company; and Sultan Barghash so intel-
ligently appreciated tlie benefits conferred on his do-
minions by this service, and the advantages likely to
accrue to his subjects from a closer association with
British commercial interests, that in 1877 he offered
to Sir William Mackinnon (or to a company to be
formed by him) a concession under lease for seventy
years of the customs and administration of the whole
of the dominions of Zanzibar, including all rights of
sovereignty, with certain reservations in respect of the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. Sir William Mackinnon,
however, declined to proceed with the negotiations on
finding that he could not obtain from the Foreign Office
the support he deemed necessaiy ; and it may be added
here as an unquestionable fact, and one of considerable
importance in view of subsequent events, that Sir William
Mackinnon would have similarly acted in regard to the
second concession, which led to the formation of the
Company, had he not felt assured of the support of her
Majesty's Government, of which the lioyal Charter was
regarded as a pledge. The interests of Zanzibar, as well
as of Great Britain, were before long to suff'er for this
mistake of policy in not at that early period meeting the
Sultan's wish, which was that Zanzibar should be treated as
entirely under British influence. Between 1880 and 1885
k
4 BRITISH EAST A FRICA
certain German subjects made their appearance on the east
coast, and, advancing on the mainland, succeeded in extract-
ing a number of ' agreements/ or so-called ' treaties/ from
several of the chiefs in the interior. On 17th February
1885 the Emperor of Germany granted a charter of pro-
tection to the Society for German Colonisation for the
acquisitions in question. The proceedings of those
German agents led to Lord Granville, then Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, addressing to the German
Government a representation of the importance of the
British and British Indian interests concerned in Zanzi-
bar and on the east coast generally, and pointing out
the uneasiness which was felt in this country lest the
Government of Germany should have intentions in regard
to Zanzibar detrimental to the independence of the Sultan
and the interests of Great Britain and India. The
German Government disavowed such intentions, declar-
ing that the annexations to which the Imperial protection
was extended lay 100 miles back from the territories of
the Sultan of Zanzibar. The Sultan, however, on learn-
ing of the proclamation of protection, despatched to the
Emperor of Germany a telegi*am protesting against the
* treaties * made by the German agents and sanctioned by
the Emperor as being infringements of his own sove-
reignty. * These territories are oure,* the Sultan declared,
' and we hold military stations there, and those chiefs
who proffer to cede sovereign rights to the agents of the
Society have no authority to do so ; these places liave
been ours from the time of our fathers/
On 25th May 1885 Lord Granville informed the
German Government, in reference to this protest, that
INTRODUCTORY 5
while her Majesty's Government were satisfied that the
Government of Germany meant to respect the indepen-
dence of the Sultan of Zanzibar, some difficulty was
experienced in ascertaining what extent of territory the
Sultan was justified in claiming. Whilst viewing with
favour the German schemes of colonisation, Lord Gran-
ville referred to the scheme of ' some prominent British
capitalists ... for a British settlement in the country
between the coast and the lakes, which are the sources of
the White Nile, and for its connection with the coast by a
railway/ In order to avoid any clashing of interests in
the interior between British and German subjects, Lord
Granville threw out a suggestion for a delimitation of
territory similar to that which had averted a like con-
tingency at the Gulf of Guinea. The Government of
Germany accepted the suggestion, and on the 30th June
Count Munster proposed to Lord Salisbury a Delimita-
tion Commission to define the territory of the Sultan
of Zanzibar, which the three Powers — Great Britain,
France, and Germany — agreed to respect, so as to dis-
tinguish it clearly from the districts occupied by the
subjects of the German Empire.^ The principal diffi-
culty lay in the Kilimanjaro district, over which the
Sultan claimed sovereignty in virtue of treaties made
by General Mathews. The Germans based their claim
to the same district upon treaties subsequently con-
cluded by themselves. Moreover, at Taveta Mr. H. H.
Johnston concluded treaties with several of the chiefs in
September 1884, and by a deed of transfer the territorial
rights thus acquired were passed over to the British
^ See Parliamentary Paper, Africa No. 1 (1886).
6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Company to which Lord Granville referred in his despatch
of 25th May 1885. The German Government appear to
have thought that it was under a concession from the
Sultan of Zanzibar the Company proposed to work this
territory, and that any steps taken by the Company undei
such sanction must prejudice the results of the Delimita-
tion Commission. Lord Salisbury therefore assented to the
request of the German Government that the operations ol
the British Company should be deferred until the worl<
of the Commission was completed. On the other hand
however, the German Government declared its inabilitj
to similarly suspend the activity of the German Companj
in the Kilimanjaro district, contending that while anj
action on the part of the British Company would pre-
judice the decisions of the Commission, such would nol
be the case in regard to the proceedings of the Germar
Company. This was in Januaiy 1886. On the 17th ol
the following month. Lord Kosebery, who had assuraec
the seals of the Foreign Office, intimated to the Germar
Government that, as it was in virtue of treaties made b)
Mr. H. H. Johnston with tlie chiefs, and not of any con
cession from the Sultan of Zanzibar, that the Britisl
Company claimed its rights in the Taveta district, — anc
as information had been received that the Gcrnjan Com
pany was pushing up to Kilimanjaro, — the British Com
pany would probably send agents to secure that its right"
were undisturbed, and her Majesty's Government, undei
the circumstances, could not prevent the Company fron
so doing. In this decision the German Government no\^
expressed their acquiescence.^
* Africa No. 3 (1887), page 17.
INTRODUCTORY 7
On the 29th of October, and the 1st of November, 1886,
communications were exchanged in London between
Count Hatzfeldt, the German Ambassador, and Lord
Iddesleigh, the Foreign Secretary, embodying an Agree-
ment as to the limits of the Sultan of Zanzibar's sove-
reignty, and the delimitation of the * spheres of influence '
of the two Powers in East Africa. The principal articles
of this Agreement were : —
1. The sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar was
recognised over the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and
over the smaller islands within a radius of twelve sea
miles of them, as well as over the islands of Lamu and
Mafia. On the mainland the Sultan's sovereignty was
recognised for an internal depth of ten sea miles along
the coast from Tunghi Bay to Kipini ; and north of this
point were included the ports of Kismayu, Brava, Merka,
and Magadisho, with radii landwards of ten miles, except
in the case of the last mentioned, in which the landward
radius was fixed at five miles.
2. The territory bounded on the south by the Eovuraa
River, and on the north by a line starting from the mouth
of the Tana and following the course of that river or its
affluents to the point of intersection of the Equator and
the 38th degree of east longitude, and thence to the inter-
section of the 1st decree of north latitude with the 37th of
east longitude, was delimited by the two Powers into
'spheres of influence' within which they were respec-
tively free to operate. The line of demarcation started
from the mouth of the River XJmbe, and skirting the
northern base of Mount Kilimanjaro, was drawn to the
point on the eastern shore of the Victoria Nyanza which
8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
is intersected by the 1st degree of south latitude. Each
Power pledged itself not to make acquisitions of territory,
accept Protectorates, or interfere with the extension of the
other's influence across this line.
3. Both Powers recognised as belonging to Witu the
coast-line commencing to the north of Kipini and continu-
ing to the northern extremity of Manda Bay.
4. Germany gave her adhesion to the Declaration, signed
by Great Britain and France on the 10th March 1862,
with regard to the recognition of the independence of the
Sultan of Zanzibar.
On the 8th December 1886 the Government of France
intimated their acquiescence in the terms of the fore-
going Agreement.
The Sultan of Zanzibar, in accepting this arrangement
on 4th December 1886, agreed to grant a lease of the
customs of certain of his ports to the German East
African Company, to withdraw his protection from the
district of Kilimanjaro, and to relinquish his claims to
sovereignty over the Witu coast. The Sultan also gave
his adhesion to the stipulations of the General Act of the
Berlin Conference, with the important reservation that
the principle of free trade was not to be applied to his
territories.
On the 25th May 1887, all questions respecting the
extent of his sovereignty having now been settled, the
Sultan of Zanzibar was able to carry out his long
cherished wisli, and defend from further encroachment the
remainder of his rights by granting the concession* to
the British East African Association (as the Company was
* See Appendix No. 1, Conce^ion o/1887.
INTRODUCTORY 9
then styled). This concession was not sought by Sir W.
Mackinnon, but was offered to him voluntarily through
the British Consul-General at Zanzibar, and accepted
by him on the understanding already mentioned. The
concession was for a period of fifty years, and it dele-
gated to the Company all the Sultan's power on the
mainland from the Eiver Umbe to Kipini, with the right
of levying taxes, collecting the customs, disposing of
public lands, administering justice and government gene-
rally. In consideration of this concession the Company
agreed 'to pay his Highness the Sultan the whole
amount of the customs duties, which he now receives
both from the import and export trade of that part of his
Highnesses dominions included in this concession.' The
tariff of those duties had been fixed and limited by the
commercial treaties between the Sultan and other Powers,
and was, generally, a duty of 5 per cent, ad valorem on
all imports, and a produce tax (commonly called an
export duty, because usually collected at the port of
shipment) of from 10 to 15 per cent, ad valorem 'on
such merchandise and produce as are herein named (in the
treaties), brought to the ports in his Highness's dominions,
either from his own territories or from districts on the
African continent which lie beyond.' The treaties
exempted subjects of the respective treaty powers from
all taxation in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar,
excepting the customs duties above specified.
The concession granted by Sultan Barghash to the
German East African Company in April 1888 was in
terms almost identical with the concession granted in the
previous year to the British East African Association. The
lo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
annual average of the sum to be paid to his Highness on
account of the customs was to be fixed, in both cases, in
accordance with the results of the first year's experience.
In the German concession, however, it was specifically
provided that, whilst paying over to the Sultan month
by month the total customs duties collected by the Com-
pany during the first year, the Company were to deduct
the expenses of collection to an amount not exceeding
170,000 rupees, and to receive a commission of 5 per
cent, on the net sum paid to the Sultan.^ It was also
stipulated in the British concession that the Sultan
should receive, in addition to the fixed rent, such pro-
portion of the net profits after payment of 8 per cent,
to the shareholders as should pertain to one founder's
share to be allotted to him ; and he was further to be
paid 50 per cent, of the ' additional net revenue ' coming
to the Association after payment of the stipulated rent
During the year 1887 twenty-one treaties were con-
cluded with tribes in the interior — Wagalla, Wadigo,
Wakamba, Wateita, and others — conferring upon the
Association sovereign rights for a distance of 200 miles
from the coast. On the 18th April 1888 the foxmders
of the Imperial British East Africa Company executed
an agreement 2 to form tliemselves into a company, and
subscribed a sum of £240,000 for the purpose. The
objects of the Company were declared to be (1) to take
over the concession from the Sultan of Zanzibar of May
24th, 1887; (2) to obtain from the Crown a charter of
^ By the terms of Article ix. of the Concession of October 1888 the
British East Africa Company became entitled to the same conditions.
^ See Appendix No. 2, Foundera' Agi'eement.
INTRODUCTORY ii
incorporation ; (3) to undertake the administration of the
territory conceded by the Sultan ; (4) to acquire teri'itory
from native chiefs in the British sphere of influence, by
treaty, by purchase, or otherwise ; (5) to establish civil
and judicial administration in the districts under the rule
of the Company ; (6) to levy taxes, customs, etc., to grant
licences, to construct roads and public works, to coin
money, and generally to exercise all the rights pertaining
to sovereignty over acquired districts ; and (7) to under-
take trading operations.
In the early part of 1887 Mr. Stanley started on his
expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha, proceeding vid, the
Congo instead of from the east coast. The German East
African Company addressed a petition to their Govern-
ment expressing their apprehensions lest Mr. Stanley's ex-
pedition should, after effecting its purpose, be utilised for
the establishment, or paving the way for the establishment,
of British Protectorates at the back of the German sphere
of action in East Africa. Baron von Plessen explained to
Lord Salisbury that in the delimitation made the preced-
ing October, ' the main question was the arrangement of
a line of demarcation, on the north of which the English
were free to operate, while the Germans were to operate
on the south of it. England expressly engaged not to
acquire possessions, accept Protectorates, or oppose the
extension of German influence to the south of the line of
demarcation ; and although it was true that no special
geographical line had been expressly fixed by agreement
for the delimitation to the west, Baron von Plessen
said that the Imperial Government had started from
the idea that England would leave Germany a free
k
1 2 BRITISH EAST A FRICA
hand for the future in the territories south of the
Victoria Nyanza, and, without interfering with the
territories lying to the east of the lakes Tanganyika and
Nyassa at the back of the German Protectorate, would
confine herself to opening up the territories lying to the
north of the agreed line/ — (Lord Salisbury to Sir E. Malet,
July 2nd, 1887.) On 8th July Mr. C. S. Scott informed
Lord Salisbury that this view of the respective rights of
the two countries to the west of the Victoria Nyanza was
' clear and most satisfactory ' to Count Bismarck.* This,
therefore, was the understanding upon which the Imperial
British East Africa Company petitioned for and accepted
its chaiter, namely, that the Germans would confine their
operations 'for the future,' in the words of Baron von
Plessen, to ' the territories south of the Victoria Nyanza.'
The charter 2 was granted by her Majesty on 3rd
September 1888. It was published in the London Gazette
of the 7th September ; and it was a noticeable coincidence
that on the same day there appeared in the Times a tele-
graphic summary of an article in the Cologne Gazette
affording the first overt indication of the line which
German subjects had resolved to adopt in East Africa
towards their British neighbours, ignoring the extent to
which they had been helped in acquiring their own ex-
tensive sphere by the friendly offices of the British Gov-
ernment. The project now started in Germany was
ostensibly one for the relief of Emin Pasha — a work
already accomplished by Mr. H. M. Stanley — but Herr
Gerhard Rohlfs, the writer of the article, was compelled,
1 Africa No. 1 (1888), pp. 79, 85.
^ See Appendix No. 3, Charter.
INTRODUCTORY 13
when declaring State aid to be ' absolutely necessary/ to
disclose its real object. 'As this expedition/ Herr Eohlfs
wrote, * is likely to assist in consolidating German colonial
enterprise in Africa, no sacrifice should be spared for
carrying it into execution/
On the 24th of August Sir William Mackinnon had
communicated to the Foreign Office a letter written on
behalf of the Company to Emin Pasha, inviting his co-
operation in the work of civilisation and development
which it was about to undertake in East Africa. The
Company had the stronger reason for expecting that this
proposal would be acceptable to Emin Pasha, from the
facts that the work would be of the same nature as that
which had occupied himself for several years in the
Equatorial regions, and that the operations of the
Company, and its extension towards the interior, would
open up to the Pasha — all the sooner with his co-opera-
tion — that road to the east coast which he had so often
and so earnestly declared to be the one desideratum of the
Nile provinces. Sir William Mackinnon now drew Lord
Salisbury's attention to the article in the Cologne Gazette
in an important and forcible letter addressed to him on
24th September 1888. In that letter it was pointed out
to Lord Salisbury that a German expedition proceeding
from the German sphere to Wadelai, and having in view,
as Herr Kohlfs avowed, the 'consolidation of German
colonial enterprise,' must necessarily indicate ' a desire on
the part of the German Company to obtain with the aid
of their Government a portion of the territory to the west
of the Victoria Nyanza and not within the limits of the
territories agreed to for the sphere of German influence
14 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
as defined by Baron von Plessen in the conversation with
your Lordship recorded in your despatch to Sir E. Malet
of 2nd July 1887, in which it is expressly stated that
Germany desired a free hand only in the temtories south
of the Victoria Nyanza, and eastwards from the lakes
Tanganyika and Nyassa/ The Germans were thus pre-
paring to do what they protested their apprehensions of
our doing, by the instrumentality of Mr. Stanley's expedi-
tion returning to the east coast after relieving Emin
Pasha. It was urged upon Lord Salisbury that, if the
intention ascribed to the German Company were tnie,
its execution would seriously interfere with the prospects
of the British Company and involve a violation of the
Agreement of July 2nd, 1887 ; and Sir William Mackinnon
further strongly represented that, in order to avoid mis-
understandings in the future, detrimental to the interests
of both countries, a formal delimitation of tJie boundary
west of the Victoria Nyanza should be made in accord-
ance with the terms of the Agreement just referred to
— that is to say, 'by drawing a line due westward from
tlie southernmost point of the Victoria Nyanza (supposed
to be on the parallel of latitude of about 2° south) till it
meets the eastern boundary of the Congo Free State as
defined by the Berlin Convention.' This delimitation
would leave the Germans a free hand over the territories
claimed for them by Baron von Plessen, and in pressing
the matter on Lord Salisbury's attention Sir William
Mackinnon added, that * the generous manner in which the
desires of Germany have already been received and met
by her Majesty's Government entitles us to expect that
our representations in the aforesaid circumstances will
INTRODUCTORY 15
not fail to receive similar treatment at the iaiids of the
Government of Germany.* How correct was Sir William
Mackinnon*s apprehension in respect of Herr Eohlfs'
avowals, was amply justified in the event, when the expe-
dition thus conceived in Germany was despatched, in the
following year, under command of Dr. Peters.
Lord Salisbury, in reply, reminded Sir William Mac-
kinnon that 'an understanding already exists' — the
understanding of July 2, 1887, to which Sir William
made reference in his letter — 'between the British and
German Governments in regard to the action of either
in the rear of their respective spheres of action on the
east coast of Africa,' and that he would cause inquiries
to be made at Berlin as to what foundation existed for
the reports in question. Later, on 13th October, Lord
Salisbury again wrote to Sir W. Mackinnon, confidentially
informing hini that from reports which had reached him
it appeared likely that the projected German expedition
for the relief of Emin Pasha would not take place, and
as, therefore, the dangers apprehended by Sir William
would not arise, it became unnecessary to raise the
question of a further definition of spheres of influence to
the west of the Victoria Nyanza.
Sultan Barghash died on the 27th March 1888, and was
succeeded on the throne of Zanzibar by his brother
Khalifa.
i
14 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
as defined by Baron von Plessen in the conversation with
your Lordship recorded in your despatch to Sir E. Malet
of 2nd July 1887, in which it is expressly stated that
Germany desired a free hand only in the territories south
of the Victoria Nyanza, and eastwards from the lakes
Tanganyika and Nyassa/ The Germans were thus pre-
paring to do what they protested their apprehensions of
our doing, by the instrumentality of Mr. Stanley's expedi-
tion returning to the east coast after relieving Emin
Pasha. It was urged upon Lord Salisbury that, if the
intention ascribed to the German Company were true,
its execution would seriously interfere with the prospects
of the British Company and involve a violation of the
Agreement of July 2nd, 1887 ; and Sir William Mackinnon
further strongly represented that, in order to avoid mis-
understandings in the future, detrimental to the interests
of both countries, a formal delimitation of tJie boundary
west of the Victoria Nyauza should be made in accord-
ance with the terms of the Agreement just referred to
— that is to say, 'by drawing a line due westward from
the southernmost point of the Victoria Nyanza (supposed
to be on the parallel of latitude of about 2° south) till it
meets the eastern boundary of the Congo Free State as
defined by the Berlin Convention.' This delimitation
would leave the Germans a free hand over the territories
claimed for them by Baron von Plessen, and in pressing
the matter on Lord Salisbury's attention Sir William
Mackinnon added, that * the generous manner in which the
desires of Germany have already been received and met
by her Majesty's Government entitles us to expect that
our representations in the aforesaid circumstances will
INTRODUCTORY 15
not fail to receive similar treatment at the iauds of the
Government of Germany/ How correct was Sir William
Mackinnon's apprehension in respect of Herr Eohlfs'
avowals, was amply justified in the event, when the expe-
dition thus conceived in Germany was despatched, in the
following year, under command of Dr. Peters.
Lord Salisbury, in reply, reminded Sir William Mac-
kinnon that ' an understanding already exists ' — the
understanding of July 2, 1887, to which Sir William
made reference in his letter — ' between the British and
German Governments in regard to the action of either
in the rear of their respective spheres of action on the
east coast of Africa,' and that he would cause inquiries
to be made at Berlin as to what foundation existed for
the reports in question- Later, on 13th October, Lord
Salisbury again wrote to Sir W. Mackinnon, confidentially
informing him that from reports which had reached him
it appeared likely that the projected German expedition
for the relief of Emin Pasha would not take place, and
as, therefore, the dangers apprehended by Sir William
would not arise, it became unnecessary to raise the
question of a further definition of spheres of influence to
the west of the Victoria Nyanza.
Sultan Barghash died on the 27th March 1888, and was
succeeded on the throne of Zanzibar by his brother
Khalifa.
h
CHAPTER II
THE NAVAL BLOCKADE — THE RUNAWAY SLAVES
#
The German East African Company formally received
charge from the Sultan, on the 16th August 1888, of the
coast-line included in their concession. Immediately on
proceeding to take possession of the new administration
the Germans, owing in the first instance to an act of
indiscretion in relation to the Sultan's flag, were received
with open hostility. The chief Director of the Company,
on attempting to laud at Pangani, was fired on by the
townspeople; the boats of a German war-vessel were
fired on at Tanga, and the vessel bombarded the town ;
even the British flag was insulted in the excitement of
the insurgents. The Germans were obliged to withdmw
from the coast, and the German flag was pulled down.
The whole coast burst into a flame of rebellion against
European authority, and the people even threatened to
renounce their allegiance to the Sultan of Zanzibar if he
attempted to re-establish the Germans. It was at this
critical juncture that Mr. George S. Mackenzie arrived at
Zanzibar, with a small pioneer staff, to take over the
coast leased under the concession to the Imperial British
East Africa Company. On 9th October the Sultan
Khalifa signed an amplified text of the Concession
already granted by his predecessor Barghash. Before
THE NA VAL BLOCKADE 17
the arrival of Mr. Mackenzie aud his stafif at Mombasa
from Zauzibar a disturbance had broken out at the
former place between the townspeople and the Zanzibar!
porters engaged for the Company. In view of the in-
surrection on the neighbouring German coast, the out-
break, which w^as regarded as a backwash of the disturb-
ances in the south, was felt to be serious enough to call
for an immediate display of repressive force; and the
prompt despatch to Mombasa of a body of the Sultan's
troops under command of his uncle, with the presence of
two British war-ships (the Boadicea^ and Stork) had
the desired effect. Quiet was restored, and the Adminis-
trator of the British East Africa Company was able to
address himself to his work without apprehension of
further disturbance. The Company did not hoist its flag
in the Sultan's ten*itory, nor disturb the native officials,
so that the administration went on without change.
An important consequence of the troubles on the
German coast was the establishment by Great Britain
and Germany of a joint blockade of the mainland coast
of the Zanzibar dominions ostensibly 'against the im-
portation of arms and the exportation of slaves.' In a
despatch from the Foreign Office, dated November Ist,^
Colonel Euan-Smith was informed 'that her Majesty's
Government had agreed with that of Germany, in view of
the rebellion against his (the Sultan's) authority which
had broken out on the mainland under the influence of
the slave-dealers, to establish, in conjunction with his
Highness, a blockade over the coast of his continental
^ The flagship of Admiral Fremantle, to whom, and to the officers
of the ■quadroD, the Company is indebted for constant and cordial
support ^ Africa No. 10 (1888), p. 81.
B
1 8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
dominions, in order to cut ofif the importation of munitions
of war to his insurgent subjects, and to put a stop to the
exportation of slaves/ This diplomatic phraseology, how-
ever, obscured the main object of the blockade as well
as the causes which gave rise to it. The rebellion had
broken out, not against the authority of the Sultan, but
against that of the German Company, and had no con-
nection — indeed had not before been alleged to have any
connection — with the business of the slave-dealers. Nor,
indeed, from the antecedent attitude of German subjects
on the mainland (between whom and their Government
natives could not be expected to distinguish) towards
slavery and the slave trade was there any reason for the
slave-dealers to apprehend much interference with their
special traffic as a consequence of the establishment of
German administration. Writing to the Marquis of
Salisbury, on the 1st June 1888, on the subject of his
communications with Herr Vohsen, the Director-in-Chief
of the German East African Company, and with special
reference to the abolition of slavery and the slave trade,
Colonel Euan-Smith said : * Herr Vohsen declared his con-
currence in these views, and added that he was determined
to do all in his power to discontinue the employment by
the officials of the Company of all forced labour. I told
him that for some time past the Germans on the coast
had virtually been directly encouraging the slave trade
by making large cash advances to Arab contractors for the
supply of labour, and that many raw slaves were said to
have been supplied in this way. Herr Vohsen said he knew
this had taken place,andthatthe practice should nowcease/^
1 Africa No. 10 (1888), p. 21.
THE NA VAL BLOCKADE
19
Apart from the troubles on the German coast, the
question of the importation of guns and gunpowder was
one that deserved attention. On 28th June 1888
Colonel Euan-Smith brought this matter strongly to the
notice of Lord Salisbury.^ Eeturns made from the
custom-house showed the quantities of arms and ammu-
nition imported into Zanzibar from 1st January to 23rd
June 1888 to have been : —
Fire-arms of all sorts, 37,41 1
Pistols,
188
BuUetS;
1,000,000
Caps,
3,100,000
Cartridges,
70,650
Gunpowder,
69,350 lbs
In addition to the above, large consignments were daily
expected, especially one of 800 revolvers, 5000 rifles, and
some 200,000 lbs. of gunpowder. No English powder, as
a rule, was to be obtained at Zanzibar, as it was found to
be too expensive for that market. It was estimated that
from 80,000 to 100,000 fire-arms of all kinds found their
way annually into Africa through the eastern ports, and
weapons of precision (breech-loading rifles) were rapidly
supplanting the inferior and old-fashioned guns. On the
28th of the following month Colonel Euan-Smith further
reported that arms and ammunition in large quantities
were stated to find their way to the mainland through
Nossi B(5 and other islands under French protection.
With a view to stopping this disastrous trade it was re-
commended that joint action sliould be initiated by all the
Powers having control on the east coast. The action of
1 Africa No. 10 (1888), p. 24.
20 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Great Britain and Germany alone would still leave the
source of supply through the Portuguese ports open,
as had proved to be the case when Sultan Barghash,
during the war of Mirambo against the Arabs in Unyam-
wezi, stopped the export of powder from Zanzibar to the
coast for three years.
The President of the Imperial British East Africa
Company, in a letter addressed to Lord Salisbury on the
19th November 1888, pointed out the anomalous charac-
ter of the proposed blockade and its probable injurious
effects upon British commerce and the interests of the
Company. In the House of Lords, on 6th November, the
Marquis of Salisbury had admitted, in reply to a question
put by the Earl of Harrowby, that the slave-traders had
not been the only cause of the * calamities ' which had
befallen the German Company. * I should say,' he
explained, * that the increase of the slave trade has been
the disposing cause, and the very great errors committed
by the Company have been the exciting cause, and the
two together have resulted in the terrible misfortunes
which have occurred.' Lord Salisbury added, as justifi-
cation for joining Germany in this blockade, that * if you
close the German coast to the importation of arms, and
the exportation of slaves, it would simply lead to turning
the trafi&c round to the English coast.' But the Com-
pany's administrator telegraphed on the 9th November
that the Customs service was fully adequate to supervising
the ports and effectually preventing the traffic in slaves,
and the importation of arms and munitions of war. Sir
William Mackinnon again pointed out to Lord Salisbury
not only the absence of any necessity for the blockade as
THE NA VAL BLOCKADE 21
far as the British coast was concerned, but its impolicy
and probable injurious eflfects. In the interests of British
commerce it was urged that the blockade should not
include the ports administered under British authority,
nor vessels sailing under British colours to and from
those ports. Matters were progressing satisfactorily on
this coast. The advent of the British East Africa Company
had been cordially welcomed by the natives. It was feared,
therefore, that the ' combined appearance of the British
and German flags for the prosecution of a blockade along
the coast-line under British influence would most probably
lead the Arabs and natives to the conclusion that we are
in combination with Germany for the use of force ashore
as well as by sea, and this impression could not fail to
Lave disastrous effects upon the prospects of the Imperial
British East Africa Company/ While the Germans were
blockading the ports from which they had been expelled
by the natives, the British fleet would be in 'the
anomalous position of blockading temtory under British
administration, where no disturbances have taken place,
and where we are cordially welcomed by the native
population/ Lord Salisbury was finally assured that, on
the issue of the Sultan's proclamation prohibiting the
importation of arms and ammunition, the British Company
was * fully prepared to render every possible assistance
and support in the exclusion of arms from the interior/
The Proclamation of blockade was, nevertheless, issued
in the name of the Sultan on 29th November 1888, and
the blockading fleets left Zanzibar for the coast next day.
The official notification was published in the London
Gazette of 4th December 1888. In a *Momoiandum for
h
22 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the information of British subjects and Europeans, etc., in
the interior of Africa,' ^ issued by the British Consul-
General on 12tli November, the effects indicated as
certain to ensue from the operation of the blockade gave
significant confirmation to the apprehensions expressed by
Sir William Mackinnon to Lord Salisbury in his letter
before quoted. 'The blockade,' said the official memo-
randum, * will irritate the tribes upon the coast, and this
feeling may very probably make itself felt far inland. . . .
All Europeans in the interior should therefore be prepared
for a sudden wave of feeling hostile to Europeans and
European influence.* On 16th November Colonel Euan-
Smith reported generally to Lord Salisbury that the
blockade would be ineffectual in stopping the slave trade,
or the importation of arms and ammunition ; that it
would * bring about an explosion of great, if only tempo-
rary, hostility to all Europeans in the interior, which for
the time being may prove very dangerous to life and
property'; that it would be very injurious to trade,
British Indian subjects being the chief sufferers; and
that 'any immediate extension of the blockade to that
portion of the coast which remains up to the present in a
condition of entire peace and quietude would have a very
alarming effect.' The original limits of the blockade
were from Tanga to the Eovuma, — that is, along the
German coast. On 20th November Admiral Fremantle
reported to the Admiralty that * at Mombasa affairs are
quiet, but it is found that no less than 900 runaway
slaves are at the Church Missionary Society's stations at
Ilabai, and, as far as I can judge, very little would be
1 Africa No. 1 (1889), p. 3.
THE RUNA WA Y SLA VES 23
needed to cause an outbreak there/ This difficulty was
overcome by the action of Mr. Mackenzie, the Company's
administrator, in negotiating the liberation of these run-
away slaves in a manner to conciliate their masters,
whereby, in the words of Admiral Fremantle, this
gentleman had * literally won golden opinions, the Arabs
spontaneously giving him a feast.' ^
The situation was a delicate one, and threatened disas-
trous results, had the danger not been averted by the
tact and judgment displayed by Mr. Mackenzie. Vice-
Consul Churchill visited Eabai, the station of the Church
Missionary Society, in May 1888, and in answer to
inquiries which he had been directed by the Consul-
General to make on the subject, Mr. Churchill 'was
informed by Mr. Jones at Eabai, and by Mr. Smith, an
English missionary of Mombasa, who has all the adminis-
tration of the Mission in his own hands, that, as far as
they were aware, there were no runaway slaves in the
settlement.^ Mr. Mackenzie found, however, that there
were about 900 runaway slaves harboured at Eabai, and
some 500 more at other neighbouring mission stations.
Almost two-thirds of these fugitives belonged to Arabs at
Mombasa, or other places on the coast; the remainder
wei-e slaves belonging to the Giriama and Daruma tribes,
having no known masters, and being claimed by no one.
The missionary stations of Eabai, Freretown, and Eibe
(the last-mentioned belonging to the United Free Metho-
dists, and the others to the Church Missionary Society)
were originally started at the suggestion and express
1 Africa No. 1 (1889), pp. 10, 17.
2 Africa No. 10(1888), p. 18.
24 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
desire of her Majesty's Government in order to find
accommodation for the slaves captured by her Majesty's
ships ; and they derived an oflScial Iocms standi from the
regular visits of the Consul-General. The Missions now
refused to surrender the runaways to their masters, who
bitterly resented what they regarded as an unjust and
arbitrary retention of their lawful property. ' So great
was the hatred/ Colonel Euan-Smith wrote to Lord
Salisbury on 11th January 1889, *so bitter was the sense
of injury felt by the Arabs towards the Church Missionary
stations at Freretown and Eabai on account of the run-
away slaves, that these two stations would inevitably
have become the object before many months were over of
an open and violent attack directed solely against them.'
Taken in connection with the anti-European feeling
produced by the backwash of the insurrection on the
neighbouring German coast, the attitude of the Arab
population involved a grave political crisis with which
the newly-arrived administrator was compelled to deal
without delay. Mr. Mackenzie solved the critical problem
with admirable policy and effect. The slaves refused to
return to their masters, the missionaries persisted in
affording them an asylum, and the masters were resolved
to recover their property. Mr. Mackenzie proposed to
secure the freedom of the whole body of runaways. The
most obvious way of doing this would have been to
purchase all the slaves and then set them free, but this
course would have been contrary to British law, which
forbids British subjects to purchase slaves, even for the
humane purpose of granting them their freedom. Neither
could the legal rights of the slave-owners be ignored or
THE RUNA IVA Y SLA VES 25
questioned. The right of an owner to his slaves is
established by the Mohammedan religious law, and the
sanction of the public law of Zanzibar, and has been
formally recognised by Great Britain and other Powers
having treaty relations with the Sultan as a Mohammedan
sovereign. The plan adopted by Mr. Mackenzie effected
the object which was desired without infringing British
law, or confiscating the legal rights of the slave mas-
ters. He induced the latter to regard their runaways
as practically lost property, and in consideration of their
adopting this attitude Mr. Mackenzie, in the interests of
public tranquillity and of the mission stations, agreed to
pay the owners a fixed sum per head as compensation for
the loss of their slaves. The compensation agreed on was
25 dollars for each fugitive found at the Missions, on
receiving which the owners consented to grant ' freedom
papers ' to the slaves.
Besides the runaways belonging to masters at the coast
there were also, as already mentioned, a large number of
slaves from the tribes of the interior in regard to whom
no claim of ownership was made. As the sending of
these people, who numbered 650, back to their own
country would only have resulted in their starving, or
being again captured as slaves, ' permits of residence '
were granted to them, authorising them to remain un-
molested at the mission stations. The necessity of
possessing one of these permits enabled the missionaries
to prevent any additions to the existing number of slaves,
and justified them in turning out of their stations any
refugee unable to produce the certificate.
In a despatch addressed to Lord Salisbury on January
I'l iL> riitM/i U]" '11 1 ll'' li:i ! ]\ •• lullP 1 ' Ml tlh'
■ I li'i\*.' ill-' lif'ii- 'Uv 1" >i I' ''. I' '1 I ii" \\\U>r
)lil-lii|', llial I ]i;i\'<' It t en c'i .( L-1 ley lin
ackenzie, managing director of the In
ist Africa Company, reporting the issi
ipers of freedom to all the fugitive slaves
ission stations adjoining Mombasa, an
iconditional freedom he had, as alrej
ranged with the Arab masters by the j
oss sum aggregating £3500.
* The ceremony of the presentation of thes
Eice at the Church Missionary station at '.
t January 1889, amid a very large cone
•ab and native population, and was acc(
fns of general rejoicing.
* Such a scene has certainly never before be
thin the limits of the African continent.
* The effect that it has had in conciliatinc
d especially the Arabs, and in inclining t
tue favourably any future proposals that
ward on behalf of a Company that has co:
panm «»
,;*u «.- - -A
THE RUN A WA Y SLA VES 27
appear to me entii-ely unobjectionable. Mr. Mackenzie
has thus completed a task for which I think he deserves
the hearty thanks of all those interested in the welfare of
East Africa. In addition to the sum of money that has
been expended, Mr. Mackenzie has sacrificed, in the
prosecution of this good work, a very great amount of
valuable time and labour. The number of details that
had to be worked out to insure the freedom of so large a
number of slaves being legally and permanently effected
and secured has been immense, and Mr. Mackenzie has
done everything himself.
* It is difficult to over-estimate the credit that is due to
him for all that he has voluntarily accomplished.
' I would venture to call your Lordship's special atten-
tion to the circular letter addressed by Mr. Mackenzie, on
behalf of the Company, to the various mission stations with
regard to the future harbouring of runaway slaves. With
the terms of that circular I would express my general
concurrence. The measure proposed in this letter by Mr.
Mackenzie, that at the mission stations themselves run-
away slaves seeking refuge should be arrested and sent
to the Wali in order that their cases may be inquired into
may indeed at first sight appear harsh and unusual, but I
am convinced that by such measures alone can the Arab
be led to believe that the missionaries are in earnest in
their declaration that they do not wish and do not seek
to provide a refuge for fugitive slaves in their mission
stations. Some of the missions seem to have implied
that Mr. Mackenzie wished them to countenance the
slave trade by asking them to send back runaway slaves,
but this implication is as unjust as it is ungenerous.
i;m iioi tfiL' hitc cxliiiu-livt' iii'iuirv
y ]ir<.'-S('(l Id ;i SUrc'-^tul ci iiic] u-i. .n , -I
ix''l. sl) liittrr \^■as llir x.-u^c of iiiiiirv'
towards the Church Missionary station
nd Eabai on account of the runaway
iwo stations would inevitably have I
before many months were over, of ai
attack directed solely against them,
m such consequences they and pos.*
curing stations have been saved by th
ickenzie. It is surely not too much to <
lould now work honestly and sincerely
le good that has been begun. If, from t
- their duties towards humanity, the m
ir, continue to receive runaway slaves, al
me will have been labour lost. The old
and discontent will return among the -
ssions themselves, sooner or later, will ur
\ Church Missionary Society has made a
ference to the prevention of the receptioi
THE R UNA IV A Y SLA VES 29
spirit in which the emancipation of the runaway slaves
had been carried out ; that they still continued — notwith-
standing the pledges given on their behalif to the Arab
and Swahili masters by Mr. Mackenzie — to harbour run-
away slaves ; and that ' the hostility that has been aroused
during the last ten years by the action of the Freretown
Mission has not been extinguished by the recent purchase
of the freedom of the harboured slaves, and the Arabs
especially believe that the missionaries would never have
acted in the matter at all unless they had been compelled
to do so/ Colonel Euan-Smith pointed out how com-
pletely the missions failed to appreciate the local conditions
under which they had to conduct their important work,
and that an attitude of open hostility to tlie Arabs and
Swahilis on the part of missionaries, settled in their midst,
would facilitate at the outset the failure of all missionary
enterprise. Under these circumstances he had addressed
to the mission stations, on the 19 th February, a circular
enjoining on them the necessity of acting in harmony with
the public law of the country in which they were settled,
and of averting the hostility of the Arabs by permitting
no slave to reside under their protection without possess-
ing a freedom paper or permit of residence, that no
runaway slave be admitted in the precincts of the mission
except in cases of severe and evident ill-treatment, and
in this case that the refugee be sent back to the Wall for
an inquiry in the presence of an official of the Mission.
By the adoption of these measures Colonel Euan-Smith
believed the confidence of the Arabs and Swahilis in the
honajidesoi the Missions would be restored, and slaves,
except in cases of real ill-treatment, would cease to
resort for asylum to the mission stations.
...iiv <i|un ;ilt'lil In 1 r-" '< (dill ) \n;i-. ;is ;i
aii<l t lir aiiiniuit I '{ (•< 'iii}n'ii-at a 'ii ] 'iii' ,
■'''■ii^iii; ioii nl' ilii^ i< -[M.ii-i1>iiil }■ <'!' (^
itiug the Asylums, the Treasury mad
)mpany of £800 towards that amount ;
3 Church Missionary Society, through
m, contributed £1200; and the Unite
Dhurch gave a sum of £200. The amou
iion cost the Company was therefore £1
CHAPTEE III
THE LAMU CONCESSION
The terms of the origiual concession offered to Sir
William Mackinnon by Sultan Barghash in 1877 covered,
it will be remembered, the whole of the Zanzibar
dominions, with certain reservations pertaining to rights
of sovereignty in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba.
The concession granted in May 1887 applied only to the
coast of the mainland from the Umbe River to Kipini, on
the borders of Witu. But, as the Directors intimated in
their prospectus in August 1889, this concession was
accompanied by a promise (of which there was ample
documentary evidence, as shall be seen, in existence) on
the part of the Sultan that he should be ready when
necessary to grant to the Company a supplementary con-
cession of the remainder of his dominions north of
Kipini. This portion of the sultanate comprised the
island and port of Lamu, and adjoining islands of Manda,
Patta, etc., and the ports of Kismayu, Brava, Merka, and
Magadisho on the Somali coast. The Sultan Khalifa, Bar-
ghash's successor, confirmed on his part the promise of this
further concession.
The operations of the Imperial East Africa Company
very soon began to excite the envy and hostility of cer-
tain irresponsible German subjects on the east coast. The
iiiu iioilli of Jvijuiii mihI triiiiiuiil iii^ at tl
iiiity of Maii'ia Hay,-- in all alMuit iK) mil
j-called ' iSultan' of this district, had form
ct of the Sultan of Zanzibar aud resit
ibouring island of Patta ; but having beei
jntumacy towards the Sultan's authority,
lainland to Kau, on the Osi, where he be,
L new following around him to enable hi
overeign and make good the position Ik
I by his rebellion. Kau being within the
ibar's dominions, Simba was soon driven
y he migrated into the forest north of the
ettled at a place called Witu, about twenty
the coast. Vice-Consul Haggard visited
ist 1884, and reported to Sir John Kirk^ th(
^ing ' was composed chiefly of all the mi
rupts, and felons of the surrounding coi
largely also of runaway slaves.' Witu I
under Simba the Alsatia of that part of
as Mr. Haggard stated in his report (261
THE LAMU CONCESSION 33
tunity of restealiug them.* Those raids were productive
of much bloodshed and distress, and as the depredations
of the Witu outlaws increased with their power, the
Swahilis abandoned their cultivation and allowed their
lands to run to waste. Simba at this time was able to
bring 3000 men into the field, and slaves were numerous,
the chief himself i)ossessing 600. ''I may remark here,'
added Mr. Vice-Consul Haggard, ' that punishment from
his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar, sooner or later,
seems to be very generally anticipated at Witu, and I con-
sider it would be wise not to disappoint them, but to
destroy the whole colony as soon as possible, and capture
their leaders, or, with their rapidly increasing strength,
they may very possibly attack him somewhere. Anyhow,
if unmolested much longer, the Watoro ^ will succeed in
completing the ruin and destruction of this fine country.*
But Germany interfered to prevent the Sultan of
Zanzibar from protecting his peaceable subjects from tlie
depredations of the outlaws and administering to the
latter the salutary chastisement of which Mr. Vice-Consul
Haggard represented them to be so much in need. In
May 1885 the Sultan despatched 600 men and some guns
to Lamu, whereupon Prince Bismarck at once intervened,
and in a despatch of June 2, 1885, to Count Mlinster (for
communication to Earl Granville), pointed out that the
Sultan was further complicating his relations with Ger-
many by directing measures of repression or punishment
against Witu. Germans having settled in Witu, Simba
readily adopted the suggestion so favourable to the status
of an outlaw on the one hand, and to the territorial
^ Runaway slaves.
C
I no (ifiiiainl <il t lir ( mthihii ( I(i\c
hi- I It M>|)> at Laiiiii aiiil ( ii ilrr lliciii
Sudi wa^ tliL' (.ii;_;iii cf ilu- (iu
Witu, which, from its geographical p
boundary of the British sphere, and
its outlawed inhabitants to the subj
Zanzibar, was well calculated to be
out to be, a literal thorn in the side
on the east coast. In 1887 a Ge
was formed, with a nominal maximi
merks (£25,000), to develop the ind
territory which was undoubtedly fer
proximity to the sea and to the flou
possessed of exceptional commerci
territory of Witu having no port of
could only be carried on through La
a considerable population of Briti
and at which the mail steamers, i
regularly called. Lamu (which belo
Zanzibar) was therefore essential to tl
and the German Witu Company,
THE LAMU CONCESSION 35
the Sultan of Zanzibar a concession of the island of Lamu.
An inquiry as to whether there was any ground for this
report was addressed to the Directors by Lord Salisbury
on 1st December. The matter was communicated by
telegraph to Mombasa to Mr. Mackenzie, who replied
that the report was without foundation, as he had never
yet mentioned Lamu to the Sultan, or taken any steps
to obtain the fulfilment of the promise of his Highness,
referred to on page 31. It was nevertheless strongly
felt, from the movements which were being made by
the Germans to obtain a firm footing in Lamu by the
establishment of a post-office through which they intended
all inward and outward mails to pass, that they meant, if
possible, to acquire Lamu and the other northern posses-
sions of the Sultan for themselves. The immediate object
in view was the resuscitation of the moribund Witu
Company, and the effect would have been to close in the
British East Africa Company between two German Protec-
torates; although, leaving out of consideration the violation
which such proceedings involved of the letter and spirit of
the Agreement of 1886, this aggressiveness of German sub-
jects to the north was hardly consistent with their situation
to the south, where the immense tract of territory assigned
to them was in general insurrection against their authority,
and their attempt to establish themselves on the coast
under the concession from the Sultan and the treaties they
had made with the chiefs had proved so far a failure.
The Company's Administrator reported to the Directors
on 15th January 1889 that the German Consul-General
had made a demand on the Sultan for the cession of Lamu.
The Sultan declined to accede to this demand, which was
36 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
based upon an alleged verbal promise to the German
Witu Company, a promise liis Highness emphatically
denied having ever made. Writing to the Directors on
the 26th of January 1889, Mr. Mackenzie stated, 'The
Germans are at present very active in endeavouring to
secure Lamu and the islands of Manda and Patta, and to
prevent us extending our concession to the northern
ports.' Mr. Mackenzie had already, under instructions
consequent on the designs of the Germans becoming
known, approached the Sultan on the subject of an
extension of the British East Africa Company's conces-
sion, as promised by his Highness and his predecessor,
Sultan Barghash, so as to include Lamu and the Benadir
Ports ; and the Sultan had shown every readiness to act
up to his engagement. 'The Sultan/ Mr. Mackenzie
continued in the letter above quoted, ' informed me that
they (the Germans) made formal demand upon him for
those ports, basing their claims upon some old promise
which he entirely denies, and he has written a letter to
our Consul-General to this effect.' Mr. Mackenzie added
that, on account of the somewhat extraordinary delay of
the Sultan in signing the concession to the British East
Africa Company, which had now been finally negotiated,
he w^as led to the opinion that great pressure, and even
throats, must have been employed by the German Consul-
General to deter his Highness from keeping his promise. In
this opinion ^Ir. Mackenzie was soon proved to have been
right. On the 30t]i January 1889 the Sultan telegraphed
in the following terms to Sir William Mackinnon : —
'Lamu and Northern Ports. We have consented to
come under an agreement to cede the territory to the
THE LAMU CONCESSION 37
Imperial British East Africa Company, but our signature
is deferred in consequence of the German Consul threaten-
ing us with tlie enmity of the German Government if we
agree to cede the territory to the Imperial British East
Africa Company. We have written fully to the German
Consul declining to cede the territory to the German Com-
pany owing to our previous engagements to the Imperial
British East Africa Company/
Notwithstanding the explicit repudiation of any promise
to the German Witu Company by the Sultan, and his
equally explicit declaration that he declined to accede to
the demands of the Germans owing to his previous en-
gagements to the Imperial British East Africa Company,
the German Government still maintained their opposition
to a grant of the concession to the British Company. In
support of the Sultan's declarations there was documen-
tary evidence of an ample and conclusive character ; on
the German side there was only an alleged verbal
promise, which the Sultan emphatically denied. Her
Majesty's Government, nevertheless, yielded so far as to
consent to a reference of the rival claims to the decision
of an arbitrator. On the 11th February 1889 Sir
William Mackinnon was informed officially of this agree-
ment with the German Government, and was directed that
' in the meanwhile all further action in the matter must be
suspended.' On the 22nd February a further communica-
tion was sent to the President of the Company stating that
the action of the German Government was due to tlie claim
of the Witu Company, resting on the alleged antecedent
promise made by the Sultan to that Company. Sir William
Mackinnon, replying to this letter on ith March, submitted
1
38 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
that the Sultan, having explicitly expressed in writing
his decision to cede Lamu only to the British Company,
and having equally intimated his decision that he would
not cede Lamu to the German Company, the Court of
Directors had supposed that no question of, or need for,
arbitration could arise. As, however, her Majesty's
Government had consented to the reference, the Directors
bowed to that decision ; but Sir William Mackinnon sug-
gested, with much cogency, for the consideration of Lord
Salisbury, 'whether before resorting to arbitration of a
formal character necessarily involving considerable delay,
it might not be advisable to submit this evidence ' (the
documentary evidence on behalf of the British Company)
' to the Imperial Government of Germany who might then,
without further demur, acknowledge the equity of the
British claim.' After refemng to the arbitrary and over-
bearing conduct of the German Consul-General in threaten-
ing the Sultan if he included Lamu in the British conces-
sion, and the aggressive proceedings of Germans * at all
points about and around the small territory embraced
between Wanga and Kipini,' the letter concluded with the
expression of a hope that the complete success which had
attended the operations of the Company on the British
coast, contrasting as it did so strikingly with the results
of German action in the south, would ensure to the British
Company the same countenance and support from Govern-
ment as the German Companies received from Berlin.
The suggestion made above had no effect, however, and
the contending claims of the two Companies were refeiTed
to the arbitration of Baron Lambermont, Minister of State
to his Majesty the King of the Belgians.
\
THE LAMU CONCESSION 39
The evidence submitted on both sides may be briefly
summarised.
The first ground upon which the German Memorandum
based the preferential claim of the German Witu Com-
pany was that, according to the Agreement of 1886, the
sphere of British influence was limited on the north by
the Tana Eiver, and, therefore, British influence was
barred from any further extension in that direction. The
islands of Lamu, Manda, and Patta lay to the north of
the boundary, and were consequently excluded from
the scope of British interests. Although Germany had
pledged herself 'not to make acquisitions of territory, accept
Protectorates, or interfere with the extension of British
influence' to the north of the international boundary
line starting from the mouth of the Umbe, the German
contention was, nevertheless, that she was practically
entitled to acquire territory and Protectorates anywliere
to the north of the British sphere, but that Great Britain
was not.
The second contention of the German Memorandum was
that the islands in Manda Bay (Lamu, Manda, Patta, etc.),
from a geographical point of view, belonged to the Witu
country ; and that Lamu, on account of its close connec-
tion with Witu commercially, and by reason of the mani-
fold relations of the inhabitants of the island with the
continent, and the questions of ownership and cultivation
connected therewith, ought to be administered by the
same hands which controlled the administration of Witu.
The third and principal ground of the German claim
was that Sultan Barghash and Sultan Khalifa had suc-
cessively promised ' a concession of the islands of Manda
i
40 BRITISH EAST A FRICA
Bay (Lamu, Manda, Patta, etc.), to the German Witu
Company/ and that the promise was anterior to any
negotiations on the part of the Britisli Company.
On behalf of the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany it was submitted that the Sultan of Zanzibar had,
since 1877, constantly held at the disposal of Sir William
Mackinnon and his friends a concession of territories
including the aforesaid ' islands of Manda Bay/ that this
offer had never been withdrawn, and was accepted with
regard to certain parts of the Sultan's territories, Lamu
being reserved for a separate and supplementary conces-
sion. This contention was supported not only by the
various drafts of the concession agreed to between the
parties, but by the sworn evidence of General Mathews,
who was the Sultan's representative in the negotiations,
and of ^fr. E. N. Mackenzie, who acted at Zanzibar for
the concessionnaires, and by the telegrams exchanged
between the Sultan (through Mr. Mackenzie and General
Mathews) and Sir William Mackinnon. This evidence
pointed clearly to the fact that Sultan Barghash accepted
Sir William Mackinnon's proposals, agreed to give him a
concession of all his dominions from Wanga to Warsheikh,
and that Sir William Mackinnon (for the future East
Africa Company) decided to accept the Wanga-Kipini
concession first, leaving that of Lamu and the northern
ports for a subsequent agreement. The intention of
Sultan Bar^jhash with rejijard to the latter concession to
the British Company was, moreover, confirmed by his
successor Khalifa, in a letter addressed, on 26th August
1888, to the British Consul-General, and in one addressed
to the German Consul-General on 12th January 1889.
THE LAMU CONCESSION 41
Lastly, the iuteiition was practically carried into effect by
the negotiations between Sultan Khalifa and the repre-
sentative of the Company in January 1889, the result of
which was declared in the Sultan's telegram to Sir W.
Mackinnon of the 30th of that month, before quoted.
The point which the Arbitrator had to decide was
whether the Sultan of Zanzibar was legally bound to
grant the Lamu concession to one or the other of the
rival claimants, and if so, which party possessed the prior
claim. A court of equity, interpreting an expressed
intention, proved by evidence strong not merely in pre-
sumption but in fact, as equivalent to a promise, and
involving a corresponding obligation, would have had no
hesitation in arriving at a judgment. Baron Lambermont,
however, examined the evidence according to the strictest
rules of international law and practice. As regards the
German claims he decided : —
1. That the Anglo-German Agreement of 1886 had no
relation whatever to the island of Lamu, or any territory
to the north of the Tana, and could therefore confer no
right beyond that line on either Power.
2. That geographical, commercial, or political consid-
erations pleaded by the Germans in respect to Lamu and
the islands of Manda Bay conferred no title to the admini-
stration of those islands by the Power controlling Witu.
3. That no sufficient evidence was adduced of the
alleged engagement of Sultan Bargliash to the Germans
in regard to Lamu, and tliat the communications which
subsequently took place between Sultan Khalifa and the
German Consul-General did not alter the position of the
case.
42 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
As regards the claim put forward by the Imperial
British East Africa Company, Baron Lambermont, while
satisfied that no doubt could exist as to the intention and
desire of the successive Sultans to grant the concession
of Lamu to this Company, held, nevertheless, that accord-
ing to the strict interpretation of law, and in the absence
of the Sultan's actual signature to the several documents,
no engagement had been validly assumed by the Sultan
of Zanzibar creating in favour of the Company an exclu-
sive right to the lease of the customs duties, and the
administration of Lamu, and the islands and ports north
of it. This decision was strictly just : the Sultan was
legally bound to neither party ; but the Arbitrator recog-
nised that this was not really the question at issue. The
question was whether Sultan Khalifa was at liberty, as
regarded the claim of the Germans, to sign the conces-
sion which had been agreed to between himself and the
representative of the British Company.
' Considering lastly,' the Award concluded, ' that the
signing of the Convention formulated between the Sultan
Seyyid Khalifa and the tepresentative of the Imperial
British East Africa Company has only been deferred in
consequence of the opposition of the German Consul-
General ;
' And whereas this opposition is founded upon the
right of priority claimed by the German Witu Company,
the reality of which right has formed the subject of the
foregoing conclusions ;
' For these reasons —
' We are of opinion that the proposed agreement be-
tween the Sultan Seyyid Khalifa and the representative
THE LAMU CONCESSION 43
of the Imperial British East Africa Company on the sub-
ject of the island of Lamii can be signed without giving
rise to any rightfully-founded opposition/
The Award was given at Brussels on the 17th of
August 1889. Baron Lamberraont, in transmitting the
Award to Lord Vivian, gave expression to his sense of
the great desirability, in the interests of concord and
civilisation, of the principle of the delimitation arrange-
ment of 1886 being extended to the territory north of the
Tana Eiver.^
Immediately on the promulgation of Baron Lamber-
mont's Award the Company despatched a telegram to its
agent at Zanzibar apprising him of the fact that the
Sultan was now free to sign the concession of Lamu and
the northern ports. At the same time the Foreign Office
instructed Mr. (now Sir Gerald) Portal, then Acting
Consul-General at Zanzibar, to lend any assistance that
he properly could to the Company's agent in obtaining the
concession. On the 31st of August 1889, Sir Gerald
Portal obtained the Sultan's signature to the desired
concession,* on terms which were afterwards considerably
modified and extended, but which closed the controversy
between the British and German Companies in regard to
Lamu and the northern ports. The Award of Baron
Lambermont, and the prompt signature of the conces-
sion, did not, however, allay the hostility of the defeated
party, or lessen the disposition of the Imperial Govern-
ment to support them in any pretensions, howsoever pre-
posterous or untenable, which they might advance with
' See Appendix No. 4, The Lamu ArhUration.
' See Appendix No. 5, Concession ofZlst Avgvst 1889.
h
44 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the object of thwarting and embarrassing the British
East Africa Company. In the next chapter the German
system of assailing the British Company from all quarters
will be further illustrated. In this place it will be suffi-
cient to add that, after the failure of its efforts to obtain
Lamu, the German Witu Company practically collapsed ;
and on the 22nd October 1889 the Imperial British
East Africa Company was approached by it with a
view to obtain an offer for its property. The President
replied on 4tli November, on behalf of the Court of
Directors, to the effect that his Company was willing to
pay for the property and rights of the Witu Company a
sum equal to the certified actual expenditure of that
Company, together with a moderate sum as compensation
for the surrender and transfer of all the Witu Company's
rights, etc., and its final withdrawal from the east coast
of Africa north of the British sphere of influence. This
proposal was made subject to an agreement being come
to between the German and British Governments for the
withdrawal of the German Protectorate over Witu and
the adjoining coast. The Witu Company was unable to
conclude an agi*eement having annexed to it a condition
which it was without influence to effect ; and the nego-
tiation, consequently, came to an end.
CHAPTEK IV
BELESONI CANAL — MANDA AND PATTA
The Tana River, wliich carries to the coast, as the
natural highway of the region, the trade of the Pokomo
and Galla tribes, who inhabit the adjacent country up to
the neighbourhood of Mount Kenia, is not navigable at
its mouth owing to a dangerous and generally impractic-
able bar, created by the exposure of the debouchure to
the action of the monsoon winds. The same condition
exists at the mouth of the Juba, and in both cases the
river deflects sharply to the south just before entering the
ocean. The Pokomo tribes, occupying the lower and
middle parts of the Tana, are noted for their industry in
canoe building and for their skill in the navigation of
these vessels ; they may, in fact, be said to monopolise
the carrying trade of the river, in the freedom of which
their interest is consequently of great importance.
The nearest port to the mouth of the Tana is Lamu,
with which may be included its subsidiary port of Kipini,
on the Osi. Although the Anglo-German Agreement of
1886 declared the Tana to be the northern boundary of
British influence, as a matter of fact the jurisdiction of
the British East Africa Company extended further under
its first concession from the Sultan of Zanzibar, whose
h
46 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
mainland dominions included not only the Osi Kiver but
a strip of territory beyond. To the commerce of the
Tana it was essential that easy access to the sea, ob-
structed as this was at the mouth of the river by the bar,
should be obtained in some other direction. The Osi,
which flows into the sea a few miles north of the Tana
and nearer to Lamu, was found to be navigable, and at
about five miles from its mouth a bend of this river
brought it to within two miles of the Tana. The point
at which the two rivera thus approached was therefore
about half-way between the coast and tlie inland frontier
of the Sultan of Zanzibar's territory. The contiguity of
the rivers suggested to the Sultan's subjects in that dis-
trict, whose interest in the commerce of the Tana was so
considerable, a junction of the two waterways by means
of a canal suitable to canoe traffic. The Pokomo people
were actively seconded in this project by the inhabitants
of Kau, on the Osi, whose town could not fail to benefit
largely by the proposed work. A canal was made, ten
feet wide and six feet deep, from a place called Chara on
the Tana, to the Osi, and in this way free coninumication
was secured with the sea.
The Sultan's subjects, however, found themselves pre-
sently barred of free transit through this waterway which
they had constructed by their own labour. Under German
protection, the lawless ruler of the Witu district felt
strong enough to send his troops into the Sultan of
Zanzibar's territory, establish a custom-house on the
canal at Chara, and levy arbitrary exactions from the
commerce of the Tana passing through the Belesoni
Canal. This outrage upon the teiTitory and subjects of
BELESONI CANAL 47
Zanzibar was prompted by a Mr. Clemens Denhardt, a
German subject who acted as agent and adviser to the
Chief of Witu. Denhardt had previously placed custom-
houses in the neighbourhood of Kau, but the German
Consul-General, on being made aware of the fact, had at
once ordered their removal. Now, however, conditions
appeared to have changed with the advent of a British
Company, and German subjects and p*ot^4s seemed to
enjoy a licence to violate the rights of others with im-
munity at whatever point they chose to attack them.
The Sultan of Zanzibar, assailed by the appeals of his
subjects for protection against the oppressions of the
Witu soldiers and oflScials, was confessedly afraid of
incurring German displeasure if he attempted to vindi-
cate his own and his people's rights against the high-
handed encroachments of a chief enjoying the protection
of Germany. The Sultan did, indeed, declare his readi-
ness to take the necessary measures to protect his subjects
and territory, and thereby to give effect to the obligations
assumed by him towards the British East Africa Company
under the concession, provided her Majesty's Agent and
Consul-General did not disapprove of his doing so. Not-
withstanding that the German Agent of the Sultan of
Witu was showing increased activity in oppressing the
subjects of Zanzibar, by not merely continuing the illegal
customs exactions, but actually levying a poll-tax on the
inhabitants of the district and compelling the Wapokomo
to remove from the south to the north bank of the Tana so
as to bring them within the scope of the flagrant usurpa-
tion exercised over the unfortunate people, the Sultan
did not receive that sanction from the British Govern-
46 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
mainland dominions included not only the Osi Kiver but
a strip of territory beyond. To the commerce of the
Tana it was essential that easy access to the sea, ob-
structed as this was at the mouth of the river by the bar,
should be obtained in some other direction. The Osi,
whicli flows into the sea a few miles north of the Tana
and nearer to Lamu, was found to be navigable, and at
about five miles from its mouth a bend of this river
brought it to within two miles of the Tana. The point
at which the two rivers thus approached was therefore
about half-way between the coast and the inland frontier
of the Sultan of Zanzibar's territory. The contiguity of
the rivers suggested to the Sultan's subjects in that dis-
trict, whose interest in the commerce of the Tana was so
considerable, a junction of the two waterways by means
of a canal suitable to canoe traffic. The Pokomo people
were actively seconded in this project by the inhabitants
of Kau, on the Osi, whose town could not fail to benefit
largely by the proposed work. A canal was made, ten
feet wide and six feet deep, from a place called Chara on
the Tana, to the Osi, and in this way free communication
was secured with the sea.
The Sultan's subjects, however, found themselves pre-
sently barred of free transit through this waterway which
they had constructed by their own labour. Under German
protection, the lawless ruler of the Witu district felt
strong enough to send his troops into the Sultan of
Zanzibar's territory, establish a custom-house on the
canal at Chara, and levy arbitrary exactions from the
commerce of the Tana passing through the Belesoni
Canal. This outrage upon the territory and subjects of
BELESONI CANAL 47
Zanzibar was prompted by a Mr. Clemens Denhardt, a
German subject who acted as agent and adviser to the
Chief of Witu. Denhardt had previously placed custom-
houses in the neighbourhood of Kau, but the Gennan
Consul-General, on being made aware of the fact, had at
once ordered their removal. Now, however, conditions
appeared to have changed with the advent of a British
Company, and German subjects and proUgis seemed to
enjoy a licence to violate the rights of others with im-
munity at whatever point they chose to attack them.
The Sultan of Zanzibar, assailed by the appeals of his
subjects for protection against the oppressions of the
Witu soldiers and officials, was confessedly afraid of
incurring German displeasure if he attempted to vindi-
cate his own and his people's rights against the high-
handed encroachments of a chief enjoying the protection
of Germany. The Sultan did, indeed, declare his readi-
ness to take the necessary measures to protect his subjects
and territory, and thereby to give effect to the obligations
assumed by him towards the British East Africa Company
under the concession, provided her Majesty's Agent and
Consul-General did not disapprove of his doing so. Not-
withstanding that the German Agent of the Sultan of
Witu was showing increased activity in oppressing the
subjects of Zanzibar, by not merely continuing the illegal
customs exactions, but actually levying a poll-tax on the
inhabitants of the district and compelling the Wapokomo
to remove from the south to the north bank of the Tana so
as to bring them within the scope of the flagrant usurpa-
tion exercised over the unfortunate people, the Sultan
did not receive that sanction from the British Govern-
48 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
ment which he reasonably asked for, as an assurance of
protection against German displeasure, in his efforts to
free his people from oppression and to fulfil his obliga-
tions to the British Company. The Directors of the
Company, to whose representative in Africa tlie people
had appealed for protection, addressed a strong repre-
sentation to Lord Salisl)ury requesting him to obtain the
interference of the German Government to put an end to
the oppressive aggressions of Witu.
On the 8th of March 1889 the Marquis of Salisbuiy
informed the Directors that the custom-house on the
Belesoni Canal liad been established by Mr. Clemens
Denhardt, who was in the service of the Sultan of Witu ;
that the German Government disavowed the act, but
declared that though the Sultan of Witu was under the
protectorate of Germany, no formal right existed enabling
the German Government to give him orders on the sub-
ject. Lord Salisbury added that the Company would
unquestionably be justified in protecting itself against
encroachments on territory proved to be within the ten-
mile limit of the possessions of the Sultan of Zanzibar
and consequently within its concession, and in proliibit-
ing the levying of duties in the canal. In stating, how-
ever, that ' no formal riglit existed enabling the German
Government to give him (the Sultan of Witu) orders on
the subject ' of withdrawing his custom-house and troops
from Zanzibar territory, tlie German Government merely
contradicted its own record, and showed its unwillingness
to interfere with proceedings directed against what were
now British interests. We have seen already how, before
these interests altered the conditions of the situation to
BELESONI CANAL 49
the German view, the German Consul-General exercised
his authority to order the removal of the custom-houses
established by Denhardt at Kau. Moreover, on a previ-
ous occ^on, when the Sultan of Witu in 1887 imposed
export duties on produce passing from his territory to
Lamu, — the inhabitants of which possessed nearly all the
property on the coast-line of Witu, and had consequently
to pay an export duty on their own produce when leaving
Witu, and a further duty on entering Lamu, — those unjust
and oppressive duties were repealed, as Colonel Euan-
Smith reported to Lord Salisbury on 2nd April 1888, ' by
the orders of the Imperial German Government/ ^ And
lastly, when in December 1889 it became clear that the
British East Africa Company was on the point of ex-
pelling the Witu people by force of arms, the German
Consul-General despatched an official order to the Sultan
of Witu directing that the'custom-house on the Belesoni
Canal should be evacuated before 31st December — the
last day allowed by the Company's ultimatum.
The unaccountable attitude of the German Government
in relation to this Belesoni Canal question and others, and
the apparent acquiescence of the British Government in
refusing its countenance or approval to the assertion by
the Sultan of Zanzibar, on behalf of his obligations to
British subjects, of his just rights of sovereignty, are
clearly indicated in a letter addressed to the Company by
the Foreign Office on 12th July 1889. The Directors had
requested that instructions might be sent to the British
Consul-General to arrange with the Sultan, tlic German
Consul-General, and the representative of the Company,
1 Africa No. 10 (1888), p. 4.
1)
50 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
for a proper understanding being come to with the Sultan
of Witu for the withdrawal of his forces from Zanzibar
territory, and for the discontinuance of the levying of
duties. Bitter complaints were received from the Galla
chiefs living in the districts between the Tana and Osi
about these oppressive and illegal exactions, but although
the right of the Company to employ force in clearing its
territory of the invaders had already been recognised by
her Majesty's Government, and a survey made by
Commander Fallen of her Majesty's ship Stovh had con-
firmed beyond all question the situation of the canal as
entirely within Zanzibar territory, yet the Directors were
reluctant to resort *to force until no other means were left
of asserting a right so notoriously founded on the first
principles of justice. They were, in fact, unable to believe
eitlier that the German Government would continue to
give its sanction to so flagrant a violation of territory,
or that her Majesty's Government would continue to
acquiesce in a usurpation wliich violated the sovereign
rights of the Sultan of Zanzibar — whose independence
they were pledged to protect ; and the rights of the Com-
pany to which the Crown had granted the regis of a Eoyal
Charter. In regard to the action of both Governments
the Directors were gravely mistaken. 'Her Majesty's
Government,' the Directors were informed in the letter of
12th July, ' would not consider it advisable again to invite
the aid of the German Government, who have distinctly
expressed their inability and unwillingness to interfere,
and the interference bv the Sultan ot Zanzibar in Witu
matters would probably embroil him with Germany, and
is manifestly inexpedient.' Which was to say, that the
BELESONI CANAL 51
Sultan of Zanzibar would not be allowed by Germany,
nor countenanced by Great Britain, should he attempt
to prevent his territory being invaded and his subjects
oppressed by the Sultan of Witu. This alone could be
meant by 'interference by the Sultan of Zanzibar in
Witu matters/ The Company was left to deal with the
difficulty as it thought best ; and no other course being
now left open, Lord Salisbury was informed by letter on
17th July 1889 that the Company's representative would
be forthwith instructed to despatch a body of troops to
the Belesoni Canal to drive out the Witu soldiers and
. customs officials.
ilr. Clemens Denhardt, who had found it to his interest
to enter into amicable negotiations witli the Directors of
the Imperial British East Africa Company with a view to
a peaceful adjustment of the difficulties with Witu, had
been ousted from his position as agent to the Sultan of
Witu by the intrigues of Herr Toeppen, the local agent of
the German Witu Company. This gentleman on becom-
ing aware of the intention of the Company to enforce its
rights in regard to the northern boundary, adopted a
course which bore the character of defiance. The Directors
communicated to Lord Salisbury on the 21st November
1889 a report dated the 24th of the previous month from
Mr. R. T. Simons, their agent at Lanui as well as British
Consular Agent. 'Herr Toeppen,* Mr. Simons reported,
the agent of the Witu Company, has been appointed
agent for the Sultan of Witu, whilst the brothers Den-
hardt have been dismissed. Funio Bakari has repaired
and renovated the custom-house on tlie Belesoni Canal,
and increased his force of occupation. Herr Toeppen has
52 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
returned from Zanzibar by dhow, and landed at Mkonumbi,
on the Witu territory, 600 muskets, 500 kegs of gun-
powder, and a supply of cartridges, percussion caps, etc. ;
these are a present to the Sultan of Witu/ The Directors,
on whom Lord Salisbury was at this time pressing the
importance of applying stringent measures to the regula-
tion and control of the importation of atms and ammuni-
tion, drew his Lordship's attention to the impossibility
of any course adopted by them proving effective for the
object in view so long as the Germans declined to adopt
a similar policy. The action of Herr Toeppen was pointed
to as an illustration of the freedom allowed by the
German authorities in such matters ; and without imply-
ing (as past experience would have justified them in
doing) that this importation of guns and gunpowder as
' a present ' to the Sultan of Witu, and evidently intended
as a hostile manifestation against the British Company in
reference to the custom-house, received olMcial indulgence
for that reason alone, the inference must have sucfrested
' CO
itself to any mind. Nevertheless, the action of the
Germans remained without remonstrance.
An ultimatum was then addressed by the Company's
representative to Fumo Bakari, the Sultan of Witu,
requiring him to evacuate the Belesoni district and with-
draw all his officials before 31st December; and towards
the end of the month an armed force of 150 men, with a
Maxim gun, was despatched by the Company from Mom-
basa to enforce the evacuation if necessary. A significant
incident then occurred. A few days before the despatch
of this force the German Consul-General informed Mr.
Mackenzie that he had no orders from his Government in
BELESONI CANAL 53
regard to the evacuation of Zanzibar territory by the
Witu forces ; but when there was no longer any doubt as
to the resolution of the Company to expel the intruders, the
German Consul-General asked Mr. Mackenzie to convey a
sealed packet to Herr Toeppen so that it might be in his
hands not later than the 30th December — the day before
that named in the Company^s ultimatum. It was known
at Zanzibar that, notwithstanding the declaration of the
German Government that they could not give orders to the
Sultan of Witu on the subject, this letter contained orders
to evacuate. Mr. Mackenzie declined to be the bearer.
The orders were immediately sent up by a German man-
of-war, and the result was that the Witu forces and
officials quietly withdrew without awaiting the arrival
of the Company^s troops under command of Mr. Clifford
Craiifurd. Mr. Craufurd took possession of the district
and left a sufficient garrison in occupation.
It is deserving of notice that on the 1st January 1890
the Sultan of Witu addressed a letter to tlie Company's
agent at Lamu informing him that the custom-liouse and
troops had been withdrawn, expressing sentiments of
great friendliness towards the Company, and inviting
the agent to pay him a visit at Witu. There is no doubt
that Fumo Bakari's confidence in his German friends was
now considerably shaken. The bearer of the letter was
Mahomed bin Hamid, the brother of the Liwali of Lamu.
'In a verbal conversation with Mahomed bin Hamid,'
Mr. Simons wrote from Lamu on 4th January 1890, 'he
(Fumo Bakari) stated that so far as he was concerned the
Belesoni would have been handed to us long ago, but that
he dare not have done so, holding, as he does, letters from
54 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the German Coiisul-General instructing him to occupy the
Belesoni and give it up to no one/ Fumo Bakari further
stated to Mahomed bin Haniid that he woukl willingly
throw uj) the German Protectorate and identify himself
with the British East Africa Company, lie asked that
he might have the islands of Manda and Patta, but these,
Mahomed bin llamid informed him, belonged to the
Sultan of Zanzibar. It was discovered that Herr
Toeppen's sudden acquisition of power in Witu was
largely due to definite promises which he had given to
the Sultan that Germany would not only protect him on
the Belesoni Canal, but would cause these two islands to
be handed over to him. Seeing that the geographical con-
nection of these islands with Witu had been summarily
dismissed by Baron Lambermont as a ground also of
political connection, the request of Fumo Bakari arose
from a strong natural desire based upon the fact that
before their outlawry Patta had been the residence of his
family.
To their astonishment and indignation, the Directors of
the Imperial British East Africa Company soon dis-
covered that the promise held out by Herr Toeppen in re-
gard to these islands was no idle one. The pretension
now put forward by the Germans, and the high-handed
and arrogant manner in which they asserted it, taken in
connection witli the apparently passive attitude of her
Majesty's Government, — an attitude, as we since know,
due to the force of diplomatic considerations, and in
the event not prejudicial to British interest, — was a
considerable trial to the patience of those who had em-
barked their capital in the development of British East
MANDA AND PATTA 55
Africa for the interests alike of British comnierce and of
the British name, and the effect was disheartening. Sub-
sequent events proved that the Witu right of possession
to Manda and Patta was based upon a pretension as
utterly groundless per sc as the action of the Germans
themselves had already left it to be inferred.
The Directors gave her Majesty's Government timely
notice of the possibility of the Company's right to the
islands of Manda, Patta, Kwyhu, etc, under the Sultan's
concession being disputed by Germany. Attention was
also drawn to the important fact that, on whatever
grounds the threatened opposition to the concession of
the islands of Manda Bay might be based, the Germans
could not call in question the sovereign right of the Sul-
tan of Zanzibar to deal with them, a right which they had
so recently and unequivocally acknowledged by their
action regarding the ' Lamu concession,' as well as by
the case submitted by the German Imperial Government
to Baron Lambermont. The following passages in Baron
Lanibermont's Award make the position of the Germans in
that matter clear and unmistakable, — a position in which
they were applicants to a Sovereign for a concession of
parts of his recognised territory : —
'On the 10th December 1887 the German Consul-
Geueral and Mr. Toeppen, the representative of the Witu
Company, had an audience of the Sultan Seyyid Barghash,
of which audience the Consul-General gave an account to
his Government by a report, which is not produced, but
the analysis of which in the German Memorandum ends
with these words : —
* " The result of this interview expanded may be summed
h
56 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
up in this sense, that the Sultan declared himself to be at
once ready to grant the concession for the islands of
Mauda Bay to the Witu Company," etc/
And again : —
' In his letter of the 16th November 1888, to the Sul-
tan Seyyid Khalifa, the Consul-General expresses himself
thus: — "I take the liberty of recalling the fact that
under Seyyid Barghash negotiations were already carried
on for a concession of the islands of Manda Bay to the
German Witu Company, of which Mr. Toeppen is the re-
presentative at Lamu." '
Baron Lambermont laid down that it must be a prin-
ciple in international as in all affairs that one cannot
create a title for oneself. In this matter the Germans not
only failed in the attempt to create a title for themselves
to the concession of Lamu and the islands of Manda Bay,
but, on this concession being granted to the British Com-
pany, they denied, as a defeated party, that title of the
Sultan of Zanzibar which as applicants they had fully
acknowledged. The Directors of the Company reason-
ably expected that, after so far deferring to their prepos-
terous pretensions as to submit to the arbitration, her
Majesty's Government would not for a moment coun-
tenance this further and still more vexatious and ground-
less interference with British rights. The Foreign Office
acknowledged the letter calling attention to the fact that
Germany had already fully and formally recognised the
Sultan's right to dispose of the islands in Manda Bay by
concession. On the same day (11th October 1889) the
Directors were informed in another letter that her
Majesty's Government had learned by telegraph from
MANDA AND PATTA S7
their Acting Agent and Consul- General at Zanzibar ' that
the right of the Sultan to include the islands of Manda
and Patta in the concession to the British East Africa
Company will probably be called in question by the Ger-
man Government on the ground that they have never re-
cognised his Highnesses authority over them.*
In reply to this extraordinary intimation the Directors
made the position of the Company clear. After referring
to the explicit acknowledgment of the Sultan's sovereignty
over the islands, embodied in the Memorandum of the
Imperial German Government which was submitted to
Baron Lambermont, it was pointed out further, first, that
the Sultan's flag was flying in the islands uucliallenged
prior to the grant of the concession ; secondly, that on the
settlement of the boundaries of Witu by General Mathews
and Vice-Consul Hunholt in January 1887, the Sultan's
flag, in conformity with the terms of that agreement, was
withdrawn from the mainland, but was not interfered with
in the islands of Manda Bay, nor the Sultan's rights
there in any way questioned ; and lastly, that the nega-
tion of any rights in regard to the islands on the part
of the Sultan of Witu which was distinctly implied in
the definition of the coast-line of Witu laid down in the
Anglo-German Agreement of 188G was legally tantamount
to an acknowledgment of the rights of the sovereign whose
flag had for many years been flying unquestioned over
those islands.
History, supported by incontestable local and other
evidence, confirmed the position established by existing
facts. Against all this array of title it was understood
that the ground of the German objection was that Ger-
58 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
many, in negotiating the Agreement of 1886 with Great
Britain, had reserved lier recognition of the Sultan of
Zanzibar's sovereignty over the islands of Manda Bay. If
this was the case, then it became very clear that Germany
had abandoned and surrendered this position by formally
acknowledging the Sultan of Zanzibar as sovereign before
the Arbitration in the Concession case. It is unnecessary
to go beyond this fact to prove that Germany's action in
now reviving the objection to the Sultan's right to cede
the islands arose not from any belief in the fantastic and
preposterous claim of an outlawed subject to a por-
tion of his sovereign's dominions, but from the desire to
oppose as far as possible every extension of British in-
terests, and to prevent the Company by every means from
enjoying the concession which Baron Lambermout had
decided that the Sultan had the right to grant and the
Company to accept.
In the letter of 16th October 1888, above referred to,
the Directors informed the Marquis of Salisbury that, the
Sultan's right to cede the islands to the Company being
beyond doubt, their agents would be forthwith instructed
to take possession. The Directors in this action were
animated not only by their duty to the Company, but by
the principle which always actively influenced them of
maintaining the Sultan's sovereign rights and dignity;
and in doing this they looked with confidence to the
* full sympathy and support of her Majesty's Govern-
ment' Accordingly, with the sanction of his Highness
the Sultan, the Company's flag was hoisted in the islands
beside his own, and the officers of the Imperial British
East Africa Company entered into possession.
MANDA AND PA TTA 59
It was doubtless the case tliat paramount Imperial
coosiderations influenced her Majesty's Government in
their unvarying toleration of the vexatious and unfriendly
aggressiveness of German subjects and officials in East
Africa in the matters referred to in the preceding pages,
and others still to be narrated. The Directors of the
Company have always bowed to the exigency of such
considerations in a spirit of loyal confidence in her
Majesty's Government. Their submission to the (embar-
rassments arising from incessant intrigues, encroachments,
and pretensions of German subjects, in which the latter
only too readily obtained tlie active support of their
Government, not only retarded the progress of the Com-
pany, but involved it in expenditure for the defence of
its just rights which had never been anticipated. These
sacrifices, heavy sacrifices, of time and money and labour,
were well understood by her Majesty's Government, as
well as by the Directors, to be called for by the exigencies
of Imperial interests in other parts of the world rather
than in East Africa. The claims of the Company, how-
ever, upon the State, on account of those patient and
loyal sacrifices, have been very scantily, if at all, recog-
nised. Had the Company received under its charter
anything like the protection and fair play — not to say
encouragement and substantial support — accorded by the
German and other Governments to their subjects in like
circumstances, its record and success would have been
all that its founders had been justified in expecting at
its inception. But circumstances from the first subor-
dinated its interests to those of the Empire, — a subor-
dination of which the Directors were too loyal to com-
] • 1
Ill" 1 - ! . ; ! n i - W . ; - , I — 1 1 1 ; . 1 n _ ' j 1 1 ! il ; t • - i .
lllrlil W.i- ;,ii.lll;_: i'lli'./r >lr|i.-, ('i|ll;ill^
uujustifiable, to obstruct our iuterests.
CHAPTER V
THE NEW GERMAN PROTECTORATE— MAND A AND PATTA
Ox the 23rd of October 1889 a telegram appeared in
tbe Times newspaper from its Berlin correspondent re-
porting that an announcement had been published in the
official Gazette to the effect 'that the territory on the
East African coast between the northern frontier of Witu
and the southern frontier of the station of Kismayu,
belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar, is placed, pursuant
to the treaties concluded with the sultans and chiefs in
those regions, under the protectorate of his Majesty the
Emperor, subject to any acquired rights.'
The Directors immediately wrote to the Foreign Office
asking for information regarding this extraordinary
announcement. On the Gth of Xovember a letter was
written in reply stating that on the 22nd October the
German Ambassador had given formal notice to her
jMajesty's Government, in accordance with Article 34 of
the General Act of the Berlin Conference, of the terri-
tory in question having been placed under the protec-
torate of Germany, subject to the reservation, of course,
of the properly acquired rights of third parties.
That such rights existed the Germans were fully
aware. Of the nature or extent of the so-called rights
62 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
or ' treaties ' acquired by Germany from ' the sultans and
chiefs' of the region covered by the new Protectorate,
nothing was known. But as far back as July 1889 the
British East Africa Company had formally notified to
the Foreign Office a treaty which had been concluded by
its agent with Avatula, the chief of the Waboni tribe,
whose territory and influence were understood to extend
from the interior to the coast north of the district of
Witu. The Directors of the Company addressed a very
strong representation to her Majesty's Government, on
the 31st October 1889, regarding the embarrassing and
disheartening position in which the Company was placed
by the 'continued, persistent, unfriendly action on the
part of the German Government with regard to the terri-
tories north of the Tana/ Grave apprehensions were
entertained as to the intentions of Germany in that and
other quarters, and serious doubts were felt as to whether
the Company would be justified in continuing its efforts
on the lines originally laid down, unless a distinct and
final agreement were come to between the two Govern-
ments as to the limits within which the Company was to
be at liberty to carry on its operations between the Umbe
Eiver and the northern port of Mruti. It was pertinently
added that * while the enormous German sphere of influ-
ence lying between the Umbe and Eovuma lies practically
untouched, it appears very significant that the German
Government should at the present juncture be so active
in evincing this desire to establish a protectorate in the
territory lying outside of, but conterminous with, Witu.
It is imnecessary to remind your Lordship/ the Directors
continued, * of the inconvenience entailed upon this Com-
THE NE W GERMAN PROTECTORA TE 63
pany as well as the large and unforeseen expenditure
made necessary, not only to be perpetually on the watch
to guard its rights against the constant attempts of
irresponsible intriguers, who too readily receive the sup-
port and protection of the German Government in their
attempts to embarrass the Company and minimise its
influence, but to prevent in the interior the intervention
by any foreign power in the territories lying between the
rivers Umbe and Juba so as to give them access to the
Nile basin. Our present action, therefore, has been pre-
cipitated and forced upon us by what we consider to be
the unwarrantable and hostile movements of the Germans
in territory beyond their proper sphere of influence, which
latter in itself is more than sufficient for many years to
come to tax the administrative and financial resources of
the association wlych has taken it in hand/
The Directors on the 9th of November addressed a
request to Lord Salisbury that, in virtue of the treaties
concluded by the Company over the territory between the
Tana and Juba Eivers (whicli had been duly communi-
cated to the Foreign Oflice on 27th July previous) her
Majesty's Government, following the example of Ger-
many on the coast, and the precedent of their own action
in the territories under the control of the Eoyal Niger
Company, would forthwitli declare a Protectorate over
the countries acquired by the British East Africa Com-
pany's treaties. In reply to this application the Directors
were informed on 19th November that the treaties con-
cluded by the Company had been notified to the German
Government, and that the further question of declaring
a Protectorate would receive the consideration of her
64 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Majesty's Government. It became evident, however,
very soon that Imperial interests demanded a larger
measure of consideration than the rights of the British
Company. The communication from the Foreign Office
just referred to was followed by another on .14th Decem-
ber, intimating very clearly that, in addition to their Pro-
tectorate on the coast, the Germans now claimed to call
in question the validity of the treaties previously made
by this Company, on no better grounds than that certain
shadowy pretensions were made in the name of the
puppet Sultan of Witu to rights of sovereignty on the
loft bank of the Tana, and that certain chiefs on the
right bank of the Juba were under the protectorate of
Germany. It was no matter for surprise that a writer in
the T'mfs newspaper of 22nd October 1889 should have
given emphatic expression to the feeling which the vari-
ous proceedings of the Germans in East Africa were
calculated to arouse. * It is difficult,' the writer stated,
* to account for the claims on the part of the Germans,
except from the desire of certain individuals to give the
successful English Company as much annoyance as pos-
sible. It is difficult to treat either seriously or patiently
such pretensions. If the German claims are presented
through the German CJovernment, it is to be supposed
that our Government must listen to them; but any
lengthened correspondence or negotiation on the subject
would be eminently ridiculous. The conduct of German
subjects in East Africa can only be satisfactorily ex-
plained on the supposition that they are attempting to
get up a case for 'Compensation." It is notorious that
the Witu Company are not particularly flourishing; and
THE NEW GERMAN PROTECTORA TE 65
the English Company might be willing to take over their
land and business, provided the protectorate rights of
the German Government were withdrawn. Here, again,
fortunately, the English Company are taking a firm
stand, for they are sure of their ground, and in this, of
course, they will receive the support of the Government
that granted their charter and encouraged them to em-
bark their capital in an enterprise whicli is really
Imperial. ... In this worthy enterprise, then, the Com-
pany have a right to expect the hearty support of the
Government. No doubt such support will be promptly
forthcoming when necessary. It was never more needed
than at present, to protect the Company from the irri-
tating annoyance of having, every other day, claims
sprung upon them which are right in the face of the
settled understanding between the two Governments as to
the principle on which German v and England were to
act in this part of Africa. The Company, as represent-
ing England, have loyally carried out our part of the
bargain ; a word from Prince Bismarck w^ould effectively
put a stop to all breaches of the arrangement on the
other side. A little firmness on the part of the English
Foreign Office would produce the desired result, and
encourage the capitalists who have embarked their money
not' to abandon an enterprise which they have begun so
well.'
But, as the Government soon afterwards significantly
informed the Directors of the Company in connection
with another German obstruction against which they
ventured to protest, 'Imperial interests are paramount,'
and the firmness and support expected from the Foreign
K
66 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
OfiQce were therefore modified and regulated to suit the
exigencies of these interests, — to which, accordingly, the
rights and interests of the Company had to he sub-
ordinated. The British East Africa Company, originated
and chartered for specific and clearly understood objects
in East Africa, found itself unexpectedly used as an
oblation in the interests of Great Britain in Egypt or
elsewhere, and so used without either present acknowledg-
ment of the sacrifice or future prospect of compensation.
On the 20th December the German Ambassador com-
municated to the Marquis of Salisbury a Note Verbals
maintaining the right of the Sultan of Witu to the
islands of Manda and Patta, and denying that of the
Sultan of Zanzibar. The Note observed that on 6th
December her Majesty's Government had admitted that
the question, whether these islands belonged to the Sultan
of Witu or the Sultan of Zanzibar, was expressly reserved
for decision, — the claim of the former resting upon
ancestral pretensions, and that of the latter upon the
undoubted exercise of sovereignty over the islands since
the middle of the present century. Pointing to the fact
that the negotiations connected with the Anglo-German
Agreement of October 29, November 1, 1886, made it
clear to the Sultan Barghash of Zanzibar that Germany
did not acknowledge the sovereignty claimed by him over
the islands of Manda Bay, the Note contended 'that
neither a temporary exercise of sovereign rights by the
Sultans of Zanzibar during the three years which followed
these negotiations, nor tlie ignorance of the present Sultan
with regard to the state of the case, can have created a
right to the possession of the islands.' Germany's chief
MANDA AND PA TTA 67
reason for having hitherto taken no steps to bring about
a final settlement of the question was that she wished the
question of the customs administration of Lamu to be
settled first. ' As the Sultan of Zanzibar/ said the Note,
*has ignored the interests of Witu in this matter, the
Imperial Government do not see their way to meeting his
wishes with regard to Manda and Patta, since the pos-
session of those islands has now become more important
to the Sultanate of Witu/ The above facts, it was urged,
showed that the Imperial Government had not relin-
quished the attitude formerly adopted in this question,
and that no ground was afforded for the assumption that
the claims of the Sultan of Zanzibar to Manda and Patta
had been admitted to be well founded. Her Majesty's
Government were therefore requested to withhold their
saiiction from the assumption of administrative functions
in the islands by the British East Africa Company until
an agreement should have been come to with the Govern-
ment of Germany, who refused to admit the right of the
Company to act in Manda and Patta under tlie concession
granted by the Sultan of Zanzibar.
It will be observed that the language and contention of
the Note Verhale were quite inconsistent with the explicit
and unqualified acknowledgment of tlie Sultan of
Zanzibar's rights of sovereignty over those islands con-
tained in the Memorandum submitted by the German
Government to Baron Lambermont. Nor, excluding that
decisive fact from consideration, did there appear to be
any justification for their present obstructive action
advanced by the Imperial authorities of Germany better
than the avowal that that action was prompted by resent-
68 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
ment against the Sultan of Zanzibar for having ' ignored
the interests of Witu * in granting the Concession of Lamu
to the British Company. The disastrous consequences
following from the concession he had already granted to
the Germans in the south were not, apart from other
considerations, such as to encourage the Sultan to grant
them another concession.
In regard to this Note Verbale, the Directors of the
British East Africa Company wrote the Foreign Office
on 15th January 1890, referring to the undoubted right of
the Sultan of Zanzibar to cede the islands, and adding
that, as no objection had been made by her Majesty's
Government to the acceptance of the Concession, the
Company had in good faith sent its oflficers to occupy the
islands, had hoisted its flag alongside that of the Sultan,
by arrangement with the latter, and now hoped that her
Majesty's Government would confirm the Company in its
rights, and refuse to permit any interference with them
by tlie German Government. On 24:th January the
Directors were informed in reply that, notwithstanding
the 'importance' of the facts stated in their letters, *the
question of the administration of the two islands by
the Company must remain in abeyance pending the
discussion between her Majesty's Government and
the Government of Germany.' The Company was
requested to send instructions to this effect to its
local agents. To this the Directors replied that the
Company had already taken over all the islands under
the Concession, and that the lowering of the flags would
have the immediate effect of prejudicing the Sultan of
Zanzibar's claims to sovereignty. The Company's agents
MANDA AND PATTA 69
however, would be instructed to take no new steps
pending further orders. But this concession to their
claims did not satisify the demand of the Germans. The
Company was informed by the Foreign Office that its
officers must abstain from all administrative acts pending
the decision of the controversy, and for the first time (on
February 15th, 1890) the following official decision was
given regarding a concession obtained on 31st August
1889, by her Majesty's Acting Consul-General, under
direct instructions from the Foreign Office to assist the
Company in every way he properly could in securing the
concession. It was, moreover, through that department,
in a letter of 27th September 1889, that the Company
received the Concession which Mr. Portal had concluded
with the Sultan ; and it \vas with the full knowledge and
sanction of her Majesty's Government tlhat the adminis-
tration of the islands was taken over and exercised up to
the date of this communication of February 15th, 1890,
in which it was officially declared, * that as the Company's
agents have taken over the islands, have hoisted the
Company's flag, and have presumably taken steps in the
direction of assuming the administration, their action in
respect to a territory in the position of these islands
must be held to have been taken without authority.'
The 'position of these islands,' it must be borne in
mind, was an ex post facto incident, created by German
hostility to British interests after the concession had been
granted to the British Company and refused to the German
Witu Company.
The indignity to the Imperial British East Africa
Company and the Sultan of Zanzibar did not end here.
76 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
The Directors at ouce informed the Government that the
decision would be immediately communicated to the
Company's Administrator for his guidance. On the 25th
February the Directors placed on record in a clear
manner the position as regarded this concession and the
steps taken by the Company. Government were re-
minded that the islands were ceded to the Company on
31st August 1889, and a copy of the Concession for-
warded to the Directors by Government on 27th Sep-
tember; that in the letter of 11th October, hinting that
the right of the Sultan to cede those islands might
probably be called in question by the Germans, the
Foreign Office conveyed no intimation that the Company
should not proceed to exercise its right under the Con-
cession; that on the 16th October the Directors, in
reference to the foregoing letter, expressly informed her
Majesty's Government that their agents had been in-
structed to enter upon possession, and that the Company
relied on the sympathy and support of the Government ;
that this letter was acknowledged on 30th October
without taking exception to the Company's administration
of the islands ; and finally, on 20th December, the Foreign
Office was informed that, in pursuance of an arrangement
with the Sultan mutually deemed advisable, the Com-
pany's flag had been hoisted in Manda and Patta along-
side that of his Highness. The Directors then recapi-
tulated the grounds upon which the Sultan's claims to
sovereignty over the islands were based, and added that
any doubts upon the matter could best be resolved by
appointing a conunission to take evidence on the spot.
But on the same day (25th February) a letter was
MANDA AND PATTA 71
d^patched to the Company from the Foreign OflBce
directing the withdrawal of the Company's oflBcers and
troops from Manda and Patta, ordering the Company's
flag to be hauled down, and the administration to be
carried on through the Wali of Lamu. To these orders the
Directors at once yielded, and telegraphed accordingly to
their Administrator ; but they again strongly emphasised
their dissent from the assumption that their action in
connection with the concession had been 'without
authority/ Certain newspaper statements afforded the
means of eliciting more distinctly from her Majesty's
Government a definition of the attitude they had now
taken up. It was asserted, with some appearance of
authority, by the Berlin correspondent of the New York
Herald (London edition) on 6th March, and in an official
communique in the Berliner Tageblatt of the same date,
that the British had admitted that the Sultan of
Zanzibar had no right to the islands of Manda and Patta,
and had therefore acted illegally in granting them to the
British East Africa Company. The statements were so
incredible, in view not only of the tacit concurrence of her
Majesty's Government in the assumption of the rights
acquired by the Company under the Concession obtained
by her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, but of the
explicit acknowledgment of the Sultan's sovereignty
made by the German Government before Baron Lamber-
mont, that the Directors drew Lord Salisbury's attention
to the matter — feeling unable to understand such an
apparent abandonment of the rights of British subjects
lawfully acquired from a sovereign whose independence
Great Britain was pledged to uphold. The Directors were
i
72 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
informed, on the 13th March, that the statement of the
alleged 'admission' of her Majesty's Government was
' incorrect,' but the explanation now given of the action
of her Majesty's Government in the matter diflered very
little from the former in character or degree. The German
Government were informed * that, as the question of the
rival claims to the islands had been reserved' (at the
time of the negotiations leading to the Delimitation
Agreement of October 29th, 1886) *for future negotiation
between the two Governments, her Majesty's Govern-
ment considered that the late Sultan of Zanzibar had no
right to prejudice a decision by including those islands in his
Concession to your Company' ^
The stultification of their former action was, on the
face of it, less intelligible in regard to the British than to
the German Government. Tlie former had expressed no
disapproval of the inclusion of ' the islands of Lamu and
Manda and Patta and Kiwihu and all other islands in
that vicinity and in Manda Bay' in the Concession
obtained for the Company by their own agent and
Consul-General ; and the latter had publicly acknow-
ledged the Sultan of Zanzibar's sovereignty over the
islands by becoming a suitor to him for a concession of
them. Germany now disputed the rights it had so
recently acknowledged, in order to embarrass the British
Company and create another claim for ' compensation ' in
the general settlement which was approaching ; while
Great Britain abandoned them, presumably on account
of those 'Imperial considerations' to which the Com-
•
* See Appendix No. 5, Manda and Patta Concession Corre-
/tpondence.
MAN DA AND PATTA 73
pany's interests were so regularly sacrificed. It was in
vain, however, the Directors urged that the right claimed
and exercised by the Sultan of Zanzibar was 'no new
thing ' sprung upon the world by the concession, —
* that the terms of the concession in question had been
virtually arranged and understood for more than a year
before the date of its being granted,* — and that the
Germans had made every effort to obtain the same con-
cession for themselves, and only formulated their protest
against the sovereign rights of the Sultan of Zanzibar
when his Highness eventually granted the concession to
the British Company.
The German Witu Company, on whose account all this
contention first arose, was, as has already been stated, in
a condition of exhaustion from which it had hoped to be
rescued by obtaining the management of the customs
administration of l^mu. In his official report of March
1889, to which reference has before been made, Vice-
Consul Haggard stated that ' the Witu Company appear
to be solely represented by Mr. Toeppen, who carries on
in Lamu a retail trade in oil, crockery, calico, and piece
goods. Very little capital has been expended in Witu,
and it is stated that no plantation work on any scale has
been attempted.' Lamu being lost to them by the Sultan's
action in ceding it to the British East Africa Company,
the Germans revived the discarded claims of the Sultan
of Witu on the islands of Manda Bay, not because these
islands possessed any commercial importance in them-
selves, but partly because the claims would be calculated
to embarrass and discredit the British Company, and
partly because Manda Bay afforded better anchorage for
74 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
large vessels than that of Lamu, and was capable of con-
version into a very much superior port.
Meanwhile the German Consul-General at Zanzibar,
not satisfied with compelling the Company to haul down
its flag and withdraw from Manda and Patta, formally
demanded of the Sultan that he should cancel the Con-
cession. This, however, the Sultan declined to do, but,
acting presumably on the advice of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, he agreed to suspend the concession pending the
result of the arbitration. On the 2nd of April 1890, the
Sultan Seyyid Ali, who had succeeded to the throne on
the death of his brother, Khalifa, addressed the follow-
ing letter to Mr. George S. Mackenzie, the Company *s
administrator : —
After compliments :
* Oh, my friend ! Be it known to you that our friend the
German Consul-General has written to us by order of his
Government and has also spoken on the matter to us, that
the two great Governments have decided that the question of
our sovereignty over Manda and Patta must be sent to arbi-
tration, and he says that these islands have not been proved
to belong to us and that others claim them, and that our late
brother did wrong in giving the Concession of them to you.
But we cannot understand this, for the islands have belonged to
us ever since the time of our fathers, and our friend the German
Consul-General himself asked our brother to concede them to
the Germans, and he refused because he had given (promised)
them to the English. But we wish to please the Goveniment
of Germany if we can, and what can it matter to us if our
claim goes to arbitration ? They must be decided in our
favour. Our sovereign rights arc known to all, and God and
the great Governments cannot do us injustice.
But the German Consul-General has asked us to cancel our
Concession to you for these islands, but this is not necessary.
MANDA AND PATTA 75
For the sake of the arbitration desired by the Governments
we have told him that we will write to you to consider the
Concession of the islands as being suspended until our rights
are decided for ever by arbitration, and we will then at once
restore the Concession to you, and this is what we have to ask
you. Please do nothing with regard to the Concession until
the arbitration is decided in our favour, when we will again
give it to you with the same rights and privileges as before.
This is what we ask of you. Salaam from your friend,
Skyyid Alt.'
Mr. Mackenzie, in reply to this communication, in-
formed the Sultan that as representative of the Company
he declined to accept the suspension of the Concession or
to compromise the rights of the Company by assenting to
an act which would be a breach of good faith on the part
of the Sultan. He advised the Sultan to make this known
to the German Consul-General, and at the same time Mr.
Mackenzie forwarded to the British Agent and Consul-
General copies of the correspondence to place him in full
possession of the facts.
Colonel Euan-Smith reported the situation by telegraph
to the Foreign Office, which thereupon informed the Com-
pany that it was not justified in declining to accept the
notice of suspension, and that it had nothing to fear if the
result of the arbitration should be favourable to the Sultan
of Zanzibar. Instructions in this sense were to be sent
to the administrator. The Directors, in reply, assumed
full responsibility for the refusal of their administrator to
accept the notice of suspension, and explained in the
clearest manner the important principle on which they
acted. If the Sultan, coerced by pressure and threats
from German officials, were to be at liberty to suspend
76 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
part of a concession granted under sovereign rights con-
fessedly exercised for half a century without question, he
would be entitled to suspend the wliole concession, and it
followed, in the opinion of the Directors, that ' a dangerous
precedent would be established if an agreement signed,
sealed, and delivered in perfect good faith could then be
amended, cancelled, or suspended by one of the parties of
it/ It was further argued that the suspension of the Con-
cession, and the Company's acceptance of such suspension,
would ipso facto be liable to interpretation compromising
the Sultan's sovereign rights and prejudicing the British
case in the proposed arbitration.
It was not until the 15th October 1890 (several months
after the conclusion of the Anglo-German Agreement
hereafter described) that Lord Salisbury informed the
Company that it was now at liberty to re-occupy Manda
and Patta. Meanwhile matters remained in statu quo ;
but it is interesting to observe (see correspondence in
Appendix No. 5) that the demand of the German Consul-
General on 31st March for the rescission of the Concession
by the Sultan, was avowedly ' based upon the contents of
a despatch from the British Ambassador at Berlin to the
German Foreign Office, in which it was admitted that his
Highness the Sultan had no right to make such a conces-
sion.' This was the ' admission ' the newspaper report of
which was stated on 1 3th March to have been incorrect.
CHAPTER VI
AVANGA BOUNDARY QUESTION — DR. PETERS* EXPEDITION
By the terms of the Concession under which the British
East Africa Company held the coast from Wanga to
Kipini, the rent to be paid to the Sultan in respect of the
customs was to be fixed after the first year's experience.
During the first year the administration remained in the
hands of the Sultan's officials, and the customs continued
to be collected by his officers. The Company was to
assume the administration from the 16th of August 1889
(the beginning of the financial year in Zanzibar). A few
days before this date, however, the German Consul-
General sprang another obstruction upon the Company by
notifying to her Majesty's Agent at Zanzibar that it had
not yet been settled whether the port of Wanga was
within the British or German sphere of influence, and
that the question must be decided before the customs
administration was taken over by the British Company.
The attitude assumed by the Germans in regard to the
southern boundary line was suggested by a certain vague-
ness in the wording of the Delimitation Agreement of
1886, which was drawn up in Europe by persons not con-
versant with the exact geographical conditions on the
east coast. The words of the Agreement were ' The line
78 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
of demarcation starts from the mouth of the river Wanga
or Umbe/ etc. On the strength of the doubt suggested by
this ambiguous description, the Germans resolved to dis-
pute the right of the Company to take possession of
Wanga. That the former in this case as in that of Manda
and Patta had put themselves out of court by their own
official acts, and that the evidence against their contention
as supplied by themselves was conclusive and unanswer-
able, did not modify their determination to cause trouble
to the British Company.
As to the river, miscalled the ' river Wanga or Umbe,'
which formed the boundary, only a slight knowledge of
the locality was required to show that there was no river
bearing the name of Wanga, and that there was no
river at all at Wanga, but only a salt water creek.
The river Umbe is about two miles to the south of the
port of Wanga. The Company's concession extended to
the river Umbe, and the territory had actually been taken
over by the Company in the early part of 1889. The
foregoing geographical facts, well known to all who had
any personal acquaintance with the coast — well known,
especially, as shall be seen, to the Germans — were amply
confirmed by the results of an independent examination
made by Commander Pullen of her Majesty's surveying
ship ' Stork,' who at the time was surveying the coast.
In disputing the right of the British East Africa Com-
pany to the port of Wanga the obvious contention of the
German authorities was that Wanga belonged to them-
selves. The character of that pretension will be clear
from a reference to their own official records. The first
article of the Concession to the German East Africau
MANDA BO UNDAR Y Q UESTION 79
Association declares that the Sultan ' makes over to the
German East African Association all the power which he
possesses on the mainland on the Mrima, and in all his
territories and dependencies south of the Umhe River' etc.
A proclamation issued by Herr Ernst Vohsen, the
director-in-chief of the German Company notified that, ' In
accordance with the treaty concluded between his High-
ness the Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Khalifa, and the Ger-
man East African Association, the latter takes charge, from
the 15th August 1888, in the name of his Highness, of
the whole administration of the coast-line extending /ro?yi
souih of the Umhe River to the Ilovuma Eiver.* This
proclamation promulgated an ordinance in which repeated
reference is made to tlie German territory in the same
terms.
On the 16th August 1888, Herr Vohsen issued two
farther ordinances declaratory of the German Company's
rights and regulations under its concession ' south of the
Umbe Eiver.' ^
It would hardly be supposed that in the face of those
explicit oflScial records the Germans could expect any
colour to be given to their present course except that of
unwarranted and vexatious interfereilce with the British
Company, or that lier Majesty's Government would for a
moment consent to countenance or tolerate such a pro-
ceeding. The Directors of the Imperial British East
Africa Company protested against this gratuitous and
irritating action, and expressed the hope that no question
would be allowed of the Company's undoubted rights at
Wanga. They ordered a European officer to be placed in
1 Africa, No. 10 (1888), pp. 35, 38.
i
80 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
charge of Wanga. Thereupon the German Consul-
General protested to the British Agent against the Com-
pany sending any European officer to Wanga until the
matter was settled. In reply to this protest the Directors
telegraphed to their agent directing him to inform the
British Consul- General that the Company declined to
recognise the German protest, resting its position on the
authority of the British and German Concessions and the
jact that the port had been taken over by the British
Company in January 1889. The Directors also referred
to the fact that the question of delimitation had nothing
to do with the Company's right to hold Wanga, as this
right was acquired under the Sultan's Concession, in the
same manner as its right to the strip of territory (includ-
ing the Bel^soni Canal and Kau and Kipini) which lay
to the north of the Tana and consequently outside the
recognised British sphere of influence as defined by the
Agreement of 1886.
The Company placed Lord Salisbury in possession of
the full evidence, on German as well as British authority,
establishing and confirming the fact that the Umbe formed
the boundary. Lord Salisbury acknowledged the Directors'
letters without remark; and on the 5th of October 1889
the Company was informed from the Foreign Office that a
joint British and German Naval Commission was proceed-
ing to carry out the delimitation of the boundary at
Wanga. The course adopted would have been a most
proper one had there been the smallest doubt existing on
the point, either on the evidence of the German official
records, of common public knowledge on the coast, or of
the British naval officers who had made an examination
THE WANGA BOUNDARY QUESTION 8i
of the boundary. Captain Brackenbury'of H.M.S. Txir-
qyjoise, was sent to meet the German ship Carola, and
with her captain to make an examination of the boundary.
The German ship had not arrived, but Captain Bracken-
bury inspected Wanga thoroughly, and his report was in
the hands of the Government. Expressing surprise at
such a question having arisen, he described the Umbe as
'an excellent frontier line giving Wanga some H miles of
surrounding in every direction.' There was no river at
Wanga, only a creek.
On the 9th November a communication was addressed
to the Directors by the Foreign Office, stating that the
joint survey of the boundary had been completed, and
that the report was expected shortly. It was, however,
an open secret in Zanzibar (from which it was at once
communicated to London) that the report of the Joint
Naval Commission confirmed in every way the claims of
the British side.
Notwithstanding that on 9th November the Foreign
Office declared the inquiry to be completed and the formal
report expected 'shortly,' and notwithstanding, further,
that the purport of that report might almost be described
as public knowledge, the report was withheld by the two
Governments. On 2nd October Mr. Portal, then Acting
Agent and Consul-General, liad asked the representative
of the Company to abstain from sending a European
officer to take charge of the Wanga customs pending the
decision of the Commission, which was about to examuie
the boundary. On the 12th December following. Colonel
Euan-Smith sent the Administrator a copy of a despatch
from Lord Salisbury expressing his lordship's approval of
F
82 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Mr. Portars advice regarding Wanga. An officer had
been sent to Wanga in October in obedience to the orders
of the Directors. The Administrator now informed the
Consul-General that, in view of the unquestionable rights
of the British Company, the withdrawal of the officers
placed at AVanga would prove very prejudicial to its
interests there and elsewhere, and he could not, therefore,
consent to remove them except under compulsion, or by
instructions from the Court of Directors. On receiving
this correspondence from tlie Consul-General, the Marquis
of Salisbury, on the 8th February 1890, — three months
after the Boundary Commission had completed its in-
quiries — caused a letter to be sent to the Directors,
observing that ' this is a point on which Imperial interests
are paramount,' and requesting ' that the Court of
Directors will be so good as to issue orders to Mr.
Mackenzie to the efifect that no act of administration shall
be performed until the question in dispute is settled.' As
the ' question in dispute ' seemed, owing to the apparent
agreement of the two Governments to ignore or suppress
the report of the Boundary Commission, in a fair way of
surviving till the Greek Kalends, the British East Africa
Company might well liave begim to regard any further
contest with the Germans as hopeless, and either to resign
itself to indefinite future sacrifices in the interests of
Imperial policy, or abandon the enterprise in which it
received so little encouragement and suffered so much
loss. Again, on the 22nd February, in reply to a respect-
ful representation that the revenues of Wanga formed
part of the basis on which the Company's annual pay-
ment to the Sultan had been calculated and settled; and
THE WAXGA /U) ( WPA K ]' nrj- sf/, }\ 83
that the withdrawal of its machinery ol" adiiiinistratioii
would be seriously prejudicial to its interests, the orders
were reiterated that 'the Company shall abstain from
any act of administration at Wauga until the discussion
with the German Government shall have settled the dis-
puted question whether it should be comprised in the
British or German sphere/ But, as it was well known that
the Joint Naval Commission had settled this point four
iDontlis previously, it was impossible to understand what
subject for ' discussion ' could still remain, or how long
the Company should have to await the pleasure of the
German Government before resuming its suspended rights.
And in point of fact the Wanga question, like that of
Manda and Patta, was held over in this condition by
Germany to increase the leverage available for application
to the British Government in the final and general
negotiations which resulted in the Agreement of 1st July
1890, eighteen months after the Company had occupied
the territory.
In the early part of this narrative it was mentioned
that, in connection with a representation addressed to
Lord Salisbury by the Company urging a further definition
of spheres of influence west of the Victoria Nyanza, his
lordship informed Sir William Mackinnon that it appeared
likely the projected German expedition for the relief of
Emiu Pasha would not take place, and no occasion would
therefore arise for the delimitation suggested. This was
in October 1888. During this month various reports,
more or less authentic, appeared in the press pointing to
the abandonment or postponement of the design, in con-
sequence, it was alleged, of the want of sympathy on the
. 84 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
part of the German Government. The nominated leaders
were Lieutenant Wissmann and Dr. Carl Peters. The
real object of the expedition was hardly disguised even at
the beginning. Probably, indeed, an appeal for funds for
the dilatory purpose (already undertaken, two years pre-
viously, by a committee in England) of ' relieving' £min
Pasha, would have failed to elicit the same response as a
frank avowal that the expedition was primarily intended
to extend Germany's colonial empire in Africa at the
expense of the British sphere. The German Colonial Com-
pany, at a meeting at Wiesbaden on 1 1th September 1888,
passed a resolution declaring the extebsion of German
stations by way of the Victoria and Albert Nyanza to Wa-
delai, ' to be desirable in the interests of the nation,' and
that it was prepared ' to assist such a company formed with
this object to the best of its ability.' The German public,
declared the Liberal Friesinnige Zeitung, could not be too
strongly warned to close their purses to such an attempt
to entice them, under the pretext of Emin Pasha's name,
into a colonial policy. But the adherents of such a policy
were undoubtedly in the ascendant in Germany. In
addition to the discouraging circumstance, already alluded
to as having damped the ardour of the German Emin
Pasha Committee (who had eventually discarded the word
'relief from their title), the disturbed state of things on
the German coast of East Africa comi)elled a temporary
postponement of the enterprise. The original idea was to
start from Pangani, march through the German sphere to
the south of the Victoria Nyanza, and proceed between
that lake and the Albert Nyanza to Wadelai, founding
permanent German stations as they went. Hence the
THE WANG A BOUNDARY QUESTION 85
strong representatiou addressed to Lord Salisbury by Sir
W. Mackinnon pointing out the urgency of a definite
settlement of the boundary in the terms of the under-
standing of July 1887, before the position was forced by
Peters' expedition. But the project was by no means
abandoned, as Lord Salisbury had been led to believe. It
derived its vitality from motives quite irrespective of the
disorders on the coast or the situation of Emin Pasha.
As for the former, Lieut. Wissmann met the difficulty by
avoiding it, that is, by intimating that his expedition
would start from some point on the Somali coast, probably
from Witu, following the line of the Tana. The news
which reached Europe in December of the reported cap-
ture of Emin Pasha by the Mahdi did not discourage the
German Committee or interfere with their designs. If Emin
was captured, they declared that they would still go on
with their enterprise and direct it against the slave-dealers
in the Equatorial regions. In the latter part of December
a telegram appeared in a London newspaper from a well-
informed Berlin source, stating that ' although the belief
in the safety of Emin Pasha, and in the success of Stanley
in having relieved him, is now general among Colonial
politicians here, the departure of the expedition destined
for his relief is still contemplated, and it is safe to con-
clude that certain other objects in East Africa will afford
a raison dCitre for the continuance of the preparations
already commenced, even though it should speedily
become certain that Emin Pasha is already safe.' The
probable appointment of Lieutenant Wissmann to the
post of Governor of German East Africa was also referred
to. In both matters the information was correct. The
86 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
«
annouucemeut was made on 3rd January 1889, of the
appointment of Wissmann as Imperial Commissary in
East Africa. The management of tlie *Emin Pasha
Expedition' was therefore confided to Dr. Carl Peters.
According to the correspondent just referred to (Morning
Post, 8th January 1889), in Berlin it was 'a general
insinuation that the news regarding ' (the capture of)
' Emin Pasha and Stanley is an English fabrication
intended to prevent the sending out of the German ex-
pedition, the hardly concealed ulterior object of which is
the acquisition of a highway to the Central Lakes for
German commerce and enterprise/
On the 26th of February Dr. Peters left Berlin for
Zanzibar, having announced his intention of leading his
force through the British sphere, although permission to
do so had already been refused to him. In the disturbed
state of the native mind on the coast consequent on the
fighting in the German sphere, the Directors of the
Imperial British East Africa Company became alarmed at
the j)rospect of such an expedition entering the Company's
territory. They accordingly directed their Administrator
to issue a notice that no armed expedition would be
allowed to enter the British territory. On 27tli March
they addressed to Lord Salisbury a strong protest against
Peters* intention to march tlirough the British sphere of
influence, as entirely contrary to the spirit and letter of
the Agreements of 1886 and 1887. Lord Salisbury con-
curred with the Directors that it was undesirable Dr.
Peters should be permitted to pass through British terri-
tory, and added that he understood Peters would not be
allowed to proceed through the German sphere. Subse-
.X-
DR, PETERS' EXPEDITION 87
quently it was made known to the Company, by letter
from the Foreign Office dated 11th May, that the expedi-
tion conducted by Dr. Peters ' would not be countenanced
or supported by the German Government,' which suggests
the reflection that if a similar expedition with similar
objects had been organised by British subjects, the
German Government woukl not have been satisfied with
a mere declaration that it would not be ' countenanced
or supported' by the Government. Its prevention and
disbandment would have been called for and undoubtedly
carried out.
At Aden the Peters' expedition enlisted 100 Somalis,
who were taken to Zanzibar by Lieutenant von Tiede-
mann. The party intended to land at Lamu, and there
await the arrival of Dr. Peters, but the steamer did not
call at that port, and they were taken on to Zanzibar.
The reason was that Dr. Peters had been warned that his
expedition would not be permitted to pass through the
British East Africa Company's territories, which landing
at Lamu would involve ; and also that it was strongly
suspected that the expedition would probably have arms
and ammunition passed under false declaration as provi-
sions or merchandise — a suspicion which was justified by
the subsequent discovery that of seventy-two cases shipped
as provisions, ten were on arrival at Zanzibar found to
contain arms and ammunition for the expedition. This
dishonest attempt to evade the blockade did not elevate
the character of Dr. Peters' enterprise. The Somalis,
whom the Sultan refused to allow to land in Zanzibar,
were sent across to Bagamoyo, where they were landed
disarmed. Dr. Peters, however, was not to be discouraged
88 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
by the opposition of the British East Africa Company or
the 'discountenance' of his own Government. He ad-
hered to his resolution to lead hi* -expedition to the
interior at the back of the British Company's territory.
His object in doing so was notorious long before he boldly
avowed it himself by his declarations and acts. That
object was a deliberate invasion of the territory secured
by treaty to British influence. The Government of
Germany 'discountenanced' this meditated violation of
the rights of a friendly power, which was cordially
supporting German enterprise in East Africa ; but it did
nothing, and its oflScials did nothing, to prevent the viola-
tion. Nor, indeed, did the Government of her Majesty,
beyond the loyal but unsuccessful efforts of Admiral
Fremantle to prevent Peters from landing at Witu with
his party. As far as the two Foreign Offices were con-
cerned, Dr. Peters enjoyed immunity to do what he
pleased in the British sphere. His own Government
refused to allow him passage through the German sphere
of influence, which, moreover, the existing state of the
country rendered impracticable, but the British Govern-
ment issued no prohibition against his marching through
the British sphere. The duty of counteracting this new
mischief was left to the Company, which had thus
imposed upon it another national responsibility for which
it had certainly not bargained in accepting its Charter.
Its difficulties were acknowledged, but its ' duties ' were
pointed out to it very emphatically and clearly. * The
Germans,' said a leading article in the Times on the 30tli
March 1889, * who are making a great mess of their own
undertakings, appear to make it their principal aim to
■*■
DR, PETERS' EXPEDITION 89
spoil ours. Their settlement at the mouth of the Tana
River is a glaring breach of the spirit, if not of the letter,
of the international agreement, and its avowed object is
rather to hamper British trade than to obtain commercial
advantages of a more direct and peaceful kind. While
the Witu Company is thus endeavouring to shut us in
upon the north and to bully the Sultan into handing over
to them the island of Lamu with the British subjects who
have made and who carry on its trade, the Carl Peters'
expedition is clearly and avowedly intended to cut us off
from the interior, by establishing German influence at the
back of our territory. It is quite true that the German
Government does not directly encourage these lawless and
predatory enterprises on the part of its subjects. But it
does not appear to be in any hurry to discourage them,
as it is required to do not only by the friendship it pro-
fesses, but also by considerations of common honesty and
regard for treaty engagements. In fact we are witnessing
the process known in private life as " trying it on," and
described in the language of diplomacy as " otRcious " in
contradistinction to oflicial activity. If trying it on
comes to nothing, the German Government has nothing
to do but maintain a virtuous placidity of demeanour.
If we are weak enough to allow these overbearing traders
to carry out their intentions, we shall find that the
German Government feels itself obliged, however reluc-
tantly, to recognise accomplished facts.' Then the article
turns to warn the British East Africa Company of the
respect paid by all Governments to accomplished facts,
and that 'it (the Company) must fight its own battle.'
But the Times omitted to bear in mind that it was not its
90 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
own battle the Company was called upon to fight, but a
battle forced upon it on the account of British national
rights in East Africa, by the hostility of German com-
panies and German subjects which their own Government
passively sanctioned when it did not actively encourage
and support them, and which the British Government left
the Company unaided to deal with and resist with its
own private resources. 'Should the battle be rendered
unequal,' the Times concluded, ' by the appearance of the
German Government on the side of the German traders,
then the British East Africa Company would have a
strong claim upon the Foreign Office, and one to which
Lord Salisbury could not refuse to listen/ But the battle
had been rendered unequal ah'eady by the strong supix)rt
the German Government gave its subjects in every pre-
tension they chose to put forward, and by the seeming
acquiescence of the British Foreign Office in almost every
German demand. Prince Bismarck might not, it was true,
be willing to control his 'unruly countrymen* in East
Africa at the request of Great Britain, but the British
Government had the power and the right to support
British subjects, acting under a Eoyal Charter, in resisting
unwarrantable invasions of their undoubted rights. Not
only were the Germans allowed to have the best of it in
every dispute they chose to raise, but the British East
Africa Company had now thrust upon it the enormous
extra responsibility and expense of protecting in the inte-
rests of the nation the remote regions of the interior from
foreign invasion.
Writing from Zanzibar on 30th March, after the world
had become acquainted with the success of Stanley's
DR, PETERS' EXPEDITION 91
expedition. Dr. Peters no longer placed any disguise upon
his project. ' I hope you will continue to hear good news
of us/ he said, ' and that we, on our part, will be able to
take part in the solution of the Central African question
in the interest of Germany.' He had difficulties to
encounter in the refusal of the German authorities to per-
mit him to further aggravate the situation on the main-
land by marching through the disturbed region, and in
the natural opposition of the British Company to the
admission of so dangerous an element, with so unfriendly
a purpose, into its territory. Dr. Peters fixed upon Witu
as his starting point; it was just outside the northern
limit of the British sphere, and offered a base from which
that sphere could be entered and traversed' at the back of
the coast. Witu and the Tana River route opened a way
for him into that ' hinterland * in which it was his
purpose to operate. The Emin Pasha Committee, as the
Times reported on 7th May 1889, now virtually admitted
that the real object of the enterprise was * to try if pos-
sible to forestall the presumed intentions of the English
by establishing a connection between the German sphere
of interest and Emin's Equatorial Province.' To land his
expedition at Witu, Peters was obliged to run the blockade,
which at length he succeeded in doing by stratagem, and
disembarked at Kwyhu Bay on 15th June 1889. On the
27th July he left Witu and marched up the Tana.
Almost immediately he became involved in hostilities
with the natives, and fighting and plunder marked the
whole line of his march. The news which reached
Europe in the first days of November that Emin Pasha
and his companions were coming to the coast with Mr.
92 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
H. M. Stanley had no effect on the prosecution of an
expedition plauned for objects unconnected with the
fortunes of the late Governor of the Equatorial Provinces.
One of the British East Africa Company's officers (Mr. J.
R W. Pigott) had already made a journey up the Tana,
and had been received by the tribes in the friendliest
way. He had entered into treaty relations with them
and had established a station of the Company at a place
called Bokore, about 250 miles up the river. This
expedition will be referred to more fully in another place.
The natives, astonished and alarmed at the high-handed
treatment administered to them by Dr. Peters — so
different from the fair-dealing and conciliatory methods of
Mr. Pigott — refused to assist him with boats or food. Both
were taken by force. The people were shot down if they
resisted. The chief of the Gallas at Bokore was shot by
Peters, the Company's flag was pulled down and the Ger-
man flag hoisted in its place, the British flag and the British
Treaty papers were burned in public, and a German station
was established. The intention of the expedition was now
openly avowed and violently carried into execution. The
head man left in charge of the Company's station at
Bokore had gone down the river to sell ivory and purchase
supplies. Dr. Peters burned the station and appropriated
all the goods and stores for his own use. His procedure
in the first stages of his journey is thus described by the
Somalis who accompanied him : — * We went up the Tana
and as we passed through the various districts, Dr.
Peters called for the Chief or Headman, who was tied up
as soon as he arrived at the camp and threatened to be
flogged or killed unless he gave the caravan food or what-
/)/?. PETERS' EXPEDITION 93
ever was required. This was often carried out all the
journey through. At Korokoro and other places wherever
the Imperial British East Africa Company's flags were
flying, Dr. Peters hauled them down, destroyed some
and and took others home to Eiirope ; he made treaties
wherever the Imperial British East Africa Company's flags
were broken down, and impressed the chiefs and people
that they were under the * protection of the Deutsch.' He
set the Company's station at Korokoro on fire and tried
to destroy and render useless everything that had been
done by the Company's agents.' ^
This record was fully confirmed by the letters of Dr.
Peters himself, published in the German newspapers, the
general tone of which was one of exultation at the success
of his methods of dealing with the lives and property of
the natives and the rights of the British Company. It
was, therefore, without surprise that news was received in
November of the reported massacre of Peters and all his
party by the natives on the Upper Tana, where he had
shot the Galla chief and perpetrated several other out-
rages. The details were somewhat circumstantially given ;
but it eventually turned out that the report was a ruse,
evidently designed to secure immunity from further
public observation in the prosecution of a signally lawless
enterprise.
' Enclosure in despatch dated August 2nd, 1890, from Colonel Euan-
Smith to Lord Salisbury. Transmitted to Company by Foreign Office
2nd September 1890.
CHAPTER VII
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT
In a former chapter it has been stated that the original
desire of Sultan Barghash was that the British East Africa
Company should accept a concession of all his dominions
with certain limitations relating to the islands of Zanzibar
and Pemba. When the Anglo-German agreement of
1886 divided the mainland behind the coast into spheres
of influence, and defined the limits of the Sultan's
sovereignty, the coast-line south of the Umbe River, in
consequence of being reserved for German influence, be-
came necessarily excluded from any concession which
might be granted to a British Company. Immediately
on the conclusion of the international agreement referred
to, Sultan Barghash signified his readiness to grant to the
British East Africa Company a concession of the whole
of his mainland possessions to the north of the German
sphere, including Lamu and the other islands on the
coast. But the Company was unwilling at the outset
to assume territorial responsibilities in excess of its
resources and capacities of administration. The prof-
fered concession of Lamu and the northern ports it
therefore decided to forego for the present, until, by the
development of its administrative machinery, and the
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND ITALY 95
growth and consolidation of its enterprise, the Company
might feel itself in a position to undertake extended
operations. The concession, therefore, which the British
East Africa Company accepted from the Sultan and
undertook to work, comprised only the strip of coast
included between the Umbe Eiver and Witu. Within a
very few months, however, the Company was coerced by
the action of the Germans to abandon its prudent and
moderate territorial policy. The German Consul-General
made a demand on the Sultan of Zanzibar for the conces-
sion of the port of Lamu, as already related, and as a
measure of necessity, prematurely precipitated by this
foreign rivalry, the Company had no option but to avail
itself of the Sultan's engagement to grant the concession
of Lamu and the northern ports whenever desired. The
history of the German opposition to this grant has already
been related. Had no attempt been made to obtain these
northern possessions of Zanzibar by a foreign power, it
would not have been the interest nor the desire of the
British East Africa Company to extend so far for perhaps
several years to come. The responsibility was forced
upon it by circumstances which it had no power to
control, and was undertaken in a spirit of public duty to
secure British interests from foreign aggression.
The ports north of Lamu conceded to the Company by
the Sultan's deed of 31st August 1889, were Kismayu
(near the mouth of the Juba river), Brava, Merka, Maga-
disho, Warsheikh, and Mruti. The Company, however,
was avei*se to accepting obligations north of the Juba,
and had already been in friendly communication with
the Royal Italian Government respecting the northern
96 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
ports. That Government, desiring to establish its in-
fluence over the Somali coast, had previously opened
negotiations with the view of acquiring the ports in
question. A certain friction, the" causes of which need
not be entered into here, arose between the Italian
Government and the Sultan of Zanzibar, resulting in an
interruption of friendly relations. In this condition of
affairs the Imperial British East Africa Company took
the position of an intermediary between Italy and Zanzi-
bar, and negotiated the concession of Laniu and the
northern ports with the ultimate view of handing over
the latter, with the sanction of his Highness the Sultan,
to the Eoyal Italian Government. In May 1889 an
Italian Protectorate was declared over the Sultanate of
Oppia. On the 3rd August 1889 a formal agreement was
executed between the Royal Italian Government (repre-
sented by Signer Catalani, Italian Charg^ d'Affaires in
London), and the Imperial British East Africa Company
(represented by Sir William Mackinnon), of which the
following were the general provisions : —
The Eoyal Italian Government being desirous of
obtaining the ports north of Kismayu, the British East
Africa Company, on obtaining the concession at this time
under negotiation, agreed to transfer to the Italian
Government (with the sanction of the Sultan of Zanzibar)
the ports of Brava, Merka, Magadislio, Warsheikh, and
Mruti, with the adjoining territory in each case : the
ports then to be held by the Italian Government on the
same terms and conditions as those contained in the
concession to the Company, excepting Kismayu, which
was to be jointly occupied and administered. The Italian
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND ITAL Y 97
Governmeut bound itself to limit the Italian sphere of
influence to the east and north of the river Juba to the
intersection of 8 degrees north latitude and 40 degrees east
longitude, following the parallel of 8 degrees north latitude
to about 37 degrees east longitude, whence the line was to
run in a north-westerly direction to a point on the Blue
Nile. This river was to form the boundary as far as
35 degrees east longitude. The Italian Government and
the Company were to have equal rights of navigation on
the river Juba.^
On the 31st August the Company received the conces-*
sion from the Sultan, and on the 18th November a
Deed of Transfer was executed to the Italian Government
in pursuance of the Agreement of 3rd August 1889. The
Italian Government, on the 19th November, notified to
the. signatories of tlie Berlin Act that on the 15th of that
month a Protectorate had been assumed by Italy over the
eastern coast of Africa from the north of Kisinayu to
2J degrees of north latitude, that is, to the southern
boundary of the Sultanate of Oppia. The transactions
between the Imperial British East Africa Company and
the Italian Government had the full cognisance of her
Majesty's Government, and were announced to the share-
holders by the Directors, in their annual report, dated
the 17th July 1890, in the following terms : —
'The Directors have now to state briefly the circum-
stances, 80 far as they are concerned, which have led to
the establishment of an Italian sphere of influence out-
side the limits assigned to Great Britain by the
Anglo-German Agreement. Sir William Mackinnon, the
* See Appendix No. 7, Italian Agreement,
G
98 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Presideut, foreseeing that the presence of a foreign power
north of the Tana River must have the efifect of excluding
this Company from the Nile basin as well as from terri-
tories inland extending up to the Juba, deemed it of the
first importance to obtain such control over the remaining
coast possessions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, north of
Kipini, as should obviate a situation certain to jeopardise
the future of the enterprise. Accordingly, not without
much opposition, involving recouree, as regards Lamu, to
the arbitration of a foreign jurist, the Company succeeded
in getting the Concession of these possessions confirmed,
which had previously been promised to Sir W. Mac-
kinnon in writing by the late Sultan Seyyid Barghash.
These possessions comprised the islands of Lamu, Manda,
Patta, Kwyhu, and others, also the ports of Kismayu,
Brava, Merka, Magadisho, Warsheikh, and Mruti. . . .
Under the arrangement above mentioned, this Conipany
with the knowledge and consent of his Highness the
Sultan of Zanzibar, now proceeded to execute an agree-
ment with the Italian Government for the transfer desired,
whereby, subject to the reservation of the joint occupation
of the harbour of Kismayu, this Company should be
relieved entirely of all responsibility and liability in con-
nection with the said ports of Brava, Merka, Magadisho,
Warsheikh, and Mruti, the Italian Government at the
same time undertaking to confine its operations strictly
^within the limits defined on the accompanying map.*
At this point the negotiations intervened which were
opened between her Majesty's Government and that of
Italy for the delimitation of their frontiers in Africa. A
suggestion was made by the Foreign OflSce to the effect
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND ITAL Y 99
that, as an equivalent for the relinquishment by Italy of
all claims at Kismayu and south of the mouth of the
Juba, the line of delimitation agreed on in 1889 should
be moved down from 8 to 5 degrees of north latitude, so
as to include in the Italian sphere the coveted territory of
Eaffa (which was more or less connected with the tribal
system of Abyssinia) and to limit that sphere to the
westward at the Blue Nile. The Company, in reply,
proposed, in consideration of obtaining entire control of
Kismayu and the south bank of the Juba, to make the
6th parallel of north latitude the boundary as far as
the 35th of east longitude and following that meridian
to the Blue Nile. Althoiigh anticipating a period to
which the general narrative has not yet arrived, the history
of the negotiations with Italy may properly be followed
in this place to their conclusion. The Directors thought
it right to press upon Lord Salisbury the expediency of
inserting in any arrangement come to with Italy a pro-
vision securing to the Company a preferential right to
the reversion of the Northern Ports in the event of their
being at any time given up by Italy. Lord Salisbury's
opinion was that the stipulation as to not transferring the
lease should be made in the Concession itself ; but his
lordship had already suggested to Lord Dufferin the ex-
pediency of a provision tl:at if the ports should become
the property of Italy the British East Africa Company
should have the first option of re-purchase in the event
of the Italian occupation ceasing. Further consideration
of the situation made it appear evident that any stipula-
tion as to reversionary rights would be gratuitous and
nnnecessary. Italy could only acquire the ports through
loo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the Company by lease from the Sultan, which would not
extinguish his proprietary rights. Great Britain, as the
protecting Power, would be bound to see that the Sultan's
riglits were not confiscated, and it would be as impossible
for the Sultan to make such an arrangement with Italy
as he had made with Germany (ceding the sovereignty of
part of his dominions) without the assent of her Majesty's
Government, as it would be for Italy to transfer the Con-
cession of the Northern Ports to a third party witliout the
assent of the Sultan.
On the 24th of March 1891 a protocol was signed at
Kome by the British Ambassador and the Italian Minister
for Foreign Affairs for the delimitation of the British and
Italian spheres of influence in East Africa. The boundary
line indicated by the Directors, and the terms on which
that line was agreed to, were adopted. The Juba, the
6th parallel of north latitude, and the 35th meridian of
east longitude separated the two spheres of influence, the
Company obtaining exclusive control over Kismayii and
the south side of the Juba. The Company naturally
jpished to be disengaged from the responsibilities which
it had assumed under the concession relating to the
Northern Ports, — responsibilities undertaken exclusively
on behalf of the Italian Government, while at the san^e
time the Italian Government assumed that in virtue of
the Delimitation Agreement with Great Britain it was
entitled to claim the transfer of the Northern Ports. The
Company, therefore, on being approached on the subject
semi-officially, explained that, being under the obligations
and responsibilities of a contract with his Highness the
Sultan in the matter of those ports, it could not release
THE NORTHERN PORTS AND ITALY - loi
itself without his Highnesses consent, which would' \my^
to be obtained through her Majesty's Secretary of State fot
Foreign Affairs. The ports in question, forming as they did
a portion of the dominions of the Sultan, were in no way
dealt with or mentioned in the Anglo-Italian Agreement.
Count Tornielli, on 3rd September 1891, oflBcially in-
formed the Company of the general effect of the delimi-
tation as regarded the Benadir coast, which now (' includ-
ing the ports of Brava, Merka, Magadisho, and Warsheikh,
with their surrounding territories') were declared to form
part of the Italian sphere of influence. The Company
was accordingly notified that its ' rights and responsi-
bilities ' as far as those ports were concerned had thereon
ceased. The Directors replied that they had had official
cognisance of the Agreement, and now only required his
Excellency's personal declaration that the Italian Govern-
ment took all the obligations and responsibilities of the
Company under the Concession, which declaration would
be accepted by the Company as a complete release. It
was not until February 1892 that the matter was brought
to a close, by a letter, dated 6th of that month, from Lord
Salisbury to the Italian Ambassador, stating that the
Sultan's concession north of the Juba to the British
Company became ipso facto inoperative on the conclusion
of the Anglo-Italian Agreement of 24th March 1891, and
that the Italian Government was now free to make its
own terms wuth the Sultan, should it wish to do so, for
the transfer to them of the rights once held by the Com-
pany. At the same time Lord Salisbury informed the
Company that the effect of this correspondence was to
102
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
i:el^kse it from any further responsibility in regard to the
4:x)ricession in question.
The Directors formally notified this result to the Sultan
of Zanzibar, who acknowledged the communication, and
informed them that henceforth he held the Company
responsible for the administration only of the coast and
the adjacent islands belonging to the Zanzibar dominions
* between the ports of Wanga and Kismayu, both in-
clusive/
CHAPTEE VIII
UGANDA
A PECULIARITY of the territory of East Africa acquired by
Great Britain and Germany, which explains the move-
ment towards the interior adopted by both nations, and
which is even still not appreciated by many persons
opposed on principle to territorial expansion, lay in the
fact that the value, of the coast depended, and still
depends, in a large measure on the commerce of the dis-
tant interior. Without control of the latter, the former
could be little more than a barren acquisition ; and it
was the strong conviction of this fact which suggested
and gave force to the * hinterland * doctrine so clearly
recognised by Great Britain and Germany in the corre-
spondence of July 1887. The doctrine simply declared
that, in the case of Powers having possessions on the coast,
each should be secured by common agreement in the
exclusive right to influence and control in the regions of
the interior subtended by its coast-line, and none should
have the right or the liberty to intrude in the rear of
another. The doctrine did not exclude private enter-
prise or commercial freedom, but applied solely to the
acquisition of political influence and territorial dominion.
The districts intervening between the coast and the lake
I04 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
regions, owing to the present economic condition of the
country, are comparatively valueless, and must so con-
tinue until the process of development has realised
their latent resources. In the British sphere these re-
sources are potentially great owing to exceptional con-
ditions of natural fertility, climate, and general accessi-
bility; but pending their general development by the
application of European capital and enterprise and the
organisation of regular administration, it was of the
first importance that the still more valuable * hinterland *
should be secured to Great Britain. It was a fact that
througli the aggressive enterprise and activity of German
subjects, supported by their Government, Great Britain
had not only lost the position of predominating influence
which she had held for a long period in East Africa, but
had almost lost every foothold on that part of the African
continent. The Government were glad to retrieve, as far
as practicable, the adverse consequences of the hesitation
of 1878 by all tlie encouragement they could give towards
the formation of a chartered company to take care of the
interests of the nation. It is but just to record that
during those years of vacillation, which opened the way to
new adventurers eager to take up what Great Britain was
content to refuse, Sir William Mackinnon continued un-
changed in his conviction that British interests required
the acceptance of the concession offered by the Sultan of
Zanzibar. As soon as the Germans began to push their
operations in East Africa, the Government of Great
Britain had forcible evidence of the soundness of Sir
William Mackinnon's views. The Government grew
anxious to revive and put into action that enterprise
UGANDA 105
which it had previously discountenanced. Failing a
response from Sir William Mackinnon and his friends,
there was practically nothing between German enter-
prise and the rapid absorption of the whole of East
Africa. Already Germany had not only planted her
interests in the extensive territory south of Kilimanjaro,
but near Mombasa, and at Witu, and even advanced claims
on the Somali coast almost all the distance up to the Gulf
of Aden. The German maps of the' period illustrate
the views of expansion then freely entertained in that
country by the party of colonial empire. At this critical
juncture the British East Africa Company came to the
assistance of her Majesty's Government, and opportunely
undertook to be the custodian of the nation's interests in
East Africa, thus enabling Lord Granville to propose the
policy of partition which was now to be definitely adopted.
As far as the coast, and the territory contiguous to
the coast, were concerned, the Delimitation Agreement of
1886 sufficiently defined the limits within which it was
legitimate for British and German enterprise to operate.
We have seen with what unforeseen embarrassments the
work of the British East Africa Company was hampered and
obstructed from the beginning, and the sacrifices of time,
labour, and money which the duty of defending national
interests imposed upon the Company. Those matters
related only to the coast ; but, as has been said, throiigh
the new doctrine of 'hinterland,' the possession of the
coast controlled and determined the ricjht to the interior.
That part of the interior in which interest centred was
Uganda. Apart from other circumstances, the position of
that country on the Victoria Nyanza formed a key to the
io6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Nile valley beyond, and the populous and productive
provinces ruled by Emin Pasha. The power holding
Uganda would exercise a paramount influence in the
surrounding regions. The interest with which Uganda
was regarded was, however, enhanced by other considera-
tions. It was by far the most powerful state in Central
Africa, and by far the most civilised. The arts of peace
were cultivated to a remarkable degree of proficiency, as
well as the arts of war. The political constitution,
spontaneously evolved, like other isolated civilisations,
from local conditions and necessities, was analogous to
the feudal system formerly existing over the greatest
part of Europe. The country was populous, productive,
and highly cultivated. The inhabitants were a race
superior in physical and mental qualities to all the sur-
rounding tribes. Paramount influence over this powerful
nation standing in the way of, and commanding the line
of access to the equatorial Nile provinces, was an object
of the keenest interest to the European powers established
on the East Coast. To Great Britain, Uganda preferred
claims stronger than any derived from geographical
situation or political circumstances. The country had
been made known to the world by British explorers, and
British missionaries first carried to Uganda the message
of the Gospel. So closely, indeed, had Uganda been
associated, from our first knowledge of the country, with
British enterprise on the part of explorers such as Grant,
Speke, and Stanley, and with British heroism of the
truest order on the part of such men as Mackay, Han-
nington, Parker, and many others of our missionaries,
that even Mtesa liimself acknowledged the strength of the
UGANDA 107
association by despatching a formal embassy to her Majesty.
It is hardly to be doubted, therefore, that the acquiescence
of her Majesty's Government at any time in the acquisi-
tion of Uganda by a foreign power would have raised a
strong storm of opposition in Scotland and England.
There was no desire on the part of this country to annex
Uganda, or become responsible for its good government ;
but there would have been the strongest objection to its
annexation by another country. From a very early date
the Government recognised this fact, and it was not, as
may readily be supposed, without considerable uneasiness
that the activity of the Germans began to be observed.
Uganda was not likely to be left for long unapproached
by a people so enterprising, who meant to make it their
road — as it was already the road of commerce — to the
Equatorial Provinces from the East Coast of Africa.
The newly-formed company was not only a necessary
and convenient agency for her Majesty's Government in
securing the coast, but it now had devolved upon it the
further responsibility of guarding the interests of Great
Britain in the interior. In view of the magnitude of
these unforeseen responsibilities the Company would not
have undertaken them, and would not have been justified
in undertaking them, under ordinary circumstances. But,
as shall presently be seen, the circumstances under which
the Company embarked on its enterprises in the interior
were not ordinary circumstances. In consideration of the
benefits likely to accrue to its own revenues from the
administration and development of the coast territory,
the Company's public functions and private interests
harmonised within that limited sphere at least to that
io8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
point at which the former became diverted against
attempts by others to invade the national rights of Great
Britain. In regard to Uganda, however, no such harmony
of interest and duty existed, and, until Uganda should be
brought within the influences of commercial intercourse,
the Company's operations in so remote a region must
necessarily be an unduly heavy drain upon its resources.
These considerations were never absent from the mind of
the Directors, and in accepting their charter they had at
least reasonable ground for hoping that the Company's
agency in the lake regions might be unnecessary until the
conditions should have so altered as to render it not only
practicable, but commercially prudent.
It is to be noted, however, as a factor exercising a very
appreciable influence upon the coui^e of events, that the
motives which inspired the founders of the Company were
not by any means exclusively commercial. The Charter
imposed obligations of an administrative character, but
there was in the undertaking a considerable infusion of
philanthropic and patriotic feeling which the Court of
Directors adequately represented. Questions were not,
therefore, always decided merely on their merits as
matters of pure business ; conceptions and obligations of
a higher character frequently influenced the decisions of
the Board. Of the character of the directorate, and the
aims and sympathies of the company which it represented,
the Government could not have had the smallest doubt,
and from the beginning the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs invariably found the Directors ready to undertake
any duty, to respond to any suggestion, and to submit
loyally to any necessity or sacrifice which the public
UGANDA 109
interests demanded. The willing acquiescence of the
Company in all that was required of it did not a little
to foster the general impression that everything extra-
commercial which it did, or undertook to do, was part
of its obligations under the Eoyal Charter. The record
of public service performed by the Company, and the cost
to itself at which such service was rendered, have been so
obscured by the impression referred to as to make it some-
what hard to obtain that public recognition of the results
obtained which the case undoubtedly calls for. A fuller
knowledge of the facts is alone needed to assure a full
appreciation of these results and of the sacrifices they
entailed upon the Company.
In the month of July 1888^ the British Agent and
Cousul-General at Zanzibar, with the approval of her
Majesty's Government, took steps to open up friendly
relations with Uganda, He despatched a letter to King
Mwanga by the hands of a trader named Stokes, who was
accompanied by an envoy bearing letters from the Sultan
of Zanzibar to the King and Arabs of Uganda. In these
letters the Sultan recommended to the good offices of the
King and the Arabs ' all English traders in Uganda and
Central Africa,' and assured them of the friendly designs
of the English. The envoy and Mr. Stokes were ' specially
charged to explain the circumstances under which the
Imperial British East Africa Company will, as friends
and allies of the Sultan, commence their operations on
the mainland/ The Arab traders were then a pre-
dominant class in Uganda, with whom the influence of
the Sultan of Zanzibar, as their sovereign and co-
^ The Imperial British East Africa Company's oflBcers did not reach
Mombasa tin October 1888.
I lo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
religionist, could not fail to have great weight. A
revolution, however, took place in Uganda in the latter
part of 1888, which successively resulted in the deposition
of Mwanga, the expulsion of the Christian missions, and
the establishment of the power of the Arabs. There
could be no doubt of the uncompromising hostility of the
Arab traders to every form of European influence in the
country, seeing that their trade consisted in slaves and
ivory only. No other description of produce would pay
for transport to the market at the coast, so long as
human porterage should provide the only means of car-
riage, and form the primary motive to the enslavement of
individuals. The triumph of Arab domination was
therefore felt to be the deathblow, for a time at least,
to European hopes in Uganda. The expelled king,
Mwanga, was a fugitive on the south side of the Victoria
Nyanza, and his brothers Kiwewa and Kalema were
successfully placed on the throne — the last being the
nominee of the Arabs. During the year 1889, therefore,
Uganda, broken into hostile factions, became excluded
from the scope of European designs.
In the month of February 1890 news reached Europe
of the complete collapse and overthrow of the Arab power
in Uganda, and the recovery of his kingdom by Mwanga.
This event took place in September 1889, and a report
obtained currency in Berlin that certain Europeans, who
were alleged to have assisted Mwanga, were Dr. Peters
and his party. This, of course, was quite impossible,
because at the time the events were taking place on the
Victoria Nyanza which restored Mwanga to his throne.
Dr. Peters was making his way, as has been described, up
UGANDA III
the Tana. The conjecture, however, obviously rested on
the belief that Peters was still living, notwithstanding
the rumour so sedulously circulated of his death, and that
Uganda was his objective point ; and subsequent events
justified incredulity as to the origin and accuracy of these
rumours and the avowed aims of his expedition.
In the beginning of 1889 tlie British East Africa Com-
pany had despatched a considerable caravan to the interior
iu charge of Mr. F. J. Jackson, to explore the territory,
establish or mark out stations, and to make treaties and
cultivate friendly relations with the various tribes. Inci-
dentally, in consequence of a report of Mr. Stanley's
expedition having reached the north-eastern shore of the
Victoria Nyanza, Mr. Jackson was instructed to have a
look-out for the great explorer, and, if they met, to furnish
him and his party with supplies. On starting, however,
Mr. Jackson was instructed to avoid Uganda, as the
country was known to be in a state of revolution, and
the responsibility of interfering in its affairs was one
which under existing conditions the Company was un-
willing to assume.^ From this caravan, owing to the
difficulties of communication, little or nothing was heard
for nearly a year, but in the spring of 1890, followmg the
news of Mwanga's reconquest of Uganda, that part of the
African continent became the object of keen interest. It
* When Mr. H. M. Stanley proposed in 1886 to lead his expedition
for the Relief of Enrin Pasha from the cast coast, objection was raised
by the French Government on the ground that the lives of French
missionaries in Uganda might be endangered through the excitement
likely to be produced by his approach to that country. A fortiori,
Mr. Jackson was ordered not to approach Uganda, because an old
tradition had it that the kingdom would eventually be conquered by
an enemy entering by the north side of the Victoria Nyanza.
I lo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
religionist, could not fail to have great weight. A
revolution, however, took place in Uganda in the latter
part of 1888, which successively resulted in the deposition
of Mwanga, the expulsion of the Christian missions, and
the establishment of the power of the Arabs. There
could be no doubt of the uncompromising hostility of the
Arab traders to every form of European influence in the
country, seeing that their trade consisted in slaves and
ivory only. No other description of produce would pay
for transport to the market at the coast, so long as
human porterage should provide the only means of car-
riage, and form the primary motive to the enslavement of
individuals. The triumph of Arab domination was
therefore felt to be the deathblow, for a time at least,
to European hopes in Uganda. The expelled king,
Mwanga, was a fugitive on the south side of the Victoria
Nyanza, and his brothers Kiwewa and Kalema were
successfully placed on the throne — the last being the
nominee of the Arabs. During the year 1889, therefore,
Uganda, broken into hostile factions, became excluded
from the scope of European designs.
In the month of February 1890 news reached Europe
of the complete collapse and overthrow of the Arab power
in Uganda, and the recovery of his kingdom by Mwanga.
This event took place in September 1889, and a report
obtained currency in Berlin that certain Europeans, who
were alleged to have assisted Mwanga, were Dr. Peters
and his party. This, of course, was quite impossible,
because at the time the events were taking place on the
Victoria Nyanza which restored Mwanga to his throne.
Dr. Peters was making his way, as has been described, up
UGANDA 1 1 1
the Tana. The conjecture, however, obviously rested on
the belief that Peters was still living, notwithstanding
the rumour so sedulously circulated of his death, and that
Uganda was his objective point ; and subsequent events
justified incredulity as to the origin and accuracy of these
rumours and the avowed aims of his expedition.
In the beginning of 1889 tlie British East Africa Com-
pany had despatched a considerable caravan to the interior
in charge of Mr. F. J. Jackson, to explore the territory,
establish or mark out stations, and to make treaties and
cultivate friendly relations with the various tribes. Inci-
dentally, in consequence of a report of Mr. Stanley's
expedition having reached the north-eastern shore of the
Victoria Nyanza, Mr. Jackson was instructed to have a
look-out for the great explorer, and, if they met, to furnish
him and his party with supplies. On starting, however,
Mr. Jackson was instructed to avoid Uganda, as the
country was known to be in a state of revolution, and
the responsibility of interfering in its affairs was one
which under existing conditions the Company was un-
willing to assume.^ From this caravan, owing to the
difficulties of communication, little or nothing was heard
for nearly a year, but in the spring of 1890, following the
news of Mwanga's reconquest of Uganda, that part of the
African continent became the object of keen interest. It
^ When Mr. H. M. Stanley proposed in 1886 to lead hia expedition
for the Relief of Emin Pasha from the east coast, objection was raised
by the French Government on the ground that the lives of French
missionaries in Uganda might l^e endangered through the excitement
likely to be produced by his approach to that country. A fortiori,
Mr. Jackson was ordered not to approach Uganda, because an oUl
tradition had it that the kingdom would eventually be conquered by
an enemy entering by the north side of the Victoria Nyanza.
112 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
was evident that the 'mce for Ugauda' was about to
to take place in earnest. The arrival of Mr. H. M.
Stanley at the coast with Emin Pasha was another event
not without its influence. E^iin Pasha having shown a
wish to attach himself to the service of the British East
Africa Company — partly, it is to be assumed, from sym-
pathy of aims and methods, and partly from the gratitude
he had already so warmly and publicly expressed to those
whose generosity had been the means of his deliverance —
strong pressure was put upon him to take an appoint-
ment in the German service. On the 31st of March the
announcement was made that Emin Pasha had finally
accepted the proposals of Major Wissmann, the German
Commissary in East Africa, and had definitely entered the
German service. At the same *time it was added that,
notwithstanding the prevalence of the rainy season, Emin
was .to start at once for the interior with 200 Soudanese
soldiers, several German officers, and a large caravan.
The porters who were engaged for this expedition stated
that they were to receive extra wages to march with the
greatest speed to' Victoria Nyanza. Emin*s acceptance of
service with the German authorities provoked a variety
of criticism, and the haste with which his departure for
the Victoria Nyanza was arranged at that unfavourable
season of the year, was interpreted as a design, if possible,
*to anticipate the English plans* in the direction of
Uganda.^ The general activity of the Germans at Zan- •
zibar was significant; and a somewhat startling light
was shed on their energetic action at the coast by the
news, reaching Europe almost simultaneously, that Dr.
1 Times, 2nd April 1890.
UGANDA 113
Jt^etei'S had i*eached Kaviroudo, on the north-eastern
shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and within a short dis-
tance of the frontier of Uganda.
The objects for which the so-called German *Eniin
Pasha Expedition ' had been organised, and the concur-
rence of the two remarkable events just mentioned — the
appearance of Dr. Peters at the north of the Victoria
Nyanza, and the engagement of Emin Pasha to conduct
with all haste a strong expedition to the south of that
lake — combined to excite a state of public feeling in this
country which demanded immediate action for the pro-
tection of the ijation's interests in that part of Africa.
No person' seemed to doubt that the urgent despatch of
Emin Pasha in the direction of Uganda was meant as an
act of co-operation with Dr. Peters in establishing Ger-
man interests in that regionl Public opinion in Great
Britain called for prompt and. energetic action to maintain
British rights. It was no satisfactory answer to say that
Uganda was expressly and undoubtedly assigned to
British influence by the diplomatic understanding of
July 1887. The obvious rejoinder was that the German
public did not mean to respect that understanding, that
German maps coloured Uganda as part of the German
sphere, and that German expeditions were now converg-
ing on the Victoria Nyauza region from north and south.
It was universally felt that in this case priority of posses-
sion would override paper understandings, and that the
agents of German colonisation enterprise were acting on
the conviction that it would be less easy for their Govern-
ment to repudiate accomplished facts than it had been to
disavow the agency of accomplishment.
1 1 4 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
At this crisis, the nation at once turned to the British
East Africa Company as the agency whose duty it was
to guard the national interests in Uganda. Uganda
was 800 miles from the coast, and neither road nor
means of transport existed ; but these things were made
light of, if they were even understood, and the Com-
pany was regarded as having undertaken to do all this
class of work in return for its Charter, which was vaguely
understood to have conferred benefits as a consideration
for such public services when required. The Directors
were placed in an unexpected and very embarrassing
position. The cost of an expedition to Uganda under
the circumstances was an item which the Government
themselves would have hesitated to put to a vote in the
House of Commons. The capital of the Company was
not equal to such enterprises. Moreover, the Company
had already, in discharge of its duty under the Charter,
made very considerable and expensive efforts towards
opening up the interior and establishing friendly relations
with the natives, with a view to providing a new market
for British trade in East Africa, and the Charter pro-
hibited the enjoyment or creation of a monopoly by the
Company in any form. Mr. J. E. W. l^igott had
explored the Tana and the intervening regions between
• that waterway and Mombasa ; a trading caravan had
visited the Ukambani country ; and Messrs. Jackson and
Gedge had been despatched with a large and perfectly
equipped caravan towards the Victoria Nyaiiza. The
'Directors were not disposed to commit themselves pre-
maturely to the work of exploration or exploitation — from
which no return could for a considerable time be expected
UGANDA 115
for the heavy outlay iucurred — until at least they should
be assured of the support necessary to the extension of
the Company's operations into such new and distant
regions. There was as much territory on hand as could
be dedlt with ; the contests at the coast with foreign
rivalry had made a large inroad upon time, energy, and
resources ; and the Directors felt that the period was now
come for turning to practical work calculated to bring
the shareholders a return for their capital.
The Company was subjected at this juncture to the
pressure of a universal and strongly expressed opinion
that it was bound by its Charter obligations to secure
the interests of Great Britain in the lake regions. Her
Majesty's Government very clearly intimated that they
looked to the Company to assert and maintain British
rights in Africa, which were represented to depend on
effective occupation. The fallacy underlying all the argu-
ments and assumptions as to the responsibility of the
British East Africa Company in these respects was that
the immediate interests of the Company were identical
with those of the nation. Nothing could be more specious,
but none the less groundless. It was far from being the
interest of the Company, with a small capital upon which
the. rivalry of foreigners, favoured by the diplomatic needs
of British Imperial interests elsewhere, had already made
serious demands, to embark upon expeditions in the
remote interior which, whatever might be their eventual
results, must immediately involve heavy and unproductive
expenditure. The importance of securing Uganda and
- the head waters of the Nile within the sphere of British
influence was certainly pressing, but to require a private
1 16 BRITISH EAST A FRICA
enterprise to undertake such onerous duties without State
co-operation was illogical and unjust.
The Times, in a leading article on 3rd April 1890, on
the appointment of Emin Pasha to lead the German
expedition to the interior, wrote as follows : —
' No secret is made of the aims of the expedition, for
which 800 Soudanese fighting men are already collected
under the command of German officers. It is to extend
German influence through the territories at the back of
the somewhat loosely defined sphere of British interests,
to hem in the East Africa Company, and to deprive it of
all access to Equatorial Africa. If, in addition to carry-
ing out this bold scheme, the expedition can regain com-
mand of the province recently abandoned by Emin Pasha,
it will place the greater part of Central Africa under
German control, and will pave the way for its extension
into the Soudan. . . .
* At all events, Emin Pasha has shown a decided reluct-
ance to return among people who were certainly prepared
to make the best of his situation, and has now thrown
himself into an enterprise intended to work as much
mischief as possible to the nation that furnished the men
and the means for his rescue. Major Wissmann's expe-
dition is equipped for other work than exploration. A
glance at the map of the country will show its territorial
aims, and its 800 Soudanese, doubtless efficiently armed
with the resources of civilisation, are eloquent of the
means it will employ for the attainment of its ends. It
is to retrace in hot haste the path by which Emin Pasha
was brought down to Bagamoyo, establish German influ-
ence throughout the country between the Victoria Nyanza
UGANDA 117
and the Cougo Free State, push northwards to Uganda,
which at present forms the only western outlet hy land
for the British East Africa Company, and regain posses-
sion of Emin Pasha's province, where his name is still
supposed to he something to conjure with. If this pro-
gramme be carried out, it will need only a little corre-
sponding activity, the way for which is already prepared
by verbal claims, to push German influence from Witu,
on the north of our territory, in such a way as to com-
pletely hem us in on the north, as well as the west and
the south. Nothing would then remain to the British
Elast Africa Company except a strip of territory some
400 miles deep between Victoria Nyanza and the sea,
and with a breadth of 150 to 200 miles at the outside.
This territory is valuable as a doorway into Central
Africa, but Major Wissmann's amiable design is to wall
up the exit. . . .
' It results from all this that the British East Africa
Company must lose no time in putting its house in order,
and in taking effective possession of whatever it hopes to
keep on the shores of Victoria Nyanza. Those upon the
spot must, of course, be the judges of the best means to
adopt ; but it would seem that in one way or another
good communications must be rapidly established with
the Victoria Nyanza, and good relations with Uganda on
its northern shore. It is idle to conceal the fact that
competition at this point must be very acute. British in-
fluence must either cut the route from German territory
south of the Victoria Nyanza to Emin Pasha's old pro-
vince, or* German influence must cut the communication
of the British Company with everything west of the great
n8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
lake, f Neither nation can for a long time to come have
so much at stake as to exclude peaceful agreement, but it
is plain tliat just at present the German temper is one
of uncompromising aggressiveness. \ The British Company
i-8 at a heavy disadvantage, because, while it must con-
form to the laws of a commercial undertaking, it has to
compete with what is practically on the part of Germany
a scheme of Imperial conquest. It is the German
Government, much more than German traders, that is
pushing forward the present attempt to secure the whole
of Central Africa, as far as the Congo Free State on the
west, and the Soudan on the north.'
The conclusion obviously pointed to was that the
action of the German Government in pushing forward the
efforts of its subjects to cut British influence off from
the interior, should be met by corresponding co-operation
on the part of tlie British Government in the efforts of
the British East Africa Company to forestall the advance
gf the Germans. Such, however, was not the direction
taken by public opinion or that of her Majesty's Govern-
ment. The Company was warned, notwithstanding the
acknowledged character of the competition it was called
upon to meet, that it must expect no public assistance in
doing the work forced upon it by unlooked-for circum-
stances ; and the only ground advanced by the Times for
this demand upon the Company was that 'as a rule, the^
extensions of our Empire, where not won as the spoils of,
war, have been made not by the State but by private en-
terprise.* It was convenient to ignore the important cir->^'
cumstance that it was not private enterprise that was now
called for, but public service, — that the acquisition of
UGANDA
119
/
Uganda was a political necessity in the interests of the
Empire, and that the East Africa Company was required
to act in behalf of the Empire in the matter — but at its
own cost. \Jhe Timc& said in effect, speaking as the
mouthpiece of public opinion and of the Governmentythat
the Company as the nation's agent was bound to secure
the lake regions of Central Africa for British dominion
and commerce, although in doing so it had to contend
with the resources not of a rival company but of an
Empire. In this public service it must look for no
help from the State; but the Times added, two days
later, that if the Company (^can put Englishmen and
English money into its territory upon any considerable
scale, it .need not doubt that due protection will be forth-
coming/ ) With this authoritative intimation of the nature
of the interests upon which alone her Majesty's Govern-
ment could be expected to act, the Company was dis-
missed to its duty.
CHAPTEE IX
THE ADVAKCE TO UGANDA.
On the arrival of the news of the overthrow of the Arab
domination in Uganda, her Majesty's Agent and Consul-
General at Zanzibar telegraphed to the president of the
Company (15th February 1890) strongly recommending
the despatch, as soon as possible, of a thoroughly equipped
caravan to Uganda; the cost, it was added, would be
heavy, but would ultimately be fairly recovered ; and in
the meantime by delaying the despatch of this expedition
time would be aflbrded to Arabs of Unyamyembe to
recover the position lately lost in Uganda. In the fol-
lowing month Sir William Mackinnon was advised from
the Foreign Office of the despatch of two envoys to the
coast by King Mwanga, by whom her Majesty's Govern-
ment intended to send back presents to the king. It was
intimated that ' the cultivation of a cordial understanding
with the king of Uganda is of the greatest importance
to the future interests and prosperity of the Imperial
British East Africa Company.'
On the 2nd of April a communication reached the Direc-
tors from the Foreign Office, the force and significance of
which were placed beyond doubt by the concurrence of
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 121
the movements in Africa described in the last chapter.
* Information received from Colonel Euan-Smith/ it was
stated, * shows that the state of affairs in Uganda is
critical, and tliat Mwanga, who has completely defeated
Karema, but is not secure against attempts of his enemy
to retrieve his overthrow, may be disposed to accept over-
tures from the white men who may be first in the field.
It is understood,* continued the letter, postulating an in-
tention which it would have been very embarrassing for
the Directors under the circumstances to disclaim, * that
the principal object which the East Africa Company has
in view, after establishing its position on the coast, is to
secure paramount influence in Uganda, and tljat steps have
been taken for that object by the despatch of caravans.
His lordship would be glad to learn the exact nature
of these steps and the further measures which the
Directors propose to take, in order that he may communi-
cate the information to Colonel Euan-Smith in anticipa-
tion of the arrival at Zanzibar of a mission from Uganda
said to be now on its way to the coast.'
The influence exercised on the public mind by Mr. H.
M. Stanley on his return from the interior must be counted
as one of the most powerful factors which brought about
the situation the Company had now to meet. The effect
of his emphatic declarations of the importance of Uganda
to Great Britain and of this country's rights to its per-
manent inclusion within the sphere of British interests,
was such as to compel the Government to recognise the
effective occupation of Uganda as a matter not to be
postponed. Public opinion would brook no hesitation in
the emergency, and to the force of this opinion, acting
122 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
directly and through her Majesty's Goverument, the
Company had no choice but to yield. It may be ad-
mitted, without lessening the merit of the public enter-
prise thus undertaken at the expense of more personal
interests, that the patriotic spirit of the Directors disposed
them to accept the task without the justifiable protest
that it exceeded the functions and obligations of the
Company.
Captain F. D. Lugard, who was occupied on the Sabaki
Eiver in opening a trade route to the interior and in pre-
liminary arrangements for giving effect to a scheme for
the self-redemption of domestic slaves by means of their
own labour, received instructions in March 1890 from the
Administrator to proceed with all despatch to Uganda to
establish the Company's influence. Captain Lugard was
furnished with a letter from the Sultan of Zanzibar re-
commending his expedition to the good oiBfices of all
Arabs in the interior, and testifying his Highness's
personal friendship for the Company. He also received
a copy of an interesting letter received by the British
Consul-General from Mr. A. M. Mackay, containing useful
information concerning the state of affairs in Uganda.
From this communication Captain Lugard learned that
Mwanga had been restored to his kingdom by the aid of
the Christians, but that nevertheless foreign annexation
was not the only imminent danger to be apprehended.
* The Arabs in Karema's train,* Mr. Mackay wrote, * have
intimated their intention to invite the aid of the Mahdi's
troops in the Upper Soudan to enable them to take pos-
session of both Unyoro and Uganda. I scarcely think
that the fanatical dervishes who have seized Emin Pasha's
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 123
province will be any more tolerant towards Muscat Arabs
than they have been to the Egyptians. At anyrate, unless
the Imperial British East Africa Company are prompt in
securing some definite understanding with Uganda, and
are in a position materially to aid the present government
there, that country with all its valuable dependencies may
soon fall again into the hands of eitlier the Arabs or the
Mahdists.'
Captain Lugard found it necessary to return to Mom-
basa before starting on his expedition, in order to attend
personally to certain preparations, and to aiTange as to
leave of absence from his military duties. He was au-
thorised, in case of meeting Mr. Jackson's party on his
way up the country, to attach to his own expedition as
many of the former as he required. Meanwhile, on 10th
January a letter was received from Mr. Jackson, dated
6th October 1889, from Sotik, stating that he expected to
reach Victoria Nyanza in twelve days.
The objects for which Mr. Jackson was despatched on
his expedition have already been mentioned. Accompanied
by Mr. Ernest Gedge and Dr. Mackinnon, Mr. Jackson
and his expedition reached the station of Machakos on
27th July, and left there for Lake Naivasha on the 6th
August. The total strength of his party on leaving
Machakos was 535 men, with 22 donkeys. After tra-
versing the Kikuyu country, the fertility and beauty
of which surprised them, they arrived at Mianzini on the
23rd August, and on the 11th September camped at the
north end of Lake Naivasha. From this point the ex-
pedition took a westerly course in the direction of the
Victoria Nyanza, and, as already mentioned, halted at a
• • /
«>^ft
iTJ
3i-
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 123
province will be any more tolerant tow ju'ds Muscat Arabs
than they have been to the Egjptians. At anyrate, unless
the Imperial British Knst Africa Company ai-e prompt in
securing some definite understanding with Uganda, and
are in a position materially to aid the ])resent governraent
there, that country with all its valuable dependencies may
soon fall again into the hands of either the Arabs or the
Mahdiijts.'
Captain Lugard found it necessary to return to Mom-
basa before starting on his expedition, in order to attend
personally to certain preparations, and to aiTange as to
leave of absence from his military duties. He was au-
thorised, in ease of meeting Mr. Jackson's party ou his
way up the eouuiry, to attach to his own expedition as
many of the former as he retinired. Meanwhile, on lOtli
January a letter was received fi-om Mr. Jackson, dated
6tb October ISS'J, from Sotik, stating that he expected to
reach Victoria Syanza in twelve days.
The objects for which 5Ir. Jackson was despatched on
his expedition have already been mentioned. Accompanied
by Mr, Ernest Gedge and Dr. Mackiunon, Mr. Jackson
and his expedition reached the station of Machakos ou
27th Ju.ly, and left there for Lake Naivnsha on the Gth
August. The total strength of his party on leaving
Machakos wtis f\?>v^ hk-ii, with -2:! donkeys. After tra-
\ vening the Kikuyn country, the fertility and beauty
ieh fiuryirisi'il tliMg^^^^Bived at Mianzini on the
. U ^^qi^^j^imied at the
^the ex-
\ t>i the
L at a
124 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
place called Sotik on 6th October, alter a difficult forest
march. The people became more numerous as the cara-
van crossed the hilly and undulating country towards the
lake, and in the end of October Kavirondo was reached.
No news of Mr. Stanley could be obtained (the report of
his presence on this side of the Victoria Nyanza having
been an erroneous one), and the natives stated that the
only white man who had ever passed through their
country was Dr. Fischer. On 26th October the party
arrived at the lake, and on the 7 th November at Kwa
Sundu, since better known as Mumiya's. Here Mr.
Jackson found a Uganda messenger with letters from
Mwanga, the king of Uganda, and others, asking his
assistance. The letters were dated the 15th June 1889,
so far back had the rumour reached the king and his
party of the advance of the Company's expedition towards
the lake. After recounting the circumstances of his
religious ' conversion,' Mwanga related how he had
learned, from letters brought to him by Mr. Stokes, that
'twelve Europeans with 1000 guns were coming up by
Masailand towards Usoga, wanting to go to Uganda.'
Stokes took the king in his boat to the island in the
Victoria Nyanza (Balinguye) from which he now wrote.
Mwanga declared that he had seized all the canoes,
leaving not one with the Mohammedans, whom the
Christians had already defeated in two fights. ' I send
you the news,' the king wrote to Mr. Jackson (whom he
addressed as the ' white men, Englishmen, who are pass-
ing through Masailand towards Usoga '), ' that you may
come here, and that we Christians may join together.
By the help of God we will conquer. I pray you be
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 125
good enough to come and put me on my throne. 1 will
give you plenty of ivory, and you may do any trade in
Uganda, and all you like in the country under me.'
This appeal was accompanied by another from Mwanga's
Christian subjects begging the Company's force to come
to their assistance. Mr. Jackson answered the king that
he had been sent up by the Company, not to Uganda,
but to assist Mr. Stanley should he be met with, and to
explore and open up new countries. Before taking so
important a step as coming to Uganda, Mr. Jackson
desired to know tlie actual condition of affairs with
Mwanga and his people. The reason for declining to go
at the time was that Mwanga's messenger had been
detained so long in Usoga, and that reports were received
of the king having recovered his throne and the mis-
sionaries having returned in safety. Mr. Jackson waited
thirty days for a reply from the king. On 7tli Decem-
ber his messengers returned with letters from Mwanga
and the Rev. E. C. Gordon. News had just been received
in Uganda (which, as formerly mentioned, Mwanga had
regained at the end of September) of the defeat of the
Uganda army by the Mohammedans. The danger was
imminent, and the king was ready to take refuge again
in the islands. ' Mwanga,' Mr. Gordon wrote, ' is willing
to offer you the most favourable terms he can for future
use. We think that if you help him now you will be
able to ask what terms you like, as they are in great
distress.' The chiefs of Uganda wrote at the same time
by the king's direction. * Mwanga,' they declared, * asks
you to come and bring your caravan here with you ; he
says he is anxious to see you and make an agreement
1 26 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
with you, for he says this country Buganda is yours. Hu
says to come and build in Buganda and live here. He
informs you that his enemies have been defeated and
driven away. Mwanga is very anxious that you do not
delay, but come "^ quickly and make an agreement for
trade, in order that you may know how much he wants
you/ Mwanga himself, at the dictation of Pere Lourdel,
wrote in somewhat ambiguous terms regarding the agree-
ment or treaty which he was willing to make with the
Company, but repeating his earnest request for the Com-
pany's force to come to Uganda. Mr. Jackson was
fairly well informed of the political situation. Mwanga
had been pleased with the purport of his first lettei',
which showed that he was willing to enter Uganda and
ally his force with the king on condition that ' everything
should be properly settled' as regarded the Imperial
British East Africa Company. The meaning of this
condition was perfectly understood. The chiefs were
willing and anxious to enter into a treaty, but Mwanga
was quite under the influence of P^re Lourdel, who
dissuaded him against consenting to put his country
under the protection of the Company, because the French
missionaries feared that the establishment of the Com-
pany's authority might undermine their own political
influence in Uganda. P6re Lourdel's advice to the king
was to invite traders of all nationalities on the same
terms, and to cede political influence to no European
nation. In other words, the political as well as the mis-
sionary influence of the French priests was to be secured
by the neutralisation of Uganda — that is, its exclusion
from the scope of European 'spheres of influence.' Hence
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 127
the tenor of the replies sent to Mr Jackson. It is note-
worthy that while the French priests were pursuing this
policy in Uganda, their superior, Cardinal Lavigerie, was
endeavouring to obtain from the Brussels Conference a
formal declaration placing Uganda as a neutral territory
outside the spheres of the European powers. Attention
was drawn to the matter in the London press, and in
Parliament, and the Britisli Foreign Office addressed
inquiries to Lord Vivian, our ambassador at Brussels, as
to the truth of the report. There were very strong
grounds for the suspicion that Cardinal Lavigerie was
prepared to place all the local influence of the Eoman
Catholic Missions on the side of German trade (as was
actually being done just then in Uganda by P^re Lourdel)
in consideration of the support of Germany towards secur-
ing to his missions paramount control of the country by
the exclusion of European, especially British, political
influence. Cardinal Lavigerie denied this imputation;
but Lord Vivian, on 30th May 1890, informed Lord
Salisbury that — 'However this may be, the report that
Cardinal Lavigerie has proposed to the Conference to deal
specially with Uganda as being outside the sphere of
influence, not only of Great Ikitain but of any European
power, is confirmed by his Eminence's letter to Baron
Lambermont.* No notice, Lord Vivian added, had been
taken of Cardinal Lavigerie's letter in Conference.
'After the most careful consideration with my col-
leagues,' Mr. Jackson reported to the Directors, ' we
decided not to go.' Mr. Jackson informed the king of
his inability to assist him ; but he sent one of the Com-
pany's flngs to Mwanga, with the intimation that his
128 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
acceptance of the flag would lay upon the Company the
obligation, as the acknowledged protecting power, to come
to his assistance.
Mr. Jackson's party now left Mumiya's (10th Decem-
ber), with the view to opening up the Suk country to the
north, and the region of Lake Kudolf, partially explored
the year before by Count Teleki. On reaching the
Ngoboto Eiver on January 11, 1890, it was found that
owing to scarcity of supplies the expedition could not
proceed any further in that direction, and they con-
sequently returned south, visiting Mount Elgon on the
way. A surprise awaited them when, on arriving at
Mumiya's on March 4th, they heard that Dr. Peters had
passed that way a month before on his expedition to
Uganda, and had hoisted liis flag at Qua Sakwa, two
hours* march off. The manner of Dr. Peters' proceedings
during his expedition, as related by his Somali followers,
has been alluded to in a former chapter, with an extract
describing his progress as far as Korokoro, where he was
reported to have been killed. The narrative proceeds : —
' After leaving Korokoro we had several fights with the
Wa-Kikuyu, about twelve of whom were caught, tied up,
and made to caiTy loads.
'The first Masai we met was at Lykipia, and at the
engagement which took place there two Swahilis and one
Somali were killed. The Masai at this place had large
herds of cattle, goats, and sheep, and we carried all the
goats and sheep away with us, but had to leave the cattle
behind, being too wild to drive. There would be about
sixty of us in the caravan at this time. In the confusion
at this engagement, nine of the Wa-Kikuyu escaped.
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 129
These Masai followed our caravan for two days, but our
Askari kept them away by firing at long distances. On
the third night they came down on us, but were repulsed.
' We had another engagement at a later period, and lost
cue Swahili.
* After leaving the Masai country we met a few men
called " Onderobo," who were at once caught, tied up, and
threatened with violence unless they acted as guides for
the caravan to Lake Baringo. When we arrived at
Baringo the Onderobo and the three remaining Wa-
Kikuyu were let off.
'At Njemps we met a Swahili caravan, and got one of
the members to act as guide in the direction of Uganda.
The guide had not gone very far when he declined to act
as guide, and wanted to return. Dr. Peters at once tied
him up, and he was brought along for the rest of the
journey in that manner.
' We arrived at a place near where an English mis-
sionary (Bishop Hannington) was killed, and where a
station had been established by Mr. Jackson for the
Imperial British East Africa Company. Dr. Peters did
not seem inclined at first to go near Jackson's station,
and remained where he was,^ and made friends with the
chief of the village, from whom he received two bullocks.
After this the chief asked Dr. Peters to give him some of
his soldiers to help him in a w^ar he was engaged in with
a neighbouring chief. Dr. Peters gave him ten Somalis
and about thirty Swahilis, and at the engagement which
^ Qua Sakwa. Bishop Hannington was killed further west, near
the Nile. Mr. Jackson's station was at Qua Sundu (Mumiya's) two
hours' march from Qua Sakwa.
I
CHAPTER IX
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA.
On the arrival of the news of the overthrow of the Arab
domination in Uganda, her Majesty's Agent and Consul-
General at Zanzibar telegraphed to the president of the
Company (15th February 1890) strongly recommending
the despatch, as soon as possible, of a thoroughly equipped
caravan to Uganda; the cost, it was added, would be
heavy, but \vould ultimately be fairly recovered ; and in
the meantime by delaying the despatch of this expedition
time would be afforded to Arabs of Unyamyembe to
recover the position lately lost in Uganda. In the fol-
lowing month Sir William Mackinnon was advised from
the Foreign Office of the despatch of two envoys to the
coast by King Mwanga, by whom her Majesty's Govern-
ment intended to send back presents to the king. It was
intimated that ' the cultivation of a cordial understanding
with the king of Uganda is of the greatest importance
to the future interests and prosperity of the Imperial
British East Africa Company.'
On the 2nd of April a communication reached the Direc-
tors from the Foreign Office, the force and significance of
which were placed beyond doubt by the concurrence of
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 121
the movements in Africa described in the last chapter.
* Information received from Colonel Euan-Smith/ it was
stated, 'shows that the state of affairs in Uganda is
critical, and that Mwanga, who has completely defeated
Karema, but is not secure against attempts of his enemy
to retrieve his overthrow, may be disposed to accept over-
tures from the white men who may be first in the field.
It is understood,* continued the letter, postulating an in-
tention which it would have been very embarrassing for
the Directors under the circumstances to disclaim, * that
the principal object which the East Africa Company has
in view, after establishing its position on the coast, is to
secure paramount influence in Uganda, and that steps have
been taken for that object by the despatch of caravans.
His lordship would be glad to learn the exact nature
of these steps and the further measures which the
Directors propose to take, in order that he may communi-
cate the information to Colonel Euan-Smith in anticipa-
tion of the arrival at Zanzibar of a mission from Uganda
said to be now on its way to the coast.*
The influence exercised on the public mind by Mr. H.
M. Stanley on his return from the interior must be counted
as one of the most powerful factors which brought about
the situation the Company had now to meet. The effect
of his emphatic declarations of the importance of Uganda
to Great Britain and of this country's rights to its per-
manent inclusion within the sphere of British interests,
was such as to compel the Government to recognise the
effective occupation of Uganda as a matter not to be
postponed. Public opinion would brook no hesitation in
the emergency, and to the force of this opinion, acting
122 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
directly and through her Majesty's Government, the
Company had no choice but to yield. It may be ad-
mitted, without lessening the merit of the public enter-
prise thus undertaken at the expense of more personal
interests, that the patriotic spirit of the Directors disposed
them to accept the task without the justifiable protest
that it exceeded the functions and obligations of the
Company.
Captain F. D. Lugard, who was occupied on the Sabaki
Eiver in opening a trade route to the interior and in pre-
liminaiy arrangements for giving effect to a scheme for
the self-redemption of domestic slaves by means of their
own labour, received instructions in March 1890 from the
Administrator to proceed with all despatch to Uganda to
establish the Company's influence. Captain Lugard was
furnished with a letter from the Sultan of Zanzibar re-
commending his expedition to the good offices of all
Arabs in the interior, and testifying his Highness's
personal friendship for the Company. He also received
a copy of an interesting letter received by the British
Consul-General from Mr. A. M. Mackay, containing useful
information concerning the state of affairs in Uganda.
From this communication Captain Lugard learned that
Mvvanga had been restored to his kingdom by the aid of
the Christians, but that nevertheless foreign annexation
was not the only imminent danger to be apprehended.
' The Arabs in KaremcVs train,' Mr. Mackay wrote, * have
intimated their intention to invite the aid of the Mahdi's
troops in the Upper Soudan to enable them to take pos-
session of both Unyoro and Uganda. I scarcely think
that the fanatical dervishes who have seized Emin Pasha's
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 123
province will be any more tolerant towards Muscat Arabs
than they have been to the Egyptians. At anyrate, unless
the Imperial British East Africa Company are prompt in
securing some definite understanding with Uganda, and
are in a position materially to aid the present government
there, that country with all its valuable dependencies may
soon fall again into the hands of either the Arabs or the
Mahdists.'
Captain Lugard found it necessary to return to Mom-
basa before starting on his expedition, in order to attend
personally to certain preparations, and to arrange as to
leave of absence from his military duties. He was au-
thorised, in case of meeting Mr. Jackson's party on his
way up the country, to attach to his own expedition as
many of the former as he required. Meanwhile, on 10th
January a letter was received from Mr. Jackson, dated
6th October 1889, from Sotik, stating that he expected to
reach Victoria Nyanza in twelve days.
The objects for which Mr. Jackson was despatched on
his expedition have already been mentioned. Accompanied
by Mr. Ernest Gedge and Dr, Mackinnon, Mr. Jackson
and his expedition reached the station of Machakos on
27th July, and left there for Lake Naivasha on the 6th
August. The total strength of his party on leaving
Machakos was 535 men, with 22 donkeys. After tra-
versing the Kikuyu country, the fertility and beauty
of which surprised them, they arrived at Mianzini on the
23rd August, and on the 11th September camped at the
north end of Lake Naivasha. From this point the ex-
pedition took a westerly course in the direction of the
Victoria Nyanza, and, as already mentioned, halted at a
124 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
place called Sotik on 6th October, alter a difl&ciilt forest
march. The people became more numerous as the cara-
van crossed the hilly and undulating country towards the
lake, and in the end of October Kavirondo was reached.
No news of Mr. Stanley could be obtained (the report of
his presence on this side of the Victoria Nyanza having
been an erroneous one), and the natives stated that the
only white man who had ever passed through their
country was Dr. Fischer. On 26th October the party
arrived at the lake, and on the 7th November at Kwa
Sundu, since better known as Mumiya's. Here Mr.
Jackson found a Uganda messenger with letters from
Mwanga, the king of Uganda, and others, asking his
assistance. The letters were dated the 15th June 1889,
so far back had the rumour reached the king and his
party of the advance of the Company's expedition towards
the lake. After recounting the circumstances of his
religious ' conversion,' Mwanga related how he hdd
learned, from letters brought to him by Mr. Stokes, that
'twelve Europeans with 1000 guns were coming up by
Masailand towards Usoga, wanting to go to Uganda.'
Stokes took the king in his boat to the island in the
Victoria Nyanza (Balinguye) from which he now wrote.
Mwanga declared that he had seized all the canoes,
leaving not one with the Mohammedans, whom the
Christians had already defeated in two fights. ' I send
you the news,' the king wrote to Mr. Jackson (whom he
addressed as the ' white men. Englishmen, who arc pass-
ing through Masailand towards Usoga '), ' that you may
come here, and that we Christians may join together.
By the help of God we will conquer. I pray you be
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 125
good enough to come and put me on my throne. 1 will
give you plenty of ivory, and you may do any trade in
Uganda, and all you like in the country under me.'
This appeal was accompanied by another from Mw^anga's
Christian subjects begging the Company's force to come
to their assistance. Mr. Jackson answered the king that
he had been sent up by the Company, not to Uganda,
but to assist Mr. Stanley should he be met with, and to
explore and open up new countries. Before taking so
important a step as coming to Uganda, Mr. Jackson
desired to know the actual condition of affairs w^ith
Mwanga and his people. The reason for declining to go
at the time was that Mwanga's messenger had been
detained so long in Usoga, and that reports were received
of the king having recovered his throne and the mis-
sionaries having returned in safety. Mr. Jackson waited
thirty days for a reply from the king. On 7th Decem-
ber his messengers returned with letters from Mwanga
and the Eev. E. C. Gordon. News had just been received
in Uganda (which, as formerly mentioned, Mwanga had
regained at the end of September) of the defeat of the
Uganda army by the Mohammedans. The danger was
imminent, and the king was ready to take refuge again
in the islands. * Mwanga,' Mr. Gordon wrote, * is willing
to offer you the most favourable terms he can for future
use. We think that if you help him now you will be
able to ask wliat terms you like, as they are in great
distress.' The chiefs of Uganda wrote at the same time
by the king s direction. * Mwanga,' they declared, * asks
you to come and bring your caravan here w^ith you ; he
says he is anxious to see you and make an agreement
1 24 BRITISH EA ST A FRICA
place called Sotik on 6th October, alter a difl&cult forest
march. The people became more numerous as the cara-
van crossed the hilly and undulating country towards the
lake, and in the end of October Kavirondo was reached.
No news of Mr. Stanley could be obtained (the report of
his presence on this side of the Victoria Nyanza having
been an erroneous one), and the natives stated that the
only white man who had ever passed through their
country was Dr. Fischer. On 26th October the party
arrived at the lake, and on the 7th November at Kwa
Sundu, since better known as Mumiya's. Here Mr.
Jackson found a Uganda messenger with letters from
Mwanga, the king of Uganda, and others, asking his
assistance. The letters were dated the 15th June 1889,
so far back had the rumour reached the king and his
party of the advance of the Company's expedition towards
the lake. After recounting the circumstances of his
religious ' conversion,' Mwanga related how he had
learned, from letters brought to him by Mr. Stokes, that
'twelve Europeans with 1000 guns were coming up by
Masailand towards Usoga, wanting to go to Uganda.'
Stokes took the king in his boat to the island in the
Victoria Nyanza (Balinguye) from which he now wrote.
Mwanga declared that he had seized all the canoes,
leaving not one with the Mohammedans, whom the
Christians had already defeated in two fights. ' I send
you the news,' the king wrote to Mr. Jackson (whom he
addressed as the ' white men, Englishmen, who are pass-
ing through Masailand towards Usoga '), ' that you may
come here, and that we Christians may join together.
By the help of God we will conquer. I pray you be
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 125
good enough to come and put me on my throne. 1 will
give you plenty of ivory, and you may do any trade in
Uganda, and all you like in the country under me.'
This appeal was accompanied by another from Mwanga's
Christian subjects begging the Company's force to come
to their assistance. Mr. Jackson answered the king that
he had been sent up by the Company, not to Uganda,
but to assist Mr. Stanley should he be met with, and to
explore and open up new countries. Before taking so
important a step as coming to Uganda, Mr. Jackson
desired to know the actual condition of affairs with
Mwanga and his people. The reason for declining to go
at the time was tliat Mwanga's messenger had been
detained so long in Usoga, and that reports were received
of the king having recovered his throne and the mis-
sionaries having returned in safety. Mr. Jackson waited
thirty days for a reply from the king. On 7th Decem-
ber his messengers returned with letters from Mwanga
and the Rev. E. C. Gordon. News had just been received
iu Uganda (which, as formerly mentioned, Mwanga had
regained at the end of September) of the defeat of the
Uganda army by the Mohammedans. The danger was
imminent, and the king w^as ready to take refuge again
in the islands. * Mwanga,' Mr. Gordon wrote, ' is willing
to offer you the most favourable terms he can for future
use. We think that if you help him now you will be
able to ask wliat terms you like, as they are in great
distress.' The chiefs of Uganda wrote at the same time
by the king's direction. * Mwanga,' they declared, * asks
you to come and bring your caravan here w^ith you ; he
says he is anxious to see you and make an agreement
1 26 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
with you, for he says this country Buganda is yours. He
says to come and build in Buganda and live here. He
informs you that his enemies have been defeated and
driven away. Mwanga is very anxious that you do not
delay, but come'; quickly and make an agreement for
trade, in order that you may know how much he wants
you.' Mwanga himself, at the dictation of Pere Lourdel,
wrote in somewhat ambiguous terms regarding the agree-
ment or treaty which he was willing to make with the
Company, but repeating his earnest request for the Com-
pany's force to come to Uganda. Mr. Jackson was
fairly well informed of the political situation. Mwanga
had been pleased with the purport of his first letter,
which showed that he was willing to enter Uganda and
ally his force with the king on condition that ' everything
should be properly settled ' as regarded the Imperial
British East Africa Company. The meaning of this
condition was perfectly understood. The chiefs were
willing and anxious to enter into a treaty, but Mwanga
was quite under the influence of P^re Lourdel, who
dissuaded him against consenting to put his country
under the protection of the Company, because the French
missionaries feared that the establishment of tlie Com-
pany's authority might imdermine their own political
influence in Uganda. Pfere Lourdel's advice to the king
was to invite traders of all nationalities on the same
terms, and to cede political influence to no European
nation. In other words, the political as well as the mis-
sionary influence of the French priests was to be secured
by the neutralisation of Uganda — that is, its exclusion
from the scope of European 'spheres of influence.' Hence
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 127
the tenor of the replies sent to Mr Jackson. It is note-
worthy that while the French priests were pursuing this
policy in Uganda, their superior, Cardinal Lavigerie, was
endeavouring to obtain from the Brussels Conference a
formal declaration placing Uganda as a neutral territory
outside the spheres of the European powers. Attention
was drawn to the matter in the London press, and in
Parliament, and the Britisli Foreign Office addressed
inquiries to Lord Vivian, our ambassador at Brussels, as
to the truth of the report. There were very strong
grounds for the suspicion that Cardinal Lavigerie w^as
prepared to place all the local influence of the Roman
Catholic Missions on the side of German trade (as was
actually being done just then in Uganda by P^re Lourdel)
in consideration of the support of Germany towards secur-
ing to his missions paramount control of the country by
the exclusion of European, especially British, political
influence. Cardinal Lavigerie denied this imputation;
but Lord Vivian, on 30th May 1890, informed Lord
Salisbury that — ' However this may be, the report that
Cardinal Lavigerie has proposed to the Conference to deal
specially with L^ganda as being outside the sphere of
influence, not only of Great Britain but of any European
power, is confirmed by his Eminence's letter to Baron
Lambermont.' No notice, Lord Vivian added, had been
taken of Cardinal Lavigerie's letter in Conference.
'After the most careful consideration with my col-
leagues,' Mr. Jackson reported to the Directors, ' we
decided not to go.' Islx. Jackson informed the king of
his inability to assist him ; but he sent one of the Com-
pany's flags to Mwangn, with the intimation that his
128 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
acceptance of the flag would lay upon the Company the
obligation, as the acknowledged protecting power, to come
to his assistance.
Mr. Jackson's party now left Mumiya's (10th Decem-
ber), with the view to opening up the Suk country to the
north, and the region of Lake Rudolf, partially explored
the year before by Count Teleki. On reaching tlie
Ngoboto River on January 11, 1890, it was found that
owing to scarcity of supplies the expedition could not
proceed any further in that direction, and they con-
sequently returned south, visiting Mount Elgon on the
way. A surprise awaited them when, on arriving at
Mumiya's on March ith, they heard that Dr. Peters had
passed that way a month before on his expedition to
Uganda, and had hoisted Ijis flag at Qua Sakwa, two
hours' march off. The manner of Dr. Peters' proceedings
during his expedition, as related by his Somali followers,
has been alluded to in a former chapter, with an extract
describing his progress as far as Korokoro, where he was
reported to have been killed. The narrative proceeds : —
' After leaving Korokoro we had several fights with the
Wa-Kikuyu, about twelve of whom were caught, tied up,
and made to carry loads.
*The first Masai we met was at Lykipia, and at tlie
engagement which took place there two Swahilis and one
Somali were killed. The Masai at this place had large
herds of cattle, goats, and sheep, and we carried all the
goats and sheep away with us, but had to leave the cattle
behind, being too wild to drive. There would be about
sixty of us in the caravan at this time. In the confusion
at this engagement, nine of the Wa-Kikuyu escaped.
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 129
These Masai followed our caravan for two days, but our
Askari kept them away by firing at long distances. On
the third night they came down on us, but were repulsed.
' We had another engagement at a later period, and lost
one Swahili.
* After leaving the Masai country we met a few men
called " Onderobo," who were at once caught, tied up, and
threatened with violence unless they acted as guides for
the caravan to Lake Baringo. AVhen we arrived at
Baringo the Onderobo and the three remaining Wa-
Kikuyu were let off.
' At Njemps we met a Swahili caravan, and got one of
the members to act as guide in the direction of Uganda.
The guide had not gone verj' far when he declined to act
as guide, and wanted to return. Dr. Peters at once tied
him up, and he was brought along for the rest of the
journey in that manner.
'We arrived at a place near where an English mis-
sionary (Bishop Hannington) was killed, and where a
station had been established by Mr. Jackson for the
Imperial British East Africa Company. Dr. Peters did
not seem inclined at first to go near Jackson's station,
and remained where he was,^ and made friends with the
chief of the village, from whom he received two bullocks.
After this the chief asked Dr. Peters to give him some of
his soldiers to help him in a war he was engaged in with
a neighbouring chief. Dr. Peters gave him ten Somalis
and about thirty Swahilis, and at the engagement which
^ Qua Sakwa. Bishop Hannington was killed further west, near
the Nile. Mr. Jackson's station was at Qua Sundu (Mnmiya's) two
hoars' march from Qua Sakwa.
I
1 30 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
followed fifty natives were killed, and we all escaped
with the exception of one Somali, who was slightly
wounded. Dr. Peters made a treaty with this chief, and
hoisted the German flag on a flagstaff which he erected
in the village. We then went across to the Imperial
British East Africa Company's station, from which we
could see the German flag flying in the village we had
just left. There was no Englishman at this station, so
we slept there all niglit.'
As will presently be seen, Dr. Peters, when he I'eoeived
in Uganda a letter from Mr. Jackson, asking him to wait
for the latter's arrival, * made for the coast with all speed/
Conscious that the atrocities committed by him in British
^.territory laid him open to arrest and prosecution for
trespass and robbery, attended with violence and murder.
The immunity extended to him on his return to
Europe, when he actually had the audacity to come
to this country to lecture publicly on the subject of
his expedition, showed a somewhat blunted sense of
the national feeling for the honour of the British flag,
and the protection of the native races over whom it was
flying.
Mr. Jackson was informed by Sakwa, that on Peters
arriving there and wishing to hoist his flag, the chief
gave him permission to do so on condition of fighting his
enemies. After doing this Dr. Peters hoisted the German
flag and left a letter to say that he claimed the place as
his own. * This letter,' said Mr. Jackson, ' I read out to
Sakwa, who had not the remotest idea what was in it,^
^ This extraordinary but characteristic document, declaring *tho
land of Kavirondo to be my possession,' is given in full by Dr. Peters
in his book New Lirfht on Dark Africa^ p. 310 (English Edition, 1891).
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 131
and he at once asked us to take down the flag, as he
wished to be under the protection of tlie Company/
Treaties were then exchanged with the chief, who re-
ceived a Company*s flag.
A letter from Mwanga awaited Mr. Jackson at
Mumiya's on liis return, in which the king informed him
that he had accepted the Gompany*s flag, and now wished
Mr. Jackson to come and see him. The acceptance of
the flag, the significance of which w^as understood on
both sides, determined the Company's officer to proceed
to Uganda. The knowledge that Dr. Peters had gone
there in advance of him, obviously with anti-British aims,
made Mr. Jackson's duty more imperative. Dr. Peters
had, as he boasts in his book, been violating the cor-
respondence of Mr. Jackson during the latter's absence
from his station, and had made himself acquainted wdth
the invitations addressed to the British Company's officer
to come to Uganda. Amongst others, Pere Lourdel's
letter of 1st December in answer to Mr. Jackson's last
reply, spurred on Dr. Peters to anticipate the advance
which this last and decisive invitation was certain to
lead to. At page 319 of his book Dr. Peters gives the
the letter in full : —
' Very dear Sir,' — Pere Lourdel wrote to Mr. Jackson, —
* We have heard with pain that you could not come, at
least not at present, to bring assistance to Mwanga and
to the Christians of Buganda, as we hoped you would.
* King Mwanga had charged me to write to you, in his
name, the Kiswahili letter I have sent to you, when he
had not yet received the news of the defeat of his army.
Having been forced to take refuge in the island of
132 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Bulinguye, ke more than ever urgently asks your assist-
ance. In return, besides the monopoly of commerce in
Buganda, he offers you, as a present, lOOfrasilas of ivory
(equal to 3500 lbs.), which he will give you when he is
restored to the throne. He also takes upon himself the
provisioning of your men, and accepts your flag. For our
part, we Catholic missionaries shall be very glad and
very grateful to take advantage of the protection which
you will be able, 1 hope, to gmnt to the missionaries and
Christians of this country, if you succeed in driving out
the Mussulmans. Have the kindness to present my
special greetings to the intrepid companions of your
journey. I pray God to continue to bless and favour
your enterprise. — Deign to accept, etc.,
' Simeon Lourdel,
* First Catholic in Buganda.'
The remainder of Dr. Peters* proceedings cannot be
better summarised than in the description supplied by
his own followers, from which quotations have before
been given. The narrative, which is amply confirmed
from other sources, affords striking evidence of the
character of the professions contained in the foregoing
letter of P^re Lourdel. Mr. Jackson, it will be seen, had
subsequent experience of the special hostility of the
French priests to British influence in Uganda.
* We arrived at Uganda,' Dr Peters' Somalis related,
* and the French missionaries introduced Dr. Peters to
Mwanga, and they seemed very friendly, and treaties
were arranged. There were two English missionaries in
Uganda, and they came to Dr. Peters, and one of them
asked what he meant by his proceedings, and told him
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 133
that matters would not remain as be wished, but that the
whole business would have to be settled in Europe.
* Jackson arrived at his station shortly after this, and
heard all that had happened in his absence. He wrote a
letter to Dr. Peters to Uganda asking him to wait there
until he (Jackson) arrived. When Dr. Peters received
this letter he was very much annoyed, and turned round
and asked the Somalis if they were prepared to fight the
English if they met them. All the Somalis refused to do
so, after which Dr. Peters got very angry with them, and
made preparations to quit Uganda before Jackson got
there. He did so, and made for the coast with all speed.*
On the 11th March 1890 Mr. Jackson and his party
started from Mumiya's, in Kavirondo, for Uganda. In
passing through Usoga a treaty was made with Wakoli, a
chief who received the Company's representatives with
great friendship and hospitality. They crossed the Nile on
the 6th of April, and arrived at Mengo, Mwanga's capital,
on the 1 ith. Mwanga was very anxious to see them, and
on coming to his presence Mr. Jackson saw P6re Lourdel
sitting by the king's side. It immediately came to his
knowledge that the French priests and their party were
strongly opposed to the Company's approach, and would
use all their influence against it. They had allied them-
selves eagerly with Dr. Peters, and enabled him to
obtain his treaty from the king. But on Mr. Jackson
attempting to negotiate a treaty with Mwanga, Pfere
Lourdel, who appeared to exercise complete control and
to have the king entirely in his hands, ' was dead set,' to
use Mr. Jackson's description, * against the king signing
the treaty in any form.' The Company's agent guaranteed
134 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
to the king his sovereignty, and to all creeds equal
liberties, but he saw reason to conclude that equal liberty
would be incompatible with the political and religious
ascendency which it was the aim of the Eoman Catholic
missionaries to secure for themselves. * It was plain/ Mr.
Jackson reported, * that the king has little or nothing to
say in such affairs, but is a mere tool in the hands of
Pfere Lourdel and the llonian Catholic chiefs. P^re
Lourdel's sole reason for not signing the treaty was
simply because he knew that if the king once signed it
he and the Eoman Catholic chiefs would have to take a
back seat and not be allowed to meddle with politics. I
explained to them again and again that the Company
would treat all parties alike/ etc. Pfere LourdeVs idea
was that which his superior endeavoured to realise
through the instrumentality of the Brussels Conference, —
viz., to neutralise Uganda in relation to European spheres
of influence, and open the country to the trade of all
European nations. The obvious advantages of such an
arrangement to a party situated as the French priests
then were in Uganda do not need explanation. Mr.
Jackson failed to conclude a formal treaty, but it was
agreed that envoys should be sent to the coast to inquire
of the British, German, and French Consuls-General as
to which European Power Uganda was to be assigned.
Meantime it was arranged that Mr. Ernest Gedge, Mr.
Jackson's second in command, should remain with a
party of men in Uganda.
It may be convenient in this place to follow the pro-
ceedings of Dr. Peters to their conclusion. ' I came to
an agreement with Mons. Lourdel/ he states in his book
THE ADVANCE TO UGANDA 135
(p. 382), ' as to the plan of our task on the very first
morning.' The ' task ' was to prevent the British party
from obtaining any influence in Uganda. Dr. Peters and
Pere Lourdel had already discussed the subject fully, and
found themselves, as regards the British Company, in
perfect sympathy. Next day, in a secret conference,
Lourdel obtained M\vanga*s assent to the treaty. But
everything did not run smoothly, owing to the untoward
incident of the acceptance of the Company's flag by
Mwanga and his consequent request to Mr. Jackson,
through P^re Lourdel, to enter Uganda. The Protestant
party, reasonably distrusting the objects of the alliance
between Peters and the French priests, refused to accept
the treaty. By the exercise of the peculiar kind of
diplomacy described by himself, Dr. Peters carried off
his treaty.
In the course of the following autumn Mr. Ernest
Gedge visited the south end of the lake on business, and
during his sojourn there heard, on 30th September, of the
arrival of Emin Pasha at Bukumbi (the French mission-
ary station) en route for Uganda with a large force. At
the same time came intelligence that Mwanga had sent
some forty canoes to fetch the Pasha to Uganda. Mr.
Gedge, as well as Mr. Jackson, had made light of Peters'
treaty as being of no effect against the Anglo-German
understanding of July 1887, distinctly recognising Uganda
as belonging to the British sphere of influence. On
learning that Emin Pasha was proceeding with his
expedition to Uganda, however, Mr. Gedge thought it
expedient to write to him with a view to ascertaining his
intentions. Emin Pasha's reply, dated 2nd October, was
136
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
quite explicit. He was in possession of the treaty made
by Dr. Peters, copies of which had been sent to the
German Emperor and the king of the Belgians. *I
therefore/ Emin Pasha wrote, 'as representative of his
Majesty the Emperor of Germany's Commissioner for
Eastern Africa, feel myself bound to watch over any
infringement of the said treaty.'
The negotiations .which meanwhile had been proceed-
ing in Europe between the Governments of Great Britain
and Germany effectually interfered with the further
prosecution by Emin Pasha of his designs on Uganda.
On the 11th of October the Pasha informed Mr. Gedge
of the conclusion of the Anglo-German Agreement of
July 1, 1890, which put an end to all disputes regarding
boundaries, and definitely assigned Uganda to the British
sphere of influence.
CHAPTER X
THE BRITISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE — WITU EXPEDITION
The system of acquiring territorial dominion by means
of treaties with native chiefs, which was introduced into
East Africa by Ur. Peters, received its sanction from the
Imperial Charter of Protection granted by the Emperor
William on the 17tli February 1885, and thereby became
recognised as a legitimate mode of conquest. It is
obvious that in the hands of unscrupulous agents the
method is liable to grave abuses ; but, in cases where only
the rights of the natives themselves are concerned, the
responsibility must finally devolve on the supreme
authority which legalises the treaties. The enterprise of
German subjects in East Africa soon brought them into
collision with the rights of third parties, and it then be-
came necessary to arrive at a provisional delimitation of
spheres of influence, such as was concluded between Great
Britain and Germany in 1886, and supplemented in some-
what general terms in July 1887.
It is due to the prescience of Sir William Mackinnon to
recollect that as early as September 1888, in fact two or
three weeks after the Company received her Majesty's
Charter, he addressed a letter to Lord Salisbury urging
upon her Majesty's Government the expediency of pro-
ceeding to a definite demarcation of international boun-
1 38 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
daries west of the Victoria Nyauza, on the lines specified
by Baron von Plessen on June 22nd, 1887, and confirmed
by the German Government on 8th July. This letter was
prompted by the organisation of the German Emin Pasha
Committee, regarding whose objects there existed even
then little doubt. It was, nevertheless, deemed superfluous
by her Majesty's Government to re-open negotiations on
the question of boundaiies, and, as related in a former
chapter, the seeming abandonment of the German expedi-
tion led to the Company being informed that, as this
menace no longer existed, there was no occasion to proceed
to a delimitation of boundaries. The expedition was not
abandoned, however, nor was there any doubt left that its
object was the creation of German interests at the back of
the British sphere in violation of the international under-
standing of July 1887. No steps however were taken to
avert the serious injury aimed at British interests, by inter-
posing a clear and unmistakable declaration of the limits
assigned to the enterprise of the respective nations.
The consequences of this omission to define the boundary
with Germany as urged by Sir William Mackinnon, and
of the toleration extended in that and other directions to
the proceedings of German agents, were the expenditure
of time, energy, and money by the British East Africa
Company, which became unavoidable in counteracting
those proceedings. It was not merely in self-defence that
the Company had to act against the rivalry of foreigners,
but in defence of interests so bound up with its own as to
be practically inseparable. It was, for example, extremely
improbable that a Company with a relatively small capital
could within any reasonable time be able to sustain per-
THE BRITISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE 139
inanently the burden of the development and adminis-
tration of territories of such wide extent and so remote
as Uganda and the Nile valley. Yet the acquisition of
these territories by a foreign nation would have been at
the same time a national misfortune and a severe if not
fatal blow to the Company's interest toward the coast.
It was important that so promising a field should be
secured for British commerce in the future, and it was of
immediate consequence to the Company to prevent the
diversion from its ports of the trade of Uganda and the
Nile countries. Thus, in regard to the interior, the
interests of the British nation were identified with those
of the Company. Co-operation in securing the common
interest was a principle recognised by other Powers, but
not by Great Britain. The Company had embarked upon
its responsibilities and was kept to them by Government.
The Directors either had to throw up the enterprise or
do at the exclusive expense of the Company the work
of her Majesty's Government as well as their own.
Had it not been for the active agency of the Company
the greater part of the east coast, as well as the interior,
would have been permanently occupied by Germany.
After the agreement of 1886 only that part of the coast
lying between the Umbe river and the Tana was left to
Great Britain. The German Protectorate bounded this
territory on the south, and another German Protectorate,
that of Witu, closed it in on the north. Subsequently this
latter protectorate was extended up to Kismayu. The
object of this strategical movement was obvious. A
settlement at some early date was inevitable, and the
Power which placed itself in the most favoumble position
I40 , BRITISH EAST AFRICA
for concession would have the larger claims upon desir-
able compensations. The compensations would have been
heavier but for the vigorous action of the British East
Africa Company in its very unequal contest with the
influence and resources of the German Empire. Without
support from its own Government, whose interests it was
obliged to defend, it contested every point with the Ger-
mans. The value to Germans of the Protectorate of
Witu and the northern coast was practically extinguished
by the success of the Company, in the teeth of determined
opposition, in obtaining from the Sultan of Zanzibar the
concession of Lamu and the Northern Ports. In the
interior behind the coast the Company actively enlarged
the sphere of British rights by treaties covering the
whole tract from the Juba to the frontiers of the Congo
Free State. The business of obtaining these treaties —
so urgent in the presence of foreign rivalry — and the con-
current opening up of new regions and establishment
of friendly relations with the natives, entailed prema-
turely heavy expenditure on caravans, and diverted from
the development of the coast zone the capital which
was intended to be primarily applied to that work.
The agreement between Mr. Jackson and King Mwanga,
the ratification of which by the acceptance of the Com-
pany's flag decided the former to act upon the invitation of
the king, chiefs, and missionaries of both religions to enter
Uganda with his expedition, gave efl^ect to the Anglo-
German understanding of July 1887, by placing the
country outside the bounds of dispute as British territory.
But Uganda by no means marked the western limit of the
rights which Lord Salisbury was called upon to assert in
THE BRITISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE 141
negotiating with the German Government. The countries
beyond Uganda, and as far as the meridian of 30 degrees
east longitude — the recognised boundary of the Congo
Free State — had already been secured for Great Britain
by Mr. H. M. Stanley, to whom the chiefs and peoples
had voluntarily ceded their sovereign rights in gratitude
for the protection he had given them from the depreda-
tions of the slave-raiding troops of Kabbarega, king of
Unyoro. On his return to England Mr. Stanley patrioti-
cally transferred to the Company all his rights under those
treaties, which were duly notified to her Majesty's
Government.
The results of the negotiations between Great Britain
and Germany were embodied in a treaty on 1st July 1890.
The treaty was received with general public satisfaction
as securing to Britain an extensive area for commercial
development in the best parts of Equatorial Africa. The
credit was, however, the right of the British East Africa
Company rather than of her Majesty's Government,
because it was almost entirely owing to the Company's
persistent exertions and expenditure of capital that a
title was obtained to the regions which Germany was
constrained to recognise as within the British sphere.
In his despatch to Sir E. Malet of Uth June 1890,^
Lord Salisbury describes the claims advanced by the
German Government and the grounds upon which he was
able to deal with them. 'The claims of the German
Government are based chiefly on the contention that
where one Power occupies the coast, another Power may
not, without consent, occupy unclaimed regions in its
1 Blue Book, Africa No. 5 (1890).
142 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
rear/ This contention explains the object of Germany in
declaring a Protectorate over the coast from Witu to the
boundary of Kismayu, which, on the principle maintained,
would give her the exclusive control of the Nile valley
and the line of access to it from the east coast. Lord
Salisbury declared that it would be too much to affirm
that the German contention was entirely destitute of sup-
port from international usage. The doctrine] if ratified
would have given Germany the whole of East Africa as
far as the Congo State, almost from the Equator to latitude
1 1 degrees south. But this delimitation by parallels of
latitude was opposed to the established interests of the
British Missions and the African Lakes Company on
Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, and along the ' Stevenson
Eoad ' connecting these lakes. On the north the parallel
of 1 degree south was accepted as the boundary as far as
the east shore of Victoria Nyanza, yielding to Germany
the ' hinterland ' which it claimed, and securing to Great
Britain Uganda and the countries to the west covered by
Mr. Stanley's treaties. This arrangement was somewhat
less favourable to British interests than the delimitation
indicated in the Anglo-German understanding of 1887,
which restricted German influence to the countries lying
to the south of the Victoria Nyanza. It was, however,
in reference to the coast that the principle of conces-
sions and equivalents came chiefly into operation. Ger-
many had established a protectorate along the coast-line
of more than two hundred miles between the Tana and
the Juba. North of Witu — to the extent of about five-
sixths of this protectorate — there was no German settle-
ment, no visible German interest of any description. But
THE BRITISH SPHERE OF INFLUENCE 143
the possession of this coast by Germany, being vested only
with the barren validity the 'hinterland * doctrine might be
held to confer, its commercial value was found to be so much
depreciated, if not extinguished, by the acquisition of the
ports by the British East Africa Company, that this pro-
tectorate became practically useless to Germany except as
a consideration to be yielded up for a desirable equivalent
elsewhere. The objection to the Sultan of Zanzibar's
rights over Manda and Patta, and the still more arbitrary
objection to the rights of the British East Africa Com-
pany at Wanga, were maintained for the same reason.
When the situation is considered with which Lord Salis-
bury was called upon to deal with Germany in East
Africa, it is impossible to ignore the fact that had it not
been for the unsupported exertions of the British East
Africa Company in the contest it carried on with the
illegitimate expansion of German power, the latter would
have so established and strengthened itself as to render it
impossible to negotiate successfully for its removal.
As it was, a price had to be paid to Germany for with-
drawing from the ground on which it had been allowed
to establish itself. ' Upon the east coast,' Lord Salisbury
stated in the despatch referred to, ' the German Govern-
ment has agreed to surrender all the territory it occupies
or claims, north of the British sphere of influence.' The
Protectorate of Witu and the coast up to Kismayu were
now abandoned, as were also the objections to the Sultan
of Zanzibar's right to include Manda and Patta in his con-
cession to the British East Africa Company. The effect
of this arrangement, as Lord Salisbury pointed out, was
that, ' except as far as the Congo State is concerned, there
1 44 BRITISH EAST A FRICA
will be no European competitor to British influence be-
tween the 1st degree of S. latitude and the borders of
Egypt, along the whole of the country which lies to the
south and west of the Italian Protectorate in Abyssinia
and Galla-land.'
To compensate Germany for withdrawing from the
strategic position in which she had established herself
on the north coast, Great Britain was to assume the
exclusive Protectorate over the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
' The direct control and extensive influence ' which this
arrangement would confer upon Great Britain would,
apart from its eflFective bearing upon the slave-trade and
slavery, enable Great Britain to assist Germany in adding
to the Imperial dominions the territory on the opposite
mainland held under lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar
by the German East African Company, as well as the
island of Mafia. The Sultan was to be paid an * equit-
able indemnity ' for the customs revenue thus taken from
him. The German Company, on the transfer of the
sovereignty of the coast to the German Empire, was
enabled to purchase the customs revenue at a valuation.
After deduction of counter-claims against the Sultan, the
sum received by the latter was £200,000.
A further compensation was made to Germany by the
cession of the island of Heligoland in the North Sea ; and
as France was concerned in the independence of Zanzibar
by the Declaration of 1862, her acquiescence had to be
obtained in the arrangement by allowing her to declare a
French Protectorate over Madagascar.
'It appears to her Majesty's Government,' said Lord
Salisbury, ' that the extension of British influence and
WITU EXPEDITION 145
dominion upon the east coast of Africa, which will be
the result of the arrangements which I have explained to
your Excellency, is a sufficient inducement to the Govern-
ment of this countiy to allow the island in question
(Heligoland) to be joined to the Empire of Germany/
It was apparently felt that the cession of this island
would be considered in Great Britain much more seriously
than the remote and less appreciated concessions made in
Africa. It was found impossible to secure an uninterrupted
]]ritish sphere through Central Africa by way of Lake
Tanganyika, but freedom of passage was here obtained for
trade, both by land and water, between the two British
spheres.^
Great part of the territory reserved by this Agreement
to British influence had already, as before stated, been
brought by treaty under the administration of the
Imperial British East Africa Company. Those treaties
were registered at the British Consulate at Zanzibar and
were ratified by her Majesty's Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs in accordance with the requirements of
the Charter. In the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar
north of AVanga the Company's administrative rights were
derived from the successive concessions. As regards Witu,
it was assumed that on the withdrawal of the German Pro-
tectorate a British Protectorate began ipso facto to exist;
but such, it afterwards appeared, was not exactly the case,
although Witu became incorporated in the British sphere
of influence. In the vast remaining regions included in
this sphere, Great Th'itain acquired — as against Germany
and Italy, the Powers who were parties to boundary
* Appendix Xo. 8, Anylo-Gfrman Ayreement of July 1, 1890.
K
144 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
will be no European competitor to British influence be-
tween the 1st degree of S. latitude and the borders of
Egypt, along the whole of the country which lies to the
south and west of the Italian Protectorate in Abyssinia
and Galla-land.'
To compensate Germany for withdrawing from the
strategic position in which she had established herself
on the north coast, Great Britain was to assume the
exclusive Protectorate over the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
' The direct control and extensive influence ' which this
arrangement would confer upon Great Britain would,
apart from its eflFective bearing upon the slave-trade and
slavery, enable Great Britain to assist Germany in adding
to the Imperial dominions the territory on the opposite
mainland held under lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar
by the German East African Company, as well as the
island of Mafia. The Sultan was to be paid an ' equit-
able indemnity ' for the customs revenue thus taken from
him. The German Company, on the transfer of the
sovereignty of the coast to the German Empire, was
enabled to purchase the customs revenue at a valuation.
After deduction of counter-claims against the Sultan, the
sum received by the latter was £200,000.
A further compensation was made to Germany by the
cession of the island of Heligoland in the North Sea ; and
as France was concerned in the independence of Zanzibar
by the Declaration of 1862, her acquiescence had to be
obtained in the arrangement by allowing her to declare a
French Protectorate over Madagascar.
'It appears to her Majesty's Government,' said Lord
Salisbuiy, ' that the extension of British influence and
WITU EXPEDITION 145
dominion upon the east coast of Africa, which will be
the result of the arrangements which I have explained to
your Excellency, is a sufficient inducement to the Govern-
ment of this country to allow the island in question
(Heligoland) to be joined to the Empire of Germany/
It was apparently felt that the cession of this island
would be considered in Great Britain much more seriously
than the remote and less appreciated concessions made in
Africa. It was found impossible to secure an uninterrupted
British sphere through Central Africa by way of Lake
Tanganyika, but freedom of passage was here obtained for
trade, both by land and water, between the two British
spheres.^
Great part of the territory reserved by this Agreement
to British influence had already, as before stated, been
brought by treaty under the administration of the
Imperial British East Africa Company. Those treaties
were registered at the British Consulate at Zanzibar and
were ratified by her Majesty *s Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs in accordance with the requirements of
the Charter. In the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar
north of Wanga the Company's administrative rights wxre
derived from the successive concessions. As regards Witu,
it was assumed that on the withdrawal of the German Pro-
tectorate a British Protectorate began ipso facto to exist;
but such, it afterwards appeared, was not exactly the case,
although Witu became incorporated in the British sphere
of influence. In the vast remaining regions included in
this sphere. Great Britain acquired — as against Germany
and Italy, the Powers who were parties to boundary
* Appendix No. 8, Angh-Ofrman Agreement of July 1, 1890.
K
to lliij (J(.'iinan rrntcclmate ol" Witii all
iilU'i' the conclusion of the li'caty ot' J
the 25tli of August a German subject
with a party of ten German meclianics
with a steam saw-mill for erection at
forming the British Consular Agent oi
immediately proceeding to Witu with
machinery, M. Kiintzel was warned tl
himself and his party would be by no i
account of the growing dislike evinc(
people towards Europeans and Christia
towards Germans in particular/ M. Ki
by the British Consul-General to have I
disposition/ and the Consular Agent at I
doubts excited as to the propriety of the
to Witu by the high-handed way in
endeavoured to carry on their business i
over, Witu had for months past been the
murderers and bad characters upon th
Sultan was a weak, iunorant. and fanaHp
WITU EXPEDITION 147
on proceeding with their operations. On the 1 4th Sep-
tember Kuutzel arrived at Witu and found that five of
his companions had ah-eady been taken there, and de-
prived of their arms. M. Ktintzel undoubtedly behaved
on this occasion in a manner so violent and offensive as
to provoke the disaster which followed, or at least to
precipitate it. Next day when the Germans sought to
leave Witu, the gatekeeper refused to let them pass, and
Kiintzel drew his revolver and shot him. The natives
at once flew to arms. Ktintzel and all his party were
massacred, except two, one who escaped, and one who
was at Lamu. There was no doubt that, although the
behaviour of M. Kiintzel and his companions was highly
imprudent and unjustifiable, the massacre was pepetrated
with at least the passive sanction of the Sultan of Witu,
who made no attempt to save the lives of the Europeans
who were being killed almost under his eye.
The history of the origin and rise of the power of the
Sultan of Witu has been already sketched. A fugitive
outlaw, his recognition by Germg^ny for objects of her
own first gave him a status as against his sovereign the
Sultan of Zanzibar. For two years and more his German
agents had given him confidence in the support of the
Imperial Government in making good his pretensions
and usurpations against Zanzibar, which Witu, under
such powerful protection, might hope in time to rival.
But experience showed the Witu chief the hollowness
of his hopes. He had been encouraged by the promises
and advice of German adventurers to invade Zanzibar
territory and levy taxes on Zanzibar subjects ; but as
soon as the British East Africa Company would no
148 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
longer tolerate the trespass, and proceeded to enforce its
rights by an armed expedition, he was ordered by the
German Consul-General to withdraw. Lamu was secured
by the Company, and, when Germany had interests of
more importance to consider elsewhere, not only the pro-
mised dominion of Manda and Patta, but Witu itself, was
surrendered to Great Britain. The resentment of the
Sultan of Witu against his former friends was intensely
bitter. Baron Marschall, the German Minister, complained
to our representative at Berlin in the beginning of October
1890 that the Sultan of Witu was systematic in his per-
secution of Germans, 'being incensed against Germany,
and accusing her of selling him and his country to Eng-
land,' and her Majesty's Government were called upon to
interfere at once to punish the guilty parties and protect
the Germans.^
Count Metternich, the German Charged d' Affaires at
London, called on Lord Salisbury with a despatch from
his Government stating that as the transference of the
Protectorate of Witu from Germany to Great Britain was
completed by the signature of the Anglo-German Agree-
ment, the Imperial Government ' called upon her Majesty's
Government to punish the murderers of the Germans in
the recent massacre, and to exact compensation for the
losses of property.' The obvious alternative to comply-
ing with this demand would have been the assumption
by Germany herself of the task, and the lauding of
German troops for punitive operations in British terri-
tory.
Lord Salisbury pointed out ' that her Majesty's Govem-
1 Africa No. 3 (1890-91), p. 2.
WITU EXPEDITION 149
ment could not admit that the transfer of the Protectorate
had been, at the time of the murders, or was even now
complete, and that the Sultan, on being informed of the
coming British Protectorate had very naturally and
properly said that he was bound to the Germans, and
could not accept it until released by them from his
engagements/ The German Government, it was added,
had not yet, as far as was known, released him, and her
Majesty's Government had not proclaimed their Protec-
torate; there must be some definite time at which the
transfer was accomplished, and the moment did not
appear to have yet arrived. Without accepting the
responsibility put upon them by the German Government,
her Majesty's Government expressed every desire to
co-operate in whatever measures might be found neces-
sary to punish the authors of the German murders.
At the end of October an expedition of 950 men was
landed by Admiral Fremantle. This force included 150
of the Company's troops. Witu was taken and burnt, a
reward of ten thousand rupees offered for the capture of
Fumo Bakari, the Witu Sultan, and martial law was
proclaimed. The Admiral, Sir E. Fremantle, bore high
testimony to the services rendered by the Company's
troops and officers in connection with this expedition.
Her Majesty's forces having immediately withdrawn
from Witu, the question of the future administration
of that district became a matter for consideration. The
chief was deposed and was an outlaw, and the territory
was in a state of disorder and insecurity. The British
East Africa Company naturally hesitated to undertake
the responsibility of controlling the state of things
1 50 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
brought about by the punitive expedition ; Fumo Bakari
was known to have a considerable following and to
be bent rather on retaliating than on submitting ; and
with the limited number of troops at their disposal
the Directors feared to expose the Company's forces
to a possible check which could hardly fail to produce
injurious if not disastrous effects at other places along
the coast. Her Majesty's Government were in favour
of placing Witu under the Sultan of Zanzibar as a
separate and personal sovereignty with a distinctive
flag, and intrusting the administration to the Company
as a concessionnaire of the Sultan. The death of Fumo
Bakari and the subsequent deposition, by the insurgents,
of his brother, facilitated a settlement of affairs, by which
the Company undertook the administration of Witu under
its Charter, the question of the sovereignty of the Sultan
of Zanzibar was waived at least until some future time,
and a subsistence was allowed to the late Sultan of
Witu's family. The Company's flag was to fly in Witu,
martial law was abolished, and guarantees were taken
for the early abolition of slavery by an arrangement for
the general emancipation of slaves to take place finally
on the 24th of May 1896.1
^ See Appendix No. 9, Settfement of Witu,
CHAPTER XI
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA
While Captain Lugard was preparing at the coast for
bis expedition to Uganda, the permanent and early
annexation of that country to the sphere of British
interests came, in Great Britain, to be regarded as a
matter of such urgent and exceptional importance that it
was decided by the Court of Directors to give the pro-
posed expedition a more imposing and authoritative
character than was at first intended. Sir Francis de
Winton, a member of the Court, who had had consider-
able administrative and military experience in other
parts of Africa, was appointed Adnjinistrator of the
Company's territory, and it was the intention that the
mission to Uganda should be under his personal charge.
Steps were proposed to obtain a force from India and
Egypt to enable the Company to carry out the task laid
upon it by the Government and the country, but diflB-
culties were experienced which had not been anticipated.
Authority to recruit a force of Sikhs from India could
not be obtained, and the Company was only allowed to
engage men from the neighbourhood of Delhi. On the
application of the Directors for permission to recruit
Soudanese in Egypt they were met by a similar refusal,
the circumstances of which were remarkable. Sir Evelyn
1 52 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Baring telegraphed to the Foreign Office to the effect
' that in his opinion it will not be possible to obtain black
troops for the British East Africa Company in Egypt/
Bearing in mind that the Company's present prepara-
tions meant the expenditure of a great deal of its capital
in an enterprise into which it was drawn in the interest
of the nation, it must seem strange that so little disposi-
tion was shown in official quarters, not merely to assist, but
even to facilitate the work of the Company. The com-
munication from the Foreign Office, which conveyed Sir
E. Baring's refusal to help the Company in enlisting
Soudanese, elicited from Sir William Mackinnon a letter
80 illustrative in its moderation of the conditions under
which the British East Africa Company was compelled
to perform national duties, that the following passages
are quoted : —
* With reference to the reasons assigned by Sir Evelyn
Baring, the Court have learnt with the greatest concern
that whereas the German Government was permitted to
recruit Soudanese soldiers to the number, it is generally
understood, of 2000 men, this Company is debarred from
engaging, to a much more limited extent, the same
Soudanese for service as military police, and in contra-
distinction to Germany seems even to be classed in the
category of foreign nations.
* Thus it appears that after extending to the German
Government an exceptional privilege, the refusal of the
like privilege to the Britisli Company is based upon "the
strong objections of the military authorities at Cairo to
the recruitment of any more Soudanese in Egypt for
external service," and, upon the assumption that " even
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 153
if these objections were overcome" — objections which
the Court believe might not be insurmountable — "the
Egyptian Government would certainly demur to Egypt
being made the recruiting ground for black troops."
'The plain acknowledgment contained in your letter
under reply that the Head of the British Administration
in Egypt could induce the Egyptian authorities to supply
Soudanese troops at the request of the German Govern-
ment, and declares himself unable to induce the Egyptian
Government (whom his administration controls) to supply
a far smaller number of the same troops at the request of
the British Government and for the use of a British
Chartered Company, aflfords] matter for very grave con-
sideration on the part of the Company's Court of
Director.
* The Court deem it hardly necessary in this connection
to contrast the bloodless operations of the British Com-
pany with those of the German Government, nor to
emphasise further the unequal conditions of a competition
for administrative progress which is backed on the one
side by the resources of an empire, and on the other is
exclusively dependent on private enterprise/
Sir William Mackinnon's letter led to a reconsideration
of the decision not to permit recruiting, and very soon
afterwards the announcement was made that * in conse-
quence of renewed representations ' the Egyptian Govern-
ment had consented to the recruitment of 200 blacks for
the British East Africa Company.
After Sir Francis de Winton's departure for Africa the
Anglo-German Agreement of July 1 was concluded. The
necessity of prosecuting with all despatch the advance
1 54 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
to Uganda was not thereby removed. The agreement
declared Uganda to be within the British sphere of
influence — that is, Germany pledged herself not to
attempt to acquire political influence there. It was clear
that Germany could not, in the face of the agreement,
establish her authority north of a fixed line ; and it was
equally clear that Great Britain could not do so in tlie
sphere reserved by her without taking active and effective
steps to occupy the country. Neither Power, in the
absence of such occupation, had the right to object to a
third party entering the territory with aims of a political
nature. It was therefore obvious that even external
considerations dictated an early advance on the part of
Great Britain to the lake regions. Such considerations
were strongly seconded by the internal condition of
Uganda. Mwanga's envoys reached the coast to ascertain
from the representatives of the European Powers at
Zanzibar ' whether,' as the Directors were informed by
the Foreign Office on the 17th of September, 'king
Mwanga should accept or decline British protection, as
it appears that they cannot distinguish between her
Majesty's Government and the Chartered Company.
They declare,' it was added, * that there must be civil
war as soon as Mr. Stokes' caravan arrives with its large
supply of war material.' In a despatch to the Marquis
of Salisbury, dated 12th September 1890, the British
Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar pointed out that,
while Mwanga declared he would welcome all Europeans
alike to his country, and desired to be supplied with arms
and ammunition to any extent, the Prime Minister of
Uganda's letter to the Consul-General 'confirms the
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 155
reported dangerous state of hostility between the rival
religious factions in the kingdom, and seems to point to
the existence of a considerable risk that, before the influ-
ence of the British East Africa Company can be estab-
lished in Uganda, the country may once again have
become the theatre of civil warfare and disruption. It is
to be hoped, however, that Captain Lugard's progress
towards Uganda may be so hastened (and I believe this
is being done) as to enable him to arrive on the scene in
time to co-operate with Bishop Tucker in order to prevent
the outbreak of hostilities.*
On Sir Francis de Winton's arrival on the east coast it
was found that affairs of great importance would render
his absence, even temporarily, in the interior so incon-
venient and undesirable, that the original intention of
placing Captain Lugard in charge of the mission to
Uganda was adhered to. Various delays occurred to
prevent his early departure, connected with the difficulty
of collecting porters and other causes. Pending final
arrangements Captain Lugard was moving gradually up
country by way of the Sabaki, and constructing along it,
at intervals of fifty miles or so, fortified stations. He had
reached Dagoreti, a place about 300 miles from the coast,
when he received definite orders to proceed to Uganda.
Captain Lugard crossed the Nile on the 13th of
December 1890, and on the 18th encamped at Mengo, the
capital of Uganda. On the 26th of December the king
signed a treaty with the Company, which was willingly
accepted by all the chiefs, although the Roman Catholic
(French) missionaries, who were ill-disposed towards
British influence in Uganda, made efforts to delay and
1 56 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
prevent the execution of the agreement. Captain Lugard
had fully explained to all the missionaries the objects and
policy of the Company before submitting the treaty to the
king and chiefs for signature. The provisions of this
treaty were mainly as follows :
The king signed and ratified the treaty with the full
consent of the chiefs of all parties of the State. He
acknowledged the suzerainty of the Company, placed his
territories under its protection, engaged to fly no other
flag, to make no treaties with, to grant no kind of con-
cession whatever to, nor allow to settle in the kingdom,
acquire lands or hold offices of state, any European of
whatever nationality without the knowledge and consent
of the Company's Resident, who was to exercise full
authority over all Europeans resident in Uganda. The
Resident was to be cx-ojfficio President of the Committee
of Finance and Revenue consisting of four members,
elected (except the President) by the Council of State,
whose duty it would be to assess, collect, and administer
all the customs and taxes. The revenue was to be
applied (1) to the maintenance of the royal state, public
salaries, etc. ; (2) to public works ; (3) to the maintenance
of the army, which was to be organised and drilled by the
Company's officers. Traders of all nations were to be free
to come to Uganda, provided they did not import goods
prohibited by agreement among the Powers. There
should be free trade within the whole British sphere.
The Company undertook to supply a staff of officials for
the organisation and administration of the country, all ex-
penses of the Company not pertaining to its private trade
to be borne from the public revenues. All offices of
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 157
state were to be filled by selection, irrespective of creed.
Slave-trading and slave-raiding were declared illegal and
punishable by law. The import or export of slaves was
prohibited. Missionaries engaged solely in preaching
the gospel and teaching the arts of civilisation and in-
dustry were free to settle in the country irrespective
of creed ; their religious rights and liberties were to be
respected, and strict impartiality shown to them.
The clause relating to traders provided against the
importation of arms and ammunition. There was pressing
reason for the insertion of this provision, because there
was at the time a large consignment of breech-loading
ammunition and powder at the south end of the lake
awaiting transport to Uganda. The trader in possession
of this ammunition was prohibited from bringing it to
Uganda, and Emin Pasha, who represented German
authority, was asked to co-operate in keeping it out. It
is due to Emin Pasha and the German officers who
succeeded him in the lake region to state that, after the
Anglo-German Agreement and the arrival of the Com-
pany's officers, the latter invariably received their loyal
and friendly co-operation. Prior to Captain Lugard's
arrival, Mr. Gedge had made an agreement with Emin
Pasha providing for the seizure and confiscation of boats
or canoes crossing the boundary line between British
and German jurisdiction without a pass issued by the
respective authorities and flying either the British or
German flag. This arrangement, Mr. Gedge reported, was
aimed at the illicit trade in gunpowder largely carried
on by the Erench priests, and it was found necessar}',
against the strongly expressed wishes of the priests, to
1 58 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
subject mission boats to the same supervision as all others.
The definition of the term missionary in the Uganda
treaty as a person ' engaged solely in preaching the gospel/
etc., meant that if the French priests engaged in trade as
they had done in their stations south of the lake, or inter-
fered in politics as they had been doing in Uganda, they
would be liable to the forfeiture of their special privi-
leges as missionaries. All other missionaries were equally
bound to conform to the public law.
Bishop Tucker, who reached Mengo on the 27th
December, was astonished to see the Christians coming to
church with their rifles in their hands. The attitude of
the Roman Catholic and Protestant factions towards each
other was one of irreconcilable hostility. There was
universal distrust and insecurity in the country. By
degrees a better state of matters was brought about by
Captain Lugard ; the people laid aside their arms, disputes
were brought to him for settlement, and industry began
to revive. But there was intense bitterness between the
rival parties, daily threatening to break out in civil war,
which on repeated occasions was averted only by strenuous
exertions. The principal trouble arose from disputes
relating to land or shambas. After the expulsion of the
Mohammedans by the united arms of the Christians, the
latter agreed among themselves to divide the great offices
of state, and the landed estates between the Protestant
and Eoman Catholic chiefs. Conflicting claims, involving
charges of injustice, arose between Protestants and Roman
Catholics regarding these estates, and the king, who
belonged to the latter party, gave his judgments in favour
of Roman Catholic claimants. The important island of
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 159
Sesse, in the Victoria Nyanza, commanding almost all the
canoes on the lake, should have been divided between
the two Christian parties pursuant to the agreement ; but
no division was made, and the island was held by the
Boman Catholics.
The envoys returned to Uganda on the 31st March,
and immediately afterwards Captain Lugard with his own
troops and the Uganda army marched out against the
Mohammedan party, who were burning the villages
within sight of the Uganda capital On the 7th of May
the Mohammedan army, with their Unyoro allies under
two of Kabbarega's sons, were defeated, and retreated
into Unyoro. Captain Lugard found it impossible to
pursue the enemy on account of the flooded state of the
rivers, and, sending part of his force back to Mengo with
Captain Williams, RA., marched with the remainder to
the southern frontier to perfect measures for preventing
the importations of guns and gunpowder across the
boundary line by trading caravans. It was by this
means of supply that the Mohammedan army had been
kept in arms and ammunition, and enabled to carry on
the war against Uganda.
The countries to the west of Buddu, which Mr. H. M.
Stanley had cleared of the Unyoro invaders during his
march t^ the coast in 1889, had again been subjected to
the depredations of King Kabbarega's slave-raiding and
plundering troops, and Captain Lugard felt it his duty to
proceed to their protection and deliverance. At Lake
Albert Edward he visited the Salt Lake, which Mr.
Stanley had brought to notice, and built a fort (Fort
George) for its protection. The salt deposit is very
i6o BRITISH EAST AFRICA
valuable, as this commodity is much desired aud accepted
as currency in all the neighbouring countries. Marching
northward by Euwenzori Mountain, and clearing the
country of the Unyoro invaders as he proceeded, Captain
Lugard met, at Kavalli's (at the south-western end of the
Albert Nyanza) the Soudanese troops of Emin Pasha who
had neglected or lost the opportunity of returning to
Egypt which Mr. H. M. Stanley liad offered to them.
Emin Pasha himself had passed a short time before, and
had tried in vain to revive the loyalty of his old troops
and lead them with him on the singular expedition for
which he had abandoned the German service. There
were nearly 1000 soldiers, armed with Keraington rifles
and having about 80 rounds each of ammunition remaining ;
with the soldiers were many thousand followers, women
and children. All were under the command of the
Egyptian colonel, Selim Bey. Apprehensive of the con-
sequences of leaving so large a body of people, with so
many armed men, uncontrolled in the country and with-
out means of subsistence except what they could obtain
by force; and believing, also, that these troops might
prove a very useful auxiliary to the Company, Captain
Lugard decided to enlist them in the Company's service
and take the whole party away with him. Selim Bey
accepted the proposal, subject to the sanction of the
Egyptian Government; and, with the exception of one
company which he took to Uganda, Captain Lugard
detailed the Soudanese troops as garrisons in a line of
forts which he constructed along the frontier of Unyoro
for the protection of Torn and the neighbouring districts
against the raids of Kabbarega.
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA i6l
Besides securing Ankoli and Torn against the oppres-
sions of Kabbarega, Captain Lugard had kept carefully
ill view throughout this western expedition the tracing
of a road suitable for animal traffic. In this he was
successful. A route was mapped from Luambwa on the
Victoria Nyaiiza, by way of Ruwenzori and touching the
Salt Lake, to the Albert Nyanza. All along this route
from the Victoria to the Albert Nyanza there is abundance
of water, of fodder for transport animals, and of portable
(i.e. not bulky, and therefore requiring immediate con-
sumption) food for men. The trade capacities of those
western districts are considerable; the abundant and
precious commodities, ivory and salt, alone are of great
commercial value.
Captain Lugard returned to Uganda on the 31st
December 1891. Although there had been many troubles
during his absence demanding the exercise of great tact
and patience on the part of Captain Williams, the aspect
of the country was one of marked and general improve-
ment. Shambas and estates were fenced in; large and
handsome houses had been built on waste lands ; roads
were cleared; public security reigned everywhere; and
trade, extinguished by the recent civil war, had revived.
For the purpose of continuity in this part of the
narrative it is necessary to anticipate to some extent
events which will be related in another place further on.
Of the two so-called Christian factions or parties in
Uganda, the Eoman Catholic or ' French ' body was by
far the more powerful, and the mutual feeling was so
irreconcilable that the Company's officers had a difficult
task to adhere to their policy of strict impartiality. The
L
i62 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
prestige as well as the power of the Boman Catholic
party derived much from the nominal adherence of the
king to that party since his * conversion ' by the French
priests and the consequent establishment of their influence
over him. The peace which had hitherto been maintained
in Uganda came to an end with the arrival of a party of
French priests from Europe on the 12th of January 1892.
The bishop, Monseigneur Hirth, had gone to meet them
and returned with them. The French ecclesiastical body
in Uganda were not reconciled to British control by a
policy of impartiality which was incompatible with their
special aims of ascendency. Immediately after the defeat
of the Mohammedans in the month of May 1891, one of
the priests (Father Achte) unguardedly disclosed the
object they had in view, in a letter which was published in
the pi»ess in Europe. * The fight with the Mussulmans was
hardly over/ he wrote, ' before it became needful to begin
another and far more arduous battle with the Protestants.
It seemed to us to be the most opportune time to make an
energetic forward movement towards the extension of Catho-
licism, and stirring up the dogmatic zeal of the Catholic
chiefs. I shall inspire the Catholic army with courage/
The consequences following the arrival of the fresh
party of French priests and of Bishop Hirth soon became
apparent, and the circumstances were common knowledge
in Uganda. Those priests brought the news that the
Company contemplated retiring from Uganda. It was
represented to the king that this was only a trading
Company, whose interests were opposed to fighting, and
that seeing they could not as yet make money in Uganda
th(?v would leave. If, therefore, the Eoman Catholic
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 163
party held out a little longer, ' they would soon/ as an
eye-witness described the situation, * have everything
their own way.' Captain Lugard and Captain Williams
found this to be the fact. The former officer in an official
repoi*t ^ gives the following account of the origin of the
outbreak which followed : —
'On January 12th the French bishop, who had gone to
meet a party of French priests, reached Mengo. Though
our mail was supposed to be leaving in a day or two, he
despatched urgent mails vid Usukuma, without waiting
for it. Almost immediately after this date matters be-
gan to assume a critical aspect here. There had been
hitherto every prospect of continued peace, but now
difficulties and quarrels began to spring up daily between
the two parties, and as far as I could judge the trouble in
every instance arose from aggression on the part of the
Catholics. This, with other reasons which I cannot
detail here, induces me to believe that the bishop's party
had brought the news of the announcement in the English
papers of the intended withdrawal from Uganda, and
that they had for some reason used this information in
such a way as to bring on the crisis.' ^
On the 23rd of January, the day before the outbreak, two
incidents illustrated in a striking manner the attitude of
J Blue-Book, Africa No. 8 (1892).
* In a pamphlet {Notes on Uijanda) issued by the Cathohc Usion of
England, the Company's proceedings are very fully and controversially
diBcussed. The above categorical charge is fenced with a polemical
zeal much impaired by a remarkable absence of supporting evidence
(pp. 67-71). The sub-title of the pamphlet advertises its ammw —
'An Analysis of the various Reports, etc., issued on the late war
between the hnjttrial British EcmI Africa Company and the Catholics
of that British dependency.' (London : Waterlow & Sons, 1893. )
i64 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the Company's oflBcers towards the rival parties. Captain
Lugard had written to the French bishop begging him to
use his influence over his followers to preserve peace.
For reply, he received from Monseigneur Hirth a long
list of Roman Catholic grievances, with a letter accusing
him of 'continued and constant partiality to the Pro-
testants/ etc. At the same time strong representations
were made from the other side that he was allowing
the Protestants to be trampled on, despoiled, and even
murdered in the streets.
The trouble of 24th January 1892 was occasioned by
the wanton murder of a Protestant by a Catholic in
Mengo, a murder in regard to which justice was refused
by the king. The attitude of the Roman Catholics since
the arrival of the French priests had been exceptionally
overbearing, and Mwanga, who had been very recently
giving secret audiences to Captain Williams, and express-
ing his anxiety to declare himself a Protestant, assumed
an air of offensive defiance towards the Company's officers
so different from all his previous conduct, that it could
only be due to strong influences working upon his weak
and faithless character. Captain Lugard was insulted
when demanding justice on the murderer. He was then
defied and threatened. The excitement was great and
irrepressible, as were the intrigues that had rendered war
imminent- and unavoidable. Tlie Protestants were com-
paratively few in numbers, and fewer in leaders (an
essential condition of military success in Uganda), and
for their defence, as the weaker party, Captain Lugard
issued to them all the spare guns he had. The French
priests, apparently so confident of the result of the
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 165
approaching battle as to decline the protection offered to
them by Lugard, dwell with special horror upon this
distribution of arms to the weaker party as an outrage
against justice and fair play. The circumstantial charge
against Bishop Hirth of distributing French rifles to the
Roman Catholics in Mengo and on the islands — a charge
supported by the evidence of the king himself and the
principal Eoman Catholic chief, and attested by the
seizure of French rifles concealed in loads of goods
belonging to the priests at the German frontier — is met
by the plea that French arms could have been introduced
into Uganda by traders as well as by priests, and that
Monseigneur Livinhac, the head of the African missions,
confidently declared that French missionaries had never
brought arms into Uganda, and never had arms except
such as were absolutely necessary for the defence of their
travelling caravans. The charge, moreover, remained un-
contradicted by Monseigneur Hirth himself.^
The fight was opened by the Koman Catholics, who
were defeated and forced to retreat, carrying . the king
with them. Monseigneur Hirth and his jmests were
sheltered in the Company's fort and hospitably treated,
and their property protected. Mwanga, whose loyalty
always leaned to the stronger side, and who had already
had ample conviction that the Company's officers were
the best friends of him and his country, was anxious to
return to his capital, where Lugard j^romised to restore
* Notes on Uyandaf pp. 128, 129. But on page 130 Monseigneur
Livinhac admits that the rifles seized by the Cierman authorities had
been imported by the French priests, and the bishop is reduced to the
regrettable necessity of trying to explain or extenuate the awkward
fact.
i66 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
him to all his power and honours. His return was, how-
ever, prevented by Monseigneur Hirth, notwithstanding
that the latter had promised Lugard to do his best to
send Mwanga back; and the Iloman Catholic faction
carried the king with them to Buddu, virtually a prisoner.
The party possessing the * Kabaka ' or king in Uganda
had a decided advantage over any other. The situation
was perplexing, seeing that Mwanga was well aware that
if he broke with his captors, the French priests had two
infant sons of his brother at their station at Bukumbi,
one of whom they could put up as king, while, on the
other hand, an uncle, Mbogo, was the titular king of the
Mohammedan party.
In March the Koman Catholics made overtures to
Captain Lugard for peace, on the basis of a division of
the country. Lugard was willing to treat, but made it a
sim qtcd non that the king should be allowed to return to
his capital — as he was anxious to do — and resume his
royal functions. The Eoman Catholic chiefs who came
to the capital freely admitted to Captain Lugard that
they had been wrong in the war, and threw themselves
on his mercy; and they readily agreed to go back to
Buddu and fetch the king. Accordingly on 30th
March they returned with Mwanga, who had effected
his escape by stealth, and who presented an abject
figure when he appeared before Lugard. But he was
received with honour, and soon afterwards a settle-
ment was concluded with the Eoman Catholics by giving
them the coveted province of Buddu as their separate
place of settlement. The Protestants were not at all
satisfied with the terms granted to their opponents. It
THE COMPANY IN UGANDA 167
transpired that the Eoman Catholics had been led by
the French missionaries to look for assistance from the
Germans in their war upon the Company. The loyal
friendship of the German officers at Bukoba was con-
spicuous on this as on other occasions. Captain Langheld,
the German commandant, informed Captain Williams that
he had received messages from Mwanga and the Koman
Catholic party asking for assistance to fight the Com-
pany, and couched in such terms as to show they had
been led to expect such assistance. Common report in
Uganda had it that the cause of the Catholics rising in
arms was the assurance of German aid given them by the
priests, and Captain Langheld more than hinted that the
French bishop had suggested his active interference in
Uganda against the British officers.^
A settlement was also made with the Mohammedan
party. Three small provinces of Uganda were assigned
to them, and their king, Mbogo, placed himself under the
protection of Captain Lugard, and was honourably treated.
The peace was hailed with exuberant rejoicing in Mengo
by all parties.
On the 30th of March a new treaty was concluded with
Mwanga by Captain Lugard, superseding the previous
one (which had been limited to two years), and was made
binding in perpetuity. Besides provisions for the author-
ity of the Resident and the general administration, the
treaty prohibited import of arms and gunpowder,
rendered registration of arms compulsory, secured freedom
to trade, abolished slave trading and slave raiding, and
1 See Blue Book, Africa No. 2 (1893), p. 91 ; also pp. 43, 44, 45,
46, 53.
i68
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
guaranteed freedom to missionaries.^ The provisions re-
lating to the import of arms, etc., and their registration,
and the suppression of the slave trade, were specially
explained to the Mohammedans, who accepted and
signed the treaty. As an immediate consequence of the
new law a large number of slaves were liberated, and
received freedom certificates. The country at once began
to settle down in peace and contentment after the troubles
and discords of the preceding years, and all the parties,
Christian, Mohammedan, and Heathen, testified their
gratitude to the agency which had brought about
this result.
^ See Appendix No. 10, Uganda Treaty, 1892.
^.
CHAPTER XII
QUESTION OF STATE CO-OPERATION
The British East Africa Company had, up to the end of
1890, carried unaided a burden of national responsibility
to which its subscribed capital was very inadequate.
Partly from patriotism, and partly from the situation in
which it was placed as representing Great Britain in
Eastern Central Africa, successive operations had been
undertaken, and contests carried on with State-supported
rivals, but as yet no recognition came from her Majesty's
Government of an obligation to co-operate with the agency
to which the service of the public interests was assigned.
Nor, on the other hand, had the Directors hitherto sought
what they had so much right to expect. It is true that
the traditions of British colonising energy are incompatible
with dependence on State aid, but the British East Africa
Company was subjected to a special disability under the
application of those traditions, in the omission to take
account of the distinction deriving from its constitution
between the character of the work which it was called
upon to perform, and that of an ordinary colonising agency
restricted to trade and speculative adventure. A wide
area of the East African continent had, by common con-
sent, to be preserved from foreign absorption in order to
1 70 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
ensure freedom to British commerce, and provide a field
of possible colonisation in the futura To secure these
Imperial advantages was the task imposed upon the Com-
pany, without present prospect of material aid from the
State in a work of so much national importance.
Incidentally, however, the Company had ground to
look for Government support in the prosecution of its
enterprise, in consequence of obligations undertaken by
them in another direction. These involved responsibilities
springing from the declarations and decrees of a convention
for the suppression of the slave-trade, which Great Britain
had herself taken the initiative in assembling. A revival
of public interest in this question was created by the pro-
posals put before Europe by Cardinal Lavigerie. By the
operation of the Treaty of 1841 and similar treaties, the
Maritime Powers, and especially Great Britain, were
enabled to greatly check the sea-borne slave traffic; but
the continued existence in some countries of the institu-
tion of domestic slavery kept alive a demand for raw
slaves, to obtain which the most ruthless methods were
resorted to in Africa. The object now aimed at was the
extinction of the slave-trade in Africa itself, and thus
stopping the source of supply for the slave-markets. On
the 17th of September 1888 the Marquis of Salisbury
addressed a despatch to Lord Vivian, the British Ambassa-
dor at Brussels, suggesting that his Majesty the King of
the Belgians should take the initiative in inviting a
Conference of the Powers at Brussels to concert measures
for* the gradual suppression of the slave-trade on the
continent of Africa, and the immediate closing of all the
external markets which it still supplies.' After a sketch
QUESTION OF STA TE CO-OPERA TION 171
of the present state of the sea-borne slave-trade, the
markets supplied by it, and the difficulties encountered in
clearing the seas of the traffic. Lord Salisbury represented
that, while her Majesty's Government would cheerfully
continue ' to bear the burden of further measures to effect
the common object/ they felt that the altered political
conditions of the African seaboard now called for united
action on the part of the Powers responsible for its con-
trol, with a view to closing the foreign slave-markets and
discouraging the internal slave-hunts.
The Conference assembled at Brussels in November
1889, and continued its sittings till July 2nd, 1890, when
a general Act was agreed to, embodying the conclusions of
their deliberations. For the present it will be sufficient
to refer to the formal declarations contained in Article I.
of the Act. The Conference Powers, ' equally animated,'
in the words of the preamble, ' by the firm intention of
putting an end to the crimes and devastations engendered
by the traffic in African slaves, protecting effectively the
aboriginal populations of Africa, and ensuring for that
vast continent the benefits of peace and civilisation,'
declared that the most effective means for counteracting
the slave-trade in the interior of Africa are the follow-
ing:—
1. Progressive organisation of the administrative,
judicial, religious, and military services in the African
territories placed under the sovereignty or protectorate of
civilised nations.
2. The gradual establishment in the interior, by the
Powers to which the territories are subject, of strongly
occupied stations in such a way as to make their protec-
1 72 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
tive or repressive action effectively felt in the territories
devastated by slave-hunting.
3. The construction of roads, and in particular of
railways, connecting the advanced stations with the coast,
and permitting easy access to the inland waters, and to
such of the upper courses of the rivers and streams as are
broken by rapids and cataracts, in view of substituting
economical and rapid means of transport for the present
means of carriage by men.
4. Establishment of steamboats on the inland navi-
gable waters and on the lakes, supported by fortified posts
established on the banks.
5. Establishment of telegraphic lines, ensuring the
communication of the posts and stations with the coast
and with the administrative centres.
6. Organisation of expeditions and flying columns to
keep up the communication of the stations with each
other and with the coast, to support repressive action,
and to ensure the security of high roads.
7. Eestriction of the importation of fire-arms, at least
of modern pattern, and of ammunition, throughout the
entire extent of the territories infected by the slave
trade.
The Powell were authorised by Article iv. to delegate
their engagements under the Act to chartered companies,
while themselves, however, remaining * directly responsible
for the engagements which they contract by the present
Act,' and guaranteeing the execution thereof. Great
Britain had already for many years watched the maritime
slave-traffic with her cruisers at a considerable annual
expense ; but as Lord Salisbury confessed in his despatch
Q UESTION OF S TA TE CO- OPERA TION 1 73
suggesting the conference, the policing of the high seas
and coastal waters had proved but of little efficacy
towards suppressing the slave-trade. The primary object
of the conference was to direct measures of repression and
extinction against the evil at its sources in the interior, by
the adoption of as many of the means enumerated as were
practicable. In the British sphere of influence those
means were as far as possible anticipated by the Company
during the preceding two years at its own expense without
cost to the Government. Her Majesty's Government
seemed willing to delegate indefinitely their future re-
sponsibilities under the Act to the same convenient agency,
and on the same convenient terms.
The Company, however, was not unmindful of the
altered conditions created by the Brussels Act, and of the
obligations thereby devolving upon the Government.
While professing themselves as ready as they had always
been to give effect to these obligations, and animated by
the fullest sympathy with the spirit of the Act, the
Directors were impressed with the substantial manner in
which other European Powers having territorial interests
in Africa were recognising their responsibilities, while
Great Britain alone elected so far to leave the burden of her
national duty on the limited resources of a private cor-
poration formed for other objects. Their appeal in conse-
quence to Lord Salisbury was the first categorical assertion
by the Company of its claim to receive State co-operation,
and was addressed by Sir William JIackinnon on the
17th of December 1890. At first the British East Africa
Company had only a German Company to compete with
in East Africa : but tlie collapse of the latter at the time
I 74 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
of its inauguratioa compelled the intervention of the
German Imperial Government. Large sums were devoted
by this Government to the national purposes involved in
its rehabilitation, existing disturbances were quelled, and
by way of reducing its liabilities and securing its financial
future the Company was enabled to cancel its engage-
ment to pay rent to the Sultan by a scheme of commuta-
tion on very easy terms ; steamers and a telegraph cable
were subsidised, and ample capital provided for the
development of German East Africa. The Italian Govern-
ment proposed to guarantee six per cent, on the capital of
£800,000 of an Italian Company to operate north of the
Juba. Belgium subscribed £400,000 towards the Congo
railway on generous terms, and voted a subsidy of i£80,000
per annum towards the administrative expenses of the
Congo Free State. The Cape Government, and even
Portugal, followed the same course in assisting the deve-
lopment of their territory.
By capitalising the amount of the customs rental
payable to the Sultan under its concession, the German
Company effected a saving of at least £40,000 a year,
the German Government guaranteeing on tlie Company's
behalf a loan of £500,000— £200,000 of which was to be
paid to the Sultan in commutation of customs rent and
the remainder to be applied to the general purposes of
administration. Inasmuch as a provision of the conces-
sion warranted the British East Africa Company in claim-
ing the same treatment in any respect that might be
granted to the German Comi)any, a similar right of com-
mutation would have resulted in a saving of £8000 to
£10,000 a year on the British coast. Her Majesty's
QUESTION OF STA TE CO-OPERA TION 175
Government, however, withheld their assent to the
adoption of such a course for the present, on the ground
that political considerations interfered. The purchase
by Germany of the Sultan's fiscal interest in the coast,
transferred to German sovereignty after the Agree-
ment of first July 1890, was an incident of that trans-
fer of sovereignty and not an independent or separate
transaction in itself. The Government merely enabled
the German Company to reap the advantage of the com-
mutation. Tn respect to the coast administered by the
British Company a similar course would have been
necessary, and there were political objections, at present
paramount, to the placing of the Sultan's dominions under
the administration of British law.
The Company did not now ask her Majesty's Govern-
ment to follow the example of other Powers by the grant
of a subsidy. It was merely pointed out to Lord Salis-
bury that, as a matter not only of convenience but from
the point of view of economy, tlie agency of the Company
oflered the most efifectivc means of fulfilling the obliga-
tions undertaken by the Goverinnent under the Brussels
Act. That Act declared the progressive organisation of
administration in the interior, and the supplanting of
human porterage by better and clieaper means of trans-
port — by railways and steamboats especially — as among
the most effective means of extinguishing the slave-trade.
The Company now pointed out that, without a shilling of
aid from her ]Majesty's Treasury, it had ' already antici-
pated the engagements of the Brussels Conference to a
certain extent by erecting a land telegraph line to connect
the coast towns ; by providing for the construction of
1 76 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
sixty miles of narrow-gauge railway into the interior, in
addition to opening up roads and forming stations along
the route to Lake Victoria ; and further, by providing a
steamer to navigate and patrol the river Tana, and two
vessels for coastal service.' Special attention was also
drawn to the fact that the efforts of the Company had
brought their freedom within the reach of about 4000
slaves, while the average number liberated by the opera-
tions of her Majesty's cruisers did not exceed 200
annually. The continued prosecution of such duties as
those specified, it was added — duties, that is, related to
the performance of national obligations assumed under
the General Act of Brussels — would be impossible ex-
cept under assurance of support from her Majesty's
Government. As the Act attached special importance
to the construction of railways, and the provision of
steamboats on the inland waters, it was suggested that
Government should at least guarantee interest on the
capital necessary for these purposes. For itself, the
Company asked nothing ; it only claimed that the State
should make some contril>ution towards the work which
it had undertaken to do by joining in the Brussels Act.
Sir William Mackinnon in writing to this effect to
Lord Salisbury, while he claiftied for the Company aa
the agent of her Majesty's Government that co-operation
to which under the circumstances it was entitled, and
refrained from suggesting the adoption of the system of
cash subsidies followed bv other Governments, arro<:;ated
on behalf of the British East Africa Company no pre-
tension of sell-sacrifice incompatible with its character
as a joint-stock. unilertnkinL% and the principles which
QUESTION OF STATE CO-OPERATION 177
governed its formation. It was not disputed^that advan-
tages would be derived by the Company from the railway,
in the course of time, but they were advantages which
would accrue to commerce generally and only remotely
to the Company as the legitimate return for its outlay on
development which in the meantime would be amply
earned. It has been pohited out before that the rate of
territorial expansion forced on the Company by foreign
competition, as well as the sacrifices entailed by the
unequal conditions of this competition, was unforeseen by
the founders, and was assuredly not contemplated by the
Directors when the prospectus was issued. The duty,
nevertheless, was found to be indispensable of preparing
the way for a firm and unimpeded administration before
commercial results could be expected, and whereas the
capital subscribed might sufi&ce for the limited scheme
originally contemplated, it could not but prove inadequate
to so extensive an enterprise as the effective occupation
and development of a sphere of influence covering some
750,000 square miles, which was rendered immediate under
the conditions stated instead of being gradually extended as
means and communications permitted. Failure to under-
take the w^ork so enlarged must have led to one of two
results — either the Government would have been obliged
to abandon the East African sphere of influence to other
nations, or to occupy and administer it at the charge of
the State, failing the substitution of some other agency,
which would have to be subsidised to an extent cor-
responding to the interests to be safeguarded.
Such being the situation, the Directors in resolving not
to relinquish the task imposed upon them, in spite of the
M
1 78 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
obvious inadequacy of their resources to its requirements,
were actuated by the conviction that the time was at
hand when Government could no longer hesitate to
assume their share of the responsibilities attending its
prosecution. Accordingly, in urging upon Lord Salis-
bury the policy of guaranteeing a moderate rate of
interest on the caipital required to construct a railway,
Sir William Mackinnon indicated the advantages to be
expected from that measure. It was not intended that
the British East Africa Company should, except through
such facilities as it might be in a position to afiford, take
any part in the construction of the railway, or exercise
any control over it ; the work would be done by an inde-
pendent company. But the development of the trade of
the interior which would be a direct result of the exist-
ence of the railway would necessarily augment the
customs receipts of the ports which the Company ad-
ministered ; while also, the confidence inspired by the
actual co-operation of Government must enable the
chartered company to obtain the subscription of the
additional funds which the enlarged area of its operations
demanded. * With such support,* Sir William Mackinnon
wrote, referring to the guarantee for the railway, *and
with two or three steamers afloat on the Lake for police
purposes, the Company believe slave-raiding would soon
disappear and they would have no difficulty in finding as
much additional capital as may be necessary for the
general purposes of administration, and the development
of an enterprise of national importance, largely advan-
tageous to Imperial interests, and those of the Equatorial
Provinces of Africa.*
QUESTION OF STATE CO-OPERATION 179
Immediately 011 receipt of this letter from Sir William
Mackinnon, the Marquis of Salisbury communicated with
the Treasury on the subject.^ Ileferring to the Anglo-
German Agreement of 1886, reserving a sphere of influ-
ence to Great Britain, Lord Salisbury paid a well-deserved
tribute to the Company which had undertaken the work
of opening up this region, by saying that * it would hardly
be just to describe it as a purely commercial body, for it
is notorious that the majority of, if not all, the subscribers,
are actuated rather by philanthropic motives than by the
expectation of receiving any adequate return for their
outlay/ After mentioning the success which had attended
the British Company's peaceful operations, as contrasted
with those of its German neighbour. Lord Salisbury
pointed out the direct responsibility for the British
sphere now placed upon the Government by the Brussels
Slave Trade Conference. Experience had shown the
failure of ships and coast police to control the traffic in
slaves, and that ' the remedy is that pointed out in the
1st Article, the establishment of interior stations, and the
construction of roads, and especially of railways, which
will provide cheap and safe transport/ There was a
danger that, if Great Britain remained inactive, the
activity of the German Government, employing Imperial
resources in the adjoining sphere, would have the effect
of driving all the slave-tratlic into the British sphere ;
' this/ said Lord Salisbury, * would be a grave scandal,
and, were it to occur, her Majesty's Government could
hardly fail to be reproached for a neglect of the engage-
ments of the Act, and of the duty of a country which has
1 Africa No. 2 (1892).
i8o BRITISH EAST AFRICA
always taken the lead in the suppression of the slave-trade.*
The conclusion come to was that the only mode of action
that would have a practical effect was the construction of
a railway from Mombasa to the Victoria Nyanza.
' It is true/ Lord Salisbury added, ' that in accordance
with the 4th Article the execution of the work ' {i.e, the
work prescribed by the Brussels Act) ' may be intrusted
to a chartered company, and, in the present case, it may
safely be intrusted to the British Company ; but it would
be unreasonable that her Majesty's Government should,
by throwing the whole responsibility on the shoulders of
a few private individuals, claim to have relieved them-
selves of all responsibility/
The Treasury were further reminded of the important
fact that the extinction of the slave-trade at its sources
would in time relieve the nation of the heavy expenditure
involved in maintaining a British squadron on the east
coast for the prevention of the maritime traffic in slaves.
In a subsequent letter to the Treasury stress was laid
upon the special effectiveness and economy of a railway
for the object in view as compared with other expedients.
Weighing these arguments, and the considerations of
economy involved in the eventual saving of £100,000
a year and upwards now spent in the naval preventive
service, the Treasury concurred in the Marquis of Salis-
bury's views, and on the 12th of February 1891 the
follow^ing proposals were communicated to the Company,
with the observation ' that the details of the measure will
require very careful consideration, and that the terms con-
tained in the Memorandum only indicate its leading and
essential provisions.*
Q UESTION OF ST A TE CO- OPERA TION 1 8 1
Government proposed to guarantee interest on a paid-
up capital of £1,250,000, which it was estimated would
be sufficient, with a small addition outside the guarantee,
to build and equip a metre-gauge line to the Victoria
Nyanza. It would not be obligatory that current work-
ing expenses should be paid out of receipts before payment
of the guaranteed interest, and all profits accruing from
the railway after payment of 5 per cent, yearly interest to
the shareholders would have to be equally divided between
her Majesty's Government and the shareholders, until all
payments under the guarantee were recovered with simple
interest at 3 per cent, per annum. The Managing Direc-
tor of the railway was to be nominated by the Govern-
ment, and due securities to be taken for expenditure and
audit, and the proper construction of the line with regard
both to the interests of the shareholders and the public,
and the suppression of the slave-trade.
The strain upon the financial resources of the Company,
occasioned by the continued administration of Uganda,
800 miles from the coast, would have deterred the
Directors from exceeding the paramount necessity to which
they had been committed of establishing the British flag
in that region, and would have led to the return of Captain
Lugard at least as soon as he had succeeded in driving
back the Mohammedan invasion of the country in the
early days of May. The policy now announced by her
Majesty's Government, however, altered the position. It
would be a considerable time, no doubt, before Uganda
and the neighbouring countries could provide returns for
the cost of administering and developing them ; but in the
meantime the position was an important one to hold :
I82
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
withdrawal could hardly fail to influence prejudicially the
interests of Great Britain and the situation of the mis-
sionaries in Uganda, while the co-operation of her
' Majesty's Government in the construction of a railway to
the Lake promised the early realisation of that facility of
communication between the coast and the interior on which
the practicability of maintaining an efifective occupation
entirely depended. The construction of the railway
would necessarily occupy some few years ; but as its
initiation would ensure the acquisition of the additional
capital required for the Company's enlarged sphere of
work, and would thereby certify the prospect of commer-
cial success, they were justified in consequence in main-
taining their hold of the region round the sources of the
Nile at a temporary sacrifice rather than risk the per-
manent advantages to the British nation, the native races,
and the Company itself in the long-run, which seemed
now to be assured through the resolution adopted by her
Majesty's Government.
CHAPTER XIII
THE KAILWAY QUESTION AND UGANDA
On the 23rd of March 1891 the Foreign Office informed
Sir William Mackinnon that the Treasury had intimated
their readiness to settle the details of the grant in aid of
the railway, by direct communication with the British
East Africa Company. Sir William Mackinnon thanked
Lord Salisbury for the ' substantial interest ' which he had
moved her Majesty's Government to take in the pro-
posed railway, ' the construction of which,' Sir William
added, ' is so well calculated to caixy out the intentions
of the Brussels Act, as it must powerfully contribute
towards efifectively supplanting the slave-trade by the
introduction of legitimate commerce and the development
of the resources of East Africa/ The Marquis of Lome
and Sir W. Mackinnon had called at the Treasury as
suggested, and it was stated on the part of the Company
that no time would be lost in further communication
with that department for the purpose of settling the
necessary details.
The Company's appreciation of the action of Lord
Salisbury in recognising in a substantial manner the
responsibility of the Government, was not lessened by the
fact of the inadequacy of the proposed guarantee. It was
i84 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
certain, in the opinion of the most eminent engineers —
Sir John Fowler, Sir Guilford Molesworth, and General
Williams, RE. — that a capital larger than that named by
the Treasury would be required to build and equip the
railway. Still, the principle of Government co-operation
being accepted was a gain of the first importance to the
work of future development in Africa. All who were in-
terested in the deliverance of the native races from
barbarism and slave-hunting, and in the maintenance of
the British name and the promotion of British interests
in the sphere which we had taken under our charge,
were grateful to the Marquis of Salisbury for his action.
It was acknowledged that, until the engagements entered
into at the Brussels Conference witli the full approval of
the nation created a direct obligation which could not be
ignored or deferred by Great Britain, it would have been
very difl&cult, if not impossible, to obtain the sanction of
Parliament to any outlay which even in appearance might
be connected with the interests exclusively of the British
East Africa Company. It certainly was not just that the
Company should have been obliged to spend its capital in
undertakings required rather in the interests of the
nation than in its own ; but, under the circumstances, it
became an unavoidable necessity that the interests of the
Company should on occasions be subordinated to con-
siderations of Imperial policy.
At Glasgow, on the 20th of May 1891, Lord Salisbury
made a speech in which he referred at some length to the
three African Chartered Companies and the work they
were doing. He also made public his own views and
convictions on the subject of the slave-trade ; and the
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 185
declaration was so emphatic and important that the part
of his speech relating to East Africa is here quoted : —
* Well, there is the third company of your countryman,
Sir William Mackinnon, whose enterprise and philan-
thropic determination deserve to be mentioned with
honour in any audience, especially in a Scottish audi-
ence. This company possesses the territory leading
from opposite the island of Pemba, which is north
of Zanzibar, to the great Victoria Nyanza lake, and
possesses the valley of the Nile from that region until it
meets the frontier of Egypt. Of course it will take a long
time to carry out colonisation. It is far more purely
philanthropic than any of the other undertakings. Its
object, I believe, has been to deal a deadly blow at the
slave-trade, the destruction of which has been, along with
our own commercial and material progress, the animating
impulse of English policy in those regions for nearly a
century ; and I think we are — to use a hackneyed phrase
— within measurable distance of the utter destruction of
that hateful traffic. The slave-trade on the sea now only
exists on the eastern coast of Africa and on the shores of
the Red Sea. The Sultan of Zanzibar, under the guidance
of Sir C. Euan-Smith and also Mr. Portal, has taken very
strong measures with respect to slavery in Zanzibar and
Pemba — measures which I think must ensure its dis-
appearance within the lives of most of us who are here
at present. But the place where the caravans still go,
and where it is of great importance that we should stay
them, is the tract which lies between this great Victoria
Nyanza — the size of which I shall bring home to you by
telling you that it occupies about precisely the same area
i86 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
as Scotland — the territory which lies between that lake
and the eastern coast of Africa, between Mombasa, our
new settlement — that territory passing round the base of
Kilimanjaro and across the lands of the Masai — is terri-
tory which does not become remunerative and in which
colonisation cannot spread till you have got some way
into the interior. There is no doubt that the slave cara-
vans across that territory can be destroyed by one method,
and by one method certainly, if that method can be
applied. Sir William Mackinnon is doing his best to lay
a railway from the coast to the Victoria Nyanza. Now,
the peculiarity of a railway, which every one may have
had the opportunity of observing in this country, is that
where it is once laid it kills every other mode of locomo-
tion that formerly held the same ground. After a railway
has existed some time there cannot be — except as a matter
of luxury or caprice — any other kind of locomotion to
compete with it. If a railway could exist from this lake
to the coast, caravans could no more be employed as they
are employed now to carry ivory, the produce of the in-
terior, to the coast or back again, and it is by these cara-
vans that the bodies of slaves are brought along. It costs
two or three hundred times as much to bring goods by
caravans as it would cost to bring them by railway. Of
course, when once a railway existed caravans would be-
come a matter of antiquity, and if no caravans existed
there would be no means of carrying slaves from the in-
terior to the coast, because I do not see that any slave-
dealer who presented himself with a body of slaves to be
carried on trucks to the coast would be very civilly re-
ceived. From a purely Foreign Office point of view I
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 187
take a very deep interest in this railway. But I must tell
you fairly — that is, from a purely Foreign Office point of
view — that Sir William Mackinnon is of opinion that he
cannot construct this railway without Government help,
and I always speak of the Treasury with awe, still more
of the Treasury when it is acting, as in this case it
necessarily must act, under the guidance of and according
to the principles of the House of Commons. Whether
the Treasury will be able consistently with the sound
principle of finance which is always upheld to give Sir
William Mackinnon the assistance which he requires, or
whether it must be deferred to a distant date, I do not
know ; but, whenever that railway can be made, I believe
that the end of the African exportation of the slave will
have been attained at the same time, because it will not
only, as I explained to you, prevent the passage of cara-
vans from the Victoria Nyanza eastward, but it will place
you in command of the valley of the Nile, so that slaves
will not be able to cross thence to the Eed Sea. We have
done something in our time to aid in this abolition of
slavery, to add our stone to the pile which the devotion
and foresight of our ancestors began. The Brussels Con-
ference on the slave-trade will, I believe, be a very great
social and philanthropic event in the history of Europe.
The resolutions which have been come to by the Powers
concerned bind them to certain measures for arresting the
progress of slaves across any European territory of which
they are in possession, and, therefore, under that confer-
ence we are bound to do our utmost to prevent the
passage of slaves across the territory that we have under-
taken. We now spend large sums on ships and boats to
i88 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
arrest this accursed traffic with considerable success, but
also at great cost not only to the Treasury at home but
also to the lives and health of the sailors who under that
sun have to give themselves to that tremendous labour.
If we are able, instead of taking this expensive and
difficult precaution — if we are able to pursue the evil to
its home and kill it at its root, we shall not only have
saved mankind from a fearful curse, but we shall have
spared the Treasury of our own people and the lives of
the gallant sailors who gave themselves to the work.'
Lord Salisbury suggested the possibility that the con-
struction of the railway might ' be deferred to a distant
date,' but no one then took the suggestion more seriously
than the humorous picture of the slave-dealer presenting
himself to the railway officials with a body of slaves to be
booked for the coast. It soon appeared, nevertheless,
that the Treasury felt considerable hesitation as to the
expediency of proposing the necessary measure to the
House of Commons authorising the guarantee. Until
and unless this measure was passed, the Company would
be unable to replace the capital already spent in the
service of the nation, and to supplement it as well for the
retention of Uganda as for the discharge of its enlarged
obligations. Some doubt, as well as difference of opinion,
prevailed on the question of the amount of capital required
for the construction and equipment of the railway, and the
Government eventually came to the conclusion that the
success of their policy might be prejudiced by introducing
a bill to authorise the guarantee, in the absence of an
official survey certifying the practicability of the line and
supplying an estimate of its probable cost.
THE RAILWA V QUESTION AND UGANDA 189
For this reason it was resolved to ask Parliament in
the first instance merely for a small vote to cover the
cost of a preliminary survey. Even this, though a
disappointing compromise, might still have answered the
desired purpose. Unfortunately^ as it happened, the
Government deferred parliamentary action until the
closing days of the session, and then found the proposed
vote barred by the Opposition on the ground of a promise
made by the leader of the House to the effect that no
' contentious ' business would be introduced before proro-
gation. The vote for the railway survey, Sir William
Harcourt, as leader of the Opposition in the absence of
Mr. Gladstone, and with that statesman's concurrence,
declared to be a measure * regarded as in the highest
degree contentious.'
The arrangement as to the survey was based upon an
expenditure for the purpose of £20,000 or £25,000. It
was at first supposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
that about £10,000 would be sufficient, but the repre-
sentations of Sir William Mackinnon, based on a closer
knowledge of the probable cost of such an undertaking,
led to the adoption of the larger estimate. Mr. Goschen
was, however, strongly of opinion that, 'not only from
the House of Commons point of view, but also in fairness '
on account of a common interest, the expense of the
expedition should be partly borne by the Company. The
proposals of the Treasury were, therefore : —
1. That in the event of the expedition costing £25,000,
the Government should bear £20,000, and the Company
£5000.
2. That in the event of the expedition costing £20,000,
I90 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the Government should bear £15,000, and the Company
£5000.
3. The full amount, in the event of the railway
being constructed, to be charged as part of the capital
outlay.
In answer to these proposals, the Treasurj was in-
formed that although the Company did not contemplate
being called upon to find any portion of the money
required for the survey, as it was understood that the
work was undertaken entirely in discharge of the responsi-
bilities of her Majesty's Government in connection with
the Brussels Conference, still, in consideration of the
benefits which must eventually accrue to the Company
from the railway, the terms proposed by the Treasury
were agreed to. In view of the necessity for the vote
being sanctioned during the session of 1891, Sir W.
Mackinnon personally undertook to provide the £5000
should there be any difficulty in the way of the Company
doing so.
On the 17th of July Sir W. Harcourt gave notice of a
question objecting to the presentation of the estimate at
that period of the session, after the declaration of the
First Lord of the Treasury (Mr. W. H. Smith) that no
further contentious business would be introduced. On
the 20th of July, before the question was put, the
Financial and the Permanent Secretaries of the Treasury
had an interview with the late Sir Lewis Pelly, M.P., one
of the Directors of the Company, in anticipation of the
withdrawal of the vote consequent on the attitude of
the Opposition. The Government now suggested as the
easiest way out of the difficulty created by the Opposition
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 191
to the vote, that the Company should advance the money
to carry out the survey, Government pledging themselves
to re-introduce tlie vote and reimburse the Company
before the end of the current financial year. It was
emphatically declared that there was 'no withdrawal or
change of policy on the part of the Government/ and
that the Government might be relied upon to re-introduce
the vote and reimburse the Company. Sir Lewis Pelly
pointed out that the newspapers seemed to give too much
prominence to the Company in connection with the pro-
posed railway, and that 'Government should go upon
their Conference declarations, which amounted for
practical purposes to material pledges, and that they
should base the whole of their railway and other demands
upon their anti-slavery policy, treating the Company as a
mere accident of which they propose to avail themselves.'
In this view Mr. Jackson and Sir Reginald Welby
entirely concurred. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
withdrew the vote that evening on Sir W. Harcourt
declaring in the name of Mr. Gladstone, and the Opposi-
tion, that the measure was regarded by them as ' in the
highest degree contentious'; and after some further
correspondence, the Company accepted the responsibility
of carrying on the survey on the understanding proposed
by the Government.
As regarded this survey, it was apparent that the
prospect of the railway becoming within reasonable time
an accomplished fact, depended largely upon the action
of the Company at the- present juncture. It was only
another instance of the value to the Government of the
agency of the British East Africa Company in carrying
192 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
out their objects. Had the survey been postpoued for
another year, the difl&culty of getting Parliament to
commit itself to the policy which the railway represented
would have been much increased. The pledge upon
which the Company was induced to advance the expenses
of the expedition involved an obligation which the House
of Commons could not repudiate. The survey was there-
fore put in hand under qualified officers, and the Com-
pany did its part in the work with a loyalty which
deserved the more honour because the survey expedition
was a measure which fell far short of the reasonable
expectations raised by the decision of Government to
take action in pursuance of the declarations entered into
at Brussels. Therefore, while the Directors did all that
lay in their power to help forward the policy of the
Government, they were compelled to take cognisance
of the dilatory form now taken by that policy, — even
backed, as it was, by assurances of future action — and
to consider how far they were justified in relying upon
its early realisation. The declaration of the Government
that they were not abandoning the railway policy, and
that the vote for a survey would be re-introduced the
next session, was hardly enough to go upon in inviting
the public to subscribe a further issue of capital for the
purposes of administration and development. Investors
would require more than this to assure them of such
permanent and substantial interest on the part of the
Government in British East Africa as would afiford reason-
able security for the future. A guarantee on the capital of
the railway would have done this; a vote for a survey might
have helped to do it. Neither assurance, however, was
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 193
as yet obtained. So far, indeed, was such an assurance
from existing even in prospective, that an inquiry elicited
from the Treasury the statement that the money to be
expended on the survey, under the arrangement above
described, rested altogether for security upon the contin-
gency of Parliament granting the amount when asked to
do so. It was obvious that money would not have been
subscribed by any persons on the chance of such a grant,
except on terms of interest corresponding to the precarious
iiatm*e of the security.
The Directors of the Company took the risk, which
they could not invite others to share, but at the same
time they felt that their duty prescribed to them a con-
traction of responsibilities in the failure of any immediate
prospect of Government co-operation. At a meeting of
the Court on the 16th of July 1891, after it became known
that the Government had substituted a survey vote for a
guarantee, the Directors passed the following resolution
on a communication from the President of the Company
recommending the reduction of expenditure to a maxinmm
of £40,000 a year :--
' Resolved^ — That to give effect to a policy of retrench-
ment rendered necessary by the financial position of the
Company, all the Company's establishments at Uganda
shall temporarily be withdrawn.
'That for the present Dagoreti shall be the extreme
point of the Company's occupation in the interior.'
This decision was communicated to her Majesty's
Government on the 20th of August,^ with an intimation
that the grounds upon which this resolution was taken
1 Africa No. 1, 1S93.
192 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
out their objects. Had the survey been postponed for
another year, the difficulty of getting Parliament to
commit itself to the policy which the railway represented
would have been much increased. The pledge upon
which the Company was induced to advance the expenses
of the expedition involved an obligation which the House
of Commons could not repudiate. The survey was there-
fore put in hand under qualified officers, and the Com-
pany did its part in the work with a loyalty which
deserved the more honour because the survey expedition
was a measure which fell far short of the reasonable
expectations raised by the decision of Government to
take action in pursuance of the declarations entered into
at Brussels. Therefore, while the Directors did all that
lay in their power to help forward the policy of the
Government, they were compelled to take cognisance
of the dilatory form now taken by that policy, — even
backed, as it was, by assurances of future action — and
to consider how far they were justified in relying upon
its early realisation. The declaration of the Government
that they were not abandoning the railway policy, and
that the vote for a survey would be re-introduced the
next session, was hardly enough to go upon in inviting
the public to subscribe a further issue of capital for the
purposes of administration and development. Investors
would require more than this to assure them of such
permanent and substantial interest on the part of the
Government in British East Africa as would aflford reason-
able security for the future. A guarantee on the capital of
the railway would have done this; a vote for a survey might
have helped to do it. Neither assurance, however, was
THE RAILWAY QUESTION AND UGANDA 193
as yet obtained. So far, indeed, was such an assurance
from existing even in prospective, that an inquiry elicited
from the Treasury the statement that the money to be
expended on the survey, under the arrangement above
described, rested altogether for security upon the contin-
gency of Parliament granting the amount when asked to
do so. It was obvious that money would not have been
subscribed by any persons on the chance of such a grant,
except on terms of interest corresponding to the precarious
nature of the security.
The Directors of the Company took the risk, which
they could not invite others to share, but at the same
time they felt that their duty prescribed to them a con-
traction of responsibilities in the failure of any immediate
prospect of Government co-operation. At a meeting of
the Court on the 16th of July 1891, after it became known
that the Government had substituted a survey vote for a
guarantee, the Directors passed the following resolution
on a communication from the President of the Company
recommending the reduction of expenditure to a maximum
of £40,000 a year :—
' Resolvedy — That to give effect to a policy of retrench-
ment rendered necessary by the financial position of the
Company, all the Company's establishments at Uganda
shall temporarily be withdrawn.
'That for the present Dagoreti shall be the extreme
point of the Company's occupation in the interior.'
This decision was communicated to her Majesty's
Government on the 20th of August,^ with an intimation
that the grounds upon which this resolution was taken
1 Africa No. 1, 1S93.
194 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
would presently be communicated to Government in
detaiL This was done in a letter from the Directors to
Lord Salisbury, dated 4th September, which, as an im-
portant statement of facts, is here appended in full : —
2 Pall Mall East, Ath September 1891.
My Lord, — I have the honour to inform your Lordship
that owing to recent events in Parliament and the delay in
providing the exi)ected guarantee for the construction of the
proposed railway to Lake Victoria, the Court of Directors of
this Company, after mature deliberation, have come to the
conclusion that a further issue of capital should not be
attempted for the present, and as three-fifths of the present
subscribed .capital has already been expended they have no
alternative but to proceed forthwith to limit tlieir operations
to the coast and near interior, and to the holding of such out-
posts as may be required to protect the way to the lake, so
as to reduce current expenditure from its present rate of over
£100,000 a year to a maximum of about £40,000.
* It must not be forgotten that the Company had its rapid
extension forced upon it by the active efforts of its German
neighbours, who apparently aimed at acquiring dominion
over five-sixths of the territories, now happily, through your
Lordship's diplomatic action, recognised as the British sphere
of influence.
* It is well known that the Imperial German Government
have not only given active material and financial support to
the German Company by expending large amounts of public
money for this puri)0.<e, in addition to the grant of a consider-
able subsidy, but they have also made the financial position
of the Company quite secure by very favourable conditions
on which it was enabled to commute the customs rents
payable to the Sultan, w^hile this Company was not only pre-
vented, owing to political exigencies, from effecting a similar
settlement, but failed to obtain the least material help from
her Majesty's Government.
*The Court believe, notwithstanding the manifest dis-
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 195
advantages under which they labour as compared with their
German neighbours, that if her Majesty's Government had
carried through the expected guarantee for tlie construction
of the railway to Lake Victoria, the situation would have
been so ameliorated as to have enabled the Company to pro-
ceed with its work of organising and developing the interior,
as sufficient additional capital would then have been forth-
coming. As matters stand, the present uncalled capital is not
more than is required to enable the Company to tide over the
period necessary for the development of trade and customs
revenue to a point sufficient to provide for the administrative
and other charges within the area assigned to the Company
by the Concession of his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar,
with that of the Witu territory placed under its jurisdiction
by her Majesty's Government, and such outposts in the
interior as are deemed strategically and commercially advan-
tageous.
* In carrying out the policy of retrenchment, which has
become necessary, it is deeply to be regretted that the first
step must be the early withdrawal of Captain Lugard and his
entire force from the distant post of Uganda, the upkeep of
which is estimated at about £30,000 to £40,000 a year,
owing greatly to the excessive cost of, and the want of, any
facilities for transport.
* Orders have gone by mail of 10th August to Mombasa to
send up the necessary supporting caravan to enable Captain
Lugard to withdraw from Uganda, while his instructions
(copy sent to your Lordship under secretary's cover of 2nd
inst) give him discretionary power to effect the withdrawal
in the manner least likely to be hurtful to the general
interests of this country and to the efforts of the Church
Missionary Society, who, it is understood, have recently
decided to largely reinforce their Uganda establishment.
* Captain Lugard has been requested before withdrawing
to get the term of the existing Treaty extended if possible for
a period of years or in perpetuity, and to leave the impres-
sion that the withdrawal is merely temporary.
h
196 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
* The Court of Directors trust it will not be overlooked by
her Majesty's Government that a large proportion of the
capital expenditure of the Company has been spent on
operations which materially clear the way for the discharge
of obligations undertaken by her Majesty's Government for
the suppression of the slave-trade, while up to the present
time not one penny has been spent by the State in these
operations.
* The Company has among otlier things commenced the
construction of a light narrow-gauge railway from Mombasa
towards the interior, and has provided the material for the
completion of 60 miles, although the actual construction is
beyond its present financial power.
*It has pro\'ided steamers for the coast and the river
Tana, and it has ready for slu'pment a steamer specially
built for service on the great lake, but owing to the cost of
transport — at present about £250 per ton (which would be
reduced to £10 or less if a railway were available) — the Com-
pany has not forwarded it. It has also constructed lines of
land telegraph connecting the coast ports with Mombasa, and
fortified posts along 300 miles of the route from the coast
towards the Great Lake.
*The Company has also provided for the administrative
occupation of Uganda, and greatly regrets the financial reasons
which compel it to withdraw from it.
* These operations, although of the greatest possible value
in view of the obligations her Majesty's ^Government have
undertaken under the Brussels Act for the suppression of the
slave-trade and in clearing the way for the opening up of
new markets for British trade, give no early promise of suffi-
cient revenue to the Company to justify the Court in con-
tinuing their operations on the present scale.
*In these circumstances the Court would now earnestly
urge on her Majesty's Government their opinion that if
British East Africa is at any early period to become of real
value to the Empire, the time has come when in one form
or another sufficient encouragement should be given to the
THE RAIL WA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 197
Company to assist it in the important work it has for the past
three or four years endeavoured to carry onwards.
'These operations were specially referred to in a letter
addressed to your Lordship by the Court, dated 17 th
December 1890, a copy of which for ready reference is
attached hereto. — I have the honour to be, my Lord, your
most obedient servant, A. B. Kemball, Director.
The Most Honourable ^^'' ^^^ ^^"''^ 0/ I>ireclor8. '
The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G,
The public announcement of this resolution of the
Directors caused a sensation in the country. As a re-
minder to the u^ion that there was a limit beyond which
private sacrifices in the public interests could not afford
to go, its effect was marked, and the recollection of the
services rendered by the Company elicited frank recogni-
tion, at the same time that the imminence of a national
disaster in Africa which the Company had, unaided,
hitherto prevented, spread a feeling of general uneasi-
ness, and in many quarters of real alarm. A correspon-
dent of evidently reliable authority in the Times of 28th
September 1891, after explaining the manner in which
the competition of Germany and the Imperial interests of
Great Britain had forced the British East Africa Company
to move further and faster than its resources warranted,
pointed out that ' no reproach can therefore be justly cast
upon the Company, because owing to a failure of resources,
consequent on their inability to raise fresh capital in face
of the attitude of the Opposition which discountenances
any schemes for the support of what is after all an Imperial
undertaking, they find themselves compelled to withdraw
from a position which can only be maintained at a great
outlay of capital, and to which there seems to be no
196 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
* The Court of Directors trust it will not be overlooked by
her Majesty's Government that a large proportion of the
capital expenditure of the Company has been spent on
operations which materially clear the way for the discharge
of obligations undertaken by her Majesty's Government for
the suppression of the slave-trade, while up to the present
time not one penny has been spent by the State in these
operations.
* The Company has among oilier things commenced the
construction of a light narrow-gauge railway from Mombasa
towards the interior, and has provided the material for the
completion of 60 miles, although the actual construction is
beyond its present financial power.
*It has provided steamers for the coast and the river
Tana, and it has ready for shipment a steamer specially
built for service on the great lake, but owing to the cost of
transport — at present about X250 per ton (which would be
reduced to £10 or less if a railway were Jivailable) — the Com-
pany has not forwarded it. It has also constructed lines of
land telegraph connecting the coast ports with Mombasa, and
fortified posts along 300 miles of the route from the coast
towards the Great Lake.
*The Company has also provided for the administrative
occupation of Uganda, and greatly regrets the financial reasons
which compel it to withdraw from it.
* These operations, although of the greatest possible value
in view of the obligations her Majesty's ^Government have
undertaken under the Brussels Act for the suppression of the
slave-trade and in clearing the way for the opening up of
new markets for British trade, give no early promise of suffi-
cient revenue to the Company to justify the Court in con-
tinuing their operations on the present scale.
*In these circumstances the Court would now earnestly
urge on her ^lajesty's Government their opinion that if
British East Africa is at any early period to become of real
value to the Empire, the time has come when in one form
or another sufficient encouragement should be given to the
THE RAIL WA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 197
Company to assist it in the important work it has for the past
three or four years endeavoured to carry onwards.
* These operations were specially referred to in a letter
addressed to your Lordship hy the Court, dated 17th
December 1890, a copy of which for ready reference is
attached hereto. — I have the honour to be, my Lord, your
most obedient servant, A. B. Kemball, Director.
The Most Honourable ^^'^ ^^^ ^^"''^ ^/ Dirtciors, '
The Marquis of Saxisbury, K.G,
The public announcement of this resolution of the
Directors caused a sensation in the country. As a re-
minder to the nsttion that there was a limit beyond which
private sacrifices in the public interests could not afford
to go, its effect was marked, and the recollection of the
services rendered by the Company elicited frank recogni-
tion, at the same time that the imminence of a national
disaster in Africa which the Company had, unaided,
hitherto prevented, spread a feeling of general uneasi-
ness, and in many quarters of real alarm. A correspon-
dent of evidently reliable authority in the Twics of 28th
September 1891, after explaining the manner in which
the competition of Germany and the Imperial interests of
Great Britain had forced the British East Africa Company
to move further and faster than its resources warranted,
pointed out that ' no reproach can therefore be justly cast
upon the Company, because owing to a failure of resources,
consequent on their inability to raise fresh capital in face
of the attitude of the Opposition which discountenances
any schemes for the support of what is after all an Imperial
undertaking, they find themselves compelled to withdraw
from a position which can only be maintained at a great
outlay of capital, and to which there seems to be no
198 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
finality. Sir William Mackinnon and his co-directors
have gone to the fullest extent of their power in their
endeavour to supply by private enterprise the support
which men pursuing a similar enterprise in other
countries would certainly have received from their
own Government/ The abandonment of the pledges
made by the Company's representative in Uganda, who
was regarded there as the representative also of the
British nation, would, it was added, produce wide and
irretrievable disaster, not only to the native populations
and the prestige of the British name, but to the mission-
aries and their followers, whose safety had now become
identified with the maintenance of the Company's autho-
rity. The remedy was obvious. Lord Salisbury had
stated it at Glasgow. But a vote for a survey, it was
declared, was merely fencing off the question. * Time is
all-important, and there is ample evidence of eminent
engineers that the line is practicable. There should be
no hesitation then in asking Parliament, not to grant a
vote for a survey merely, but a subsidy for the construc-
tion of a railway.' The Company was forced to withdraw
from Uganda by a necessity arising from the failure of
the Government to contribute tow^ards the occupation of
the interior the support to which the Company, as its
agent, was entitled. Hitherto the Company had made no
profits. Although there had been a steady development
and increase of the customs revenue at the coast ports
under the administration of the Company, almost all this
revenue was payable to the Sultan of Zanzibar under the
concession, and the balance was wholly inadequate to
form any appreciable contribution towards the necessary
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 199
cost of administration, ' All that has been done/ it was
declared, * has been mainly in accordance with, and in
furtherance of, the aims of Imperial policy/
On the same day the first leading article of the Times
contained an important and emphatic expression of opinion
on the situation in British East Africa, from which the
following passages may be quoted : —
'Such a withdrawal would be nothing short of a
national calamity. It would mean not merely the loss
of a great amount of capital already expended, but the
destruction of our influence and prestige throughout
Central Africa, the practical defeat of our anti-slavery
policy, the persecution of the numerous missionaries
labouring in Uganda, and the reconquest by Mohammedan
fanatics of the only African state that has shown a dis-
position to accept Christianity. Whether we desire it or
not, the British East Africa Company, working under a
Eoyal Charter, must be identified for all practical pur-
poses with national policy. Its agents are in the eyes of
all natives the agents of England, and their failure or
retreat would be construed throughout Africa as the
defeat of British policy. Not only so, but in the present
critical condition of German enterprise any signs of
weakness on our part would be a fatal blow to all the
civilising influences which we hope to exert upon
Africa. The whole slave-trade interest is fully aware
that the matter is for it an affair of life or death. If the
British East Africa Company can hold its ground in
Uganda, the slave-trade organisation, powerful and
widely ramified as it is, will be surely broken up.
In the contrary case, it will establish itself more firmly
198 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
finality. Sir William Mackinnon and his co-directors
have gone to the fullest extent of their power in their
endeavour to supply by private enterprise the support
which men pursuing a similar enterprise in other
countries would certainly have received from their
own Government/ The abandonment of the pledges
made by the Company's representative in Uganda, who
was regarded there as the representative also of the
British nation, would, it was added, produce wide and
irretrievable disaster, not only to the native populations
and the prestige of the British name, but to the mission-
aries and their followers, whose safety had now become
identified with the maintenance of the Company's autho-
rity. The remedy was obvious. Lord Salisbury had
stated it at Glasgow. But a vote for a survey, it was
declared, was merely fencing off the question. * Time is
all-important, and there is ample evidence of eminent
engineers that the line is practicable. There should be
no hesitation then in asking Parliament, not to grant a
vote for a survey merely, but a subsidy for the construc-
tion of a railway.' The Company was forced to withdraw
from Uganda by a necessity arising from the failure of
the Government to contribute towards the occupation of
the interior the support to which the Company, as its
agent, was entitled. Hitherto the Company had made no
profits. Although there had been a steady development
and increase of the customs revenue at the coast ports
under the administration of the Company, almost all this
revenue was payable to the Sultan of Zanzibar under the
concession, and the balance was wholly inadequate to
form any appreciable contribution towards the necessary
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 199
cost of administration. ' All that has been done/ it was
declared, * has been mainly in accordance with, and in
fui'therance of, the aims of Imperial policy/
On the same day the first leading article of the Tvnus
contained an important and emphatic expression of opinion
on the situation in British East Africa, from which the
following passages may be quoted : —
'Such a withdrawal would be nothing short of a
national calamity. It would mean not merely the loss
of a great amount of capital already expended, but the
destruction of our influence and prestige throughout
Central Africa, the practical defeat of our anti-slavery
policy, the persecution of the numerous missionaries
labouring in Uganda, and the reconquest by Mohammedan
fanatics of the only African state that has shown a dis-
position to accept Christianity. Whether we desire it or
not, the British East Africa Company, working under a
Royal Charter, must be identified for all practical pur-
poses with national policy. Its agents are in the eyes of
all natives the agents of England, and their failure or
retreat would be construed throughout Africa as the
defeat of British policy. Not only so, but in the present
critical condition of German enterprise any signs of
weakness on our part would be a fatal blow to all the
civilising influences which we hope to exert upon
Africa. The whole slave-trade interest is fully aware
that the matter is for it an affair of life or death. If the
British East Africa Company can hold its ground in
Uganda, the slave-trade organisation, powerful and
widely ramified as it is, will be surely broken up.
In the contrary case, it will establish itself more firmly
200 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
and defiantly than ever. It is the merest delusion to
suppose that it can be put down by cruisers in the Eed
Sea. All they can do is to hamper or possibly stop the
export trade by sea, but slave-dealing would still fill
Africa with cruelties. Nothing can cope with the mis-
chief except the steady opening up of the continent and
the establishment of a civilised police capable of bringing
offenders to justice and offering protection to the weak.
We cannot now come away and leave things as they
were. Our choice is practically between pushing forward
the civilising work we have begun, and handing over all
who have trusted us to a worse fate than would have
been theirs had we never penetrated to Uganda at all.
Not only is there a large body of converts divided into
opposing camps and identified more or less with native
chiefs and native quarrels, who retain so much of the old
Adam that only the tact and firmness of Captain Lugard
has hindered them from flying at one another's throats.
Besides the animosities engendered by novel ideas and
influences among the partially civilised, there is the
furious hatred aroused in the neighbouring Mohammedan
populations. The same stufif with which the Mahdi
invaded Egypt is available in any quantity for a
fanatical onslaught upon all who have departed in any
degree from the religion or customs of their fathers. It
is plain, therefore, that, having put our hand to the
plough, if only through the agency of a chartered com-
pany, we are bound in honour not to turn back. We are
not less bound in policy, since our hopes of new markets
for our wares and employment for our workmen depend
upon holding our ground in Uganda.
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 201
* What the British East Africa Company needs to keep
it going is the construction of a railway from Mombasa to
the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. Such a railway would
at once open up an enormous district around the Great
Lake, furnishing a solid base of operations from which
trade and civilisation would rapidly permeate Central
Africa. The Company, with its resources exhausted by
the forced action we have described, is not in a position
to construct this indispensable line, and the question is
whether, in view of the great issues depending on its
construction, the Government ought not to afford sub-
stantial assistance. It is not, after all, a very serious
matter to build four or five hundred miles of railway
over land that costs nothing. Capital would be forth-
coming in abundance were the Government merely to
guarantee a moderate dividend, although without such a
guarantee it will not be forthcoming, partly for want of
financial inducement and partly for want of political
security. The Government guarantee would not only
bring out capital for the railway ; but by convincing
people that the Company must and will be supported,
it would attract capital for the development of the in-
terior. There are plenty of precedents in India and in
the Colonies for action of this kind, as well as plenty of
^ evidence that these guaranteed lines, when judiciously and
economically constructed, very soon relieve the Govern-
ment of its liability. Lord Salisbury has plainly inti-
mated his belief that this is a case for Government
assistance both on commercial and political grounds. A
proposal was brought forward last session which, though
dealing only with the question of survey, would practically
202 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
have solved the difl&culty by committing the Government
to the principle oT assisted construction. But Sir William
Harcourt, without saying anything upon the merits, de-
stroyed that proposal by declining to let it pass as non-
contentious matter. On grounds of public policy his
action is to be regretted, and we are disposed to think
it rather shortsighted partisan tactics. If he and his
friends are as certain as they pretend to think themselves
of speedily obtaining control of national policy they will
find the breakdown of the British East Africa Company a
somewhat troublesome subject to deal with. They cannot
throw the blame upon the present Government, and they
will find it diflBcult to exonerate themselves. They may,
therefore, find it expedient as well as patriotic to with-
draw their opposition.'
The orders to Captain Lugard to retire from Uganda
were despatched on the 10th of August 1891. That
officer was instructed to withdraw all his force as soon as
practicable to the coast, leaving outposts at Machakos
and Dagoreti to hold the road to the lake. The friends
of the Protestant Missions, however, alarmed for the
safety of the missionaries and their followers after the
departure of the Company's forces, approached the Direc-
tors with a proposal to provide the estimated cost of
maintaining the Company's occupation of Uganda for
another year. The amount required was £40,000, and
the hope was that before the end of the year a more
favourable turn of events might render the Company's
withdrawal unnecessary. The Directors were much in
sympathy with the proposal, although tlie interests of the
Company called for immediate evacuation. Without
THE RAILWAY QUESTION AND UGANDA 203
departing from their resolution to withdraw from the
lake regions, they agreed on the conditions named to
postpone the retirement until the 31st of December 1892,
and upon £26,000 of the fund being subscribed, the
orders already on their way to Captain Lugard were
cancelled. On informing the Foreign Office of the course
now adopted, the Directors were acquainted, in reply,
with 'the satisfaction with which Lord Salisbury has
heard of the liberal contributions that have been made
for this important object/
On the 17th of May 1892 the President of the Com-
pany wrote to the Foreign Office referring to the resolu-
tion of withdrawal passed in the previous July, and to
the circumstances which caused the Directors to defer its
execution till the end of the year 1892. Her Majesty's
Government were informed that, in order to allow suffi-
cient time for their due execution on the date named,
instructions had now been sent to make arrangements
for the complete evacuation of Uganda on 31st December
by all the Company's employees.* On the 26th of May
Lord Salisbury acknowledged this notification without
comment. Tlie situation thus created remained un-
changed until the following September. A new Ministry
had come into oflice consequent on the elections, and
they immediately became reminded of the fact that a
situation would arise in Uganda on the 1st of January
which it was necessary to consider at once. The warm
opposition which the leading members of the new
Government had offered to the Eailway Survey Vote in
^ See Appendix No. 11, Correspondence rdat'mg to Compani/n with-
drawcd from Uganda.
204 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
March did not make their present responsibility the more
agreeable. Moreover, a vigorous and general expression
of public opinion throughout Great Britain in favour of
the retention of Uganda rendered the adoption by the
Ministers of the policy they were believed to favour
difficult, if not impossible. Complaints that they were
called upon to decide in relation to a situation which
they had not created, were inefifectual to relieve the
Government of their responsibility. In accepting oflSce
they knew that this question was before them, and must
be held to have made some preparation for dealing with
it. The Company had no active interest in the matter,
as it had long before come to its decision and given the
necessary orders. But if the Government were to do
anything at all in view of the evacuation on the 1st of
January — and the country was singularly unanimous in
demanding that they should do something — a few days
only now remained to them. Three months would be
required in order to carry orders to Uganda, and at the
end of three mouths the Company's officials would cer-
tainly march out.
Considerable pressure was applied to the Company to
induce it to come to the relief of the Government by con-
tinuing for some time longer the responsibilities which
it had hitherto submitted to in the interior.^ But the
Company was painfully conscious of the nature of such
appeals, wliich pointed to the thankless exhaustion of their
capital, and with its past experience, and the warning of
recent opposition to guide it, was in no mood to do any-
thing so heroic. At length, on the 30th September, the
* See TimtH leading articles, September 28 and October 1, 1892.
THE RAILWA Y QUESTION AND UGANDA 205
decision of the Government was announced It took the
Directors considerably by surprise, until its meaning was
revealed through its form. The principle of withdrawal
was accepted, as it had been by Lord Salisbury ; but in
order to obviate the assumed danger liable to arise from
immediate evacuation, the Government were prepared to
bear the cost of continued occupation by the Company's
force until the 31st of March 1893, — reserving to them-
selves ' absolute freedom of action in regard to any future
measures consequent upon the evacuation/ The decision
was made public through the press, and was only at the
same time communicated to the Directors, and there was
a general agreement of opinion as to the meaning of the
proposal.
The Directors, however, considering all the circum-
stances, decided to accept the proposal, which they had
certainly not invited. The following minute of a special
meeting, called to consider the communication of the
Government on the 3rd of October, explains the considera-
tions by which the Directors were influenced : —
'After full consideration of the foregoing letter it was
the opinion of the Board that no ground existed for
apprehending such dangers from evacuation as her
Majesty's Government proposed to provide against by a
postponement of the withdrawal till 31st March 1893;
and that the question was therefore not one of extend-
ing pecuniary aid to the Company for a purpose already
long predetermined, but one of promoting permanently
National and Imperial interests falling exclusively within
the province of State policy.
' It was resolved, however, in view of the importance
2o6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
of the national interests concerned, to accept the proposi-
tion of her Majesty's Government in respect of postpon-
ing the impending evacuation of Uganda on the terms
and for the period prescribed, in the hope that the pro-
visional arrangement thus assented to may in the issue
bear fruit conducive to the cause of humanity and to the
public advantage.'
A letter was accordingly despatched to the Foreign
OflSce in the foregoing sense, and orders were at once
telegraphed to the Company's Administrator at Mombasa.
On the 10th of December her Majesty's Government
issued instructions to Sir Gerald Portal, the British
Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar, to proceed as a
Special Commissioner to Uganda * to frame a Report, as
expeditiously as may be, on the best means of dealing
with the country, whether through Zanzibar or other-
wise.' Sir Gerald Portal was granted wide discretion to
meet 'with firmness and caution every occasion that may
arise ' ; and the Company placed all its resources at his
disposal in so far as he might find them calculated to
facilitate his expedition. Sir Gerald Portal left the coast
on the 1st January 1893.
CHAPTEE XIV
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY
Amid the continual and onerous political preoccupations
incidental to the Company's position as the agent of the
British nation charged with the national interests in
Eastern and Central Equatorial Africa, a considerable por-
tion of its time and resources, as before pointed out, was
unavoidably diverted from the primary objects originally
had in view. Tliese, however, were by no means suffered
to be neglected or postponed in the undue absorption of
external concerns, and tlie work of opening up and de-
veloping the teiTitory was vigorously prosecuted.
That portion of Eastern Africa then reserved,and the more
extended area afterwards acquired, for British influence,
was at the date of the Company's formation an almost
entirely unknown region beyond the coast-line. While
the southern sphere, assigned to Germany, had for many
years been frequently traversed by trade caravans, ex-
plorers, and missionaries, and had therefore become
comparatively familiar ground, the countries north of
Kilimanjaro were, in the year 1888, practically a ter7u
incognita, the only European who had succeeded in pene-
trating to the Victoria Nyanza being Mr. Joseph Thomson,
in his rapid and necessarily superficial expedition through
2o8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Masailand. What was known of the rest of the region was
the result of conjecture or of native reports gathered by
missionaries. It became, therefore, the first duty of the
Company to open up this unknown region to commerce
and civilisation by explorations, directed not to purposes
of scientific observation but to the attainment of such
knowledge of the geography and resources of the country,
and to the cultivation of such relations of friendship and
confidence with the natives, as would ensure the general
results at which the Company primarily aimed. Im-
mediately on the arrival of the administrative staff at
Mombasa in the latter part of 1888, preparations were
commenced for the despatch of the first of the Company's
expeditions, which was soon on its way to the lake dis-
trict. This caravan, some 700 strong, was under the
leadership of Mr. F. J. Jackson, and was organised to
such dimensions in view of the risks of passing through
the country of the Masai, whose fierce and lawless char-
acter needed no exaggeration to impress travellers with
due caution. Mr. Jackson's party, which has already been
mentioned, deviated from the native trading route at
Lake Naivasha, and reached the Victoria Nyanza by way
of Sotik and Lumbwa. Before proceeding to Uganda Mr.
Jackson explored the country north of Mount Elgon.
He had entered, on behalf of the Company, into treaty
relations with the principal chiefs and tribes along his route,
and had established the important station of Machakos,
some 250 miles from the coast, on the frontier of the fertile
and populous Kikuyu country, and about midway on the
route between the coast and Uganda.
On Mr. Jackson's return in the autumn of 1890 Captain
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 209
Lugard was starting on his mission to Uganda. Prior to
accepting this duty Captain Lugard had spent several
months in clearing a trade route along the Sabaki river
to the interior, which he protected at intervals with
stockaded stations. Before finally departing for Uganda
the last of these stations was established at an important
point in Kikuyu (Dagoreti), about forty miles further
from the coast than Machakos. The expedition of Captain
Lugard, including his operations in Uganda and the coun-
tries lying towards the Albert Nyanza, was entirely a
political necessity imposed upon the Company by the
circumstances of the time, and formed no part of its
inaugural programme. But the results were none the less
valuable, in an Imperial sense, though the cost has fallen
upon the Company. Another expedition which deserves
special record was that of Mr. J. R W. Piggot up the
Tana river, where he made treaties with the chiefs and
established a station at the head of the navigation, a point
about 250 miles from the coast. A third caravan callinsr
for particular mention was that of Major Eric Smith,
which, in the month of December 1890, was sent to the
Victoria Nyanza to explore the most practicable route by
which that water was accessible from the coast by a rail-
way. The results of the expeditions of the Company
under Mr. Jackson, Captain Lugard, and Major Smith,
were of the greatest value to the survey party despatched
by the Government to report upon the route for a railway.
As Sir W. Mackinnon stated in his speech at the share-
holders' meeting on 18th May 1892: 'The result has
been, that almost every mile of the country between
Mombasa and the lake is now so well known from the
o
3 lo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
frequent explorations of the Company's caravans that,
before the officers charged by her Majesty's Government
with the preliminary survey left England, we were able
to supply them with information which has so facilitated
their >vork, that in the space of little more than three
months they were able to report having completed their
survey for a distance of 400 miles from the coast on to
within 100 to 130 miles of the Victoria Nyanza.' Other
caravans of less relative importance but indispensable to
the duties imposed on the Company by its own work and
that of her ^Injesty's Government, traversed various parts
of the country, with the result that in two or three years
a familiar knowledge was obtained of great part of the
extensive British sphere, and friendly relations established
with the natives. Owing to the nature of these caravans,
employing large numbers of men for transport purposes,
their cost was very heavy ; and under this head alone
the expenditure of the Company, mostly incurred in the
interests of the Empire, has amounted to not less than
j£l 50,000. A list of 92 treaties obtained in these expedi-
tions, and approved by the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affiiirs, testifies to the extent to which the instrumentality
of the Company's caravans was successful in enlarging the
sovereignty of the British flag.^
While the interior w^as being opened by these means,
preparations were carried on at the coast for that expan-
sion of commerce which was aimed at through the develop-
pient of the resources of the country. At Mombasa,
buildings, harbour works, and general improvements began
^ The reports of the exploring officers and the results of their several
expeditions were in nil cases communicated to the Foreigr OflSce.
DE VELOPMENT OF TERRITOR Y 211
soon to attract a new commercial population, and among
the earliest results of the Company's administration were
tlie erection of new houses by the British Indian mer-
chants and a general rise in the value of property.
Barges and steam-launches, as well as piers and cranes,
buoys and beacons, were provided for harbour service ; a
new steamer was purchased for coastal traffic, with the
view of supplying facilities for commerce and general
communication between the several coast ports hitherto
dependent on dhows. A second steamer was put on the
same service, and a sternwheeler was built for river navi-
gation. This vessel, under command of Commander Dun-
das, RN., successfully navigated the Tana to a point about
300 miles from its mouth. The party 'proceeded overland
from that point to Mount Kenia, with interesting and
valuable results, and on returning, Mr. Hobley, a geolo-
gist, explored the hitherto unvisited district of Ukamba
between the Tana and Machakos, and discovered a country
eminently suited for development. From the Tana, the
character of which as a navigable waterway it was the
object of the expedition to ascertain authoritatively, the
sternwheel steamer Kenia was transferred to the Juba,
which river she ascended under the same officer to Bardera,
and where she is now employed in trading trips with very
good prospects of success. The expenditure on steamers,
launches, lighters, etc., amounted to £33,000, and on lands,
buildings, and harbour works to £34,000.
Carping criticism has been encouraged for the express
object of depreciating the Company's work, by insinuat-
ing the waste of resources involved in these experitnental
efforts by river and land, as if, in exploring a wild and quite
2 1 2 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
unknown country, the knowledge so acquired furnished a
just criterion of the measures adopted for the purpose or
of the intrinsic value of the work. Such criticism loses
eight of the important fact that the work of introducing
new conditions in an unknown and barbarous region
must, initially, be almost entirely a work of preparation,
and preparation is not necessarily waste.
The entire absence of all public security, and the want
of means of communication and transport requisite for
the purposes of commercial intercourse, were drawbacks
which the Company at an early stage directed its efforts
to remedy. The first was removed by the confidence
inspired, not alone along the coast zone, but among the
tribes of the interior, by the justice and protection
afforded them by the new administration, so that in the
course of less than two years the coast was freely visited
by natives who had never ventured to do so before, and
women and children were not afraid to travel alone to
distances from their homes where, under the old state of
things, they were in hourly danger of being kidnapped
and sold into slavery. In this way the coast markets
became accessible to the native cultivators in the interior
who had surplus produce to sell, and who were thereby
stimulated to raise more, as well as to collect the valuable
products of their forests. Without better facilities of
communication and transport, however, the development
of the country could not be carried far. In the coast
region, animal transport is little used, the chief reason
being the absence of roads suitable to wheeled vehicles,
which are therefore unknown in the country. In the
interior considerable progress has been made in this
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY ' Z13
particular. As the consequence of such a state of things
the system of human porterage necessarily continues to
prevail — a system not only prohibitive of almost all
commerce on account of its cost, but the responsible
cause of the slave-traffic in those regions. The extension
of the Company's territory proceeded, from causes which
need not be repeated, much faster than it was possible
to provide permanent communications; but the earliest
efiforts of the administration were directed to the pro-
vision of roads to the inland districts adapted to wheeled
traffic. Experiments at great cost were also made with
transport animals, such as bullocks, camels, and donkeys,
and the last named, which can be obtained of excellent
quality and at moderate prices in the Kikuyu and Masai
countries, promise to turn out with care a very valuable
factor in the development of the interior. Carts with
trained bullocks were imported from India; but these
experiments were in a measure impaired by the epidemic
which in 1890-91 prevailed with such deadly efifect
throughout the territory.
But the idea of a railway to the Victoria Nyanza was
associated with the earliest conception of the Company,
as Lord Granville mentioned in the despatch referred to
in the first chapter of this narrative. Nothing but a
railway could efifect the object in view, which was the
development of legitimate trade and, concurrently, the
extinction of the slave-traffic. A light surface line would
be sufficient for a time, and in two years enough informa-
tion was obtained regarding the character of the country
to be traversed by it, to show to a demonstration the
entire practicability of constructing such a line to the
214 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Victoria Nyanza. The work, however, was one altogether
beyond the scope of unaided private enterprise. Never-
theless, the Directors of the British East Africa Company
resolved, in view of the interests committed to their
charge, not to jeopardise the future prosperity of their
ports and the potential value to Great Britain of her
sphere of influence, by leaving the initiation of a work
of pressing importance dependent on the slow motions of
Conferences and Governments. In the assurance that
her Majesty's Government would promptly lend their
co-operation in pursuance of their anti-slavery engage-
ments, and that the sooner the work was inaugurated
the surer would be the prospects for British trade in
those regions which it was desired to connect by railway
with the British coast-line, the Company assumed the
responsibility of initiating the undertaking to a limited
extent. Materials and rolling stock were sent out
sufficient for the construction and working equipment of
a section of 65 miles, and under the superintendence of
competent engineers the line was commenced from the
inner harbour of Mombasa. Native labour was efficiently
supplemented by a gang of Indian coolies specially
imported for the purpose. By this means, when the
expected Kailway Company was formed, it would have
found its work actually commenced and advanced to an
appreciable stage, and the organisation and material for
prosecuting it provided ready to its hands. The object
of the British East Africa Company was to anticipate the
initial delay incidental to every new undertaking, and
thus expedite the work which was not less urgent than
important. Lord Salisbury declared at Glasgow that.
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 21 J
from a Foreign Office point of view, lie took a great
interest in this railway, as the only effective means of
putting an end to the accursed slave-trade ; * but it would
be unreasonable,' as he urged to the Treasury when re-
commending the grant of a subsidy, ' that her Majesty's
Government should, by throwing the whole responsibility
on the shoulders of a few private individuals, claim to
have relieved themselves of all responsibility/
The unfortunate hesitation of the Government to act
up to the courage of their convictions and introduce the
Guarantee Bill in the session of 1891, and their postpone-
ment even of the Survey Vote to the following year out
of deference to the attitude of the Opposition, made it
clear to the Directors that it would be imprudent to
commit the funds of the Company to further railway
work. The line was well commenced, and actually con-
structed and equipped for a distance of eight miles;
materials and equipment were on the ground for more
than fifty additional miles, and although the line as pro-
jected was found to be of too light construction to be
permanent, yet the works were adapted to the require-
ments of a wider gauge at any future time, and the
materials would be valuable in any subsequent railway
works undertaken. It was more than enough to
prove the deep and pressing interest of the Directors in
the work, and to leave it^ further prosecution a matter
relieved from all the preliminary difficulties of such an
undertaking. The confidence of the Directors in the
entire practicability of a railroad from Mombasa to
Victoria Nyanza was as amply confirmed by the results
of the official survey afterwards made, as the reluctance
^i6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
of the Treasury to act upon that confidence was dis-
credited. The Company had cleared the way for the
survey ofl&cers, and the route adopted was almost exactly
that which had been indicated by the Directors before
the survey was made. A line of larger gauge and more
permanent construction than that originally contemplated
was recommended by the survey ; and it now remains
for Government and Parliament to choose between the
redemption of the nation's pledges and their abandon-
ment, or, to come to lower and more practical ground,
between the comparative advantages of effectively stamp-
ing out the slave-trade and opening a vast new field to
British commerce, and of maintaining, at more than
double the expense, a naval service which, from the very
nature of the case, cannot touch the source of the evil
and can do comparatively little to check it. None can
reproach the British East Africa Company with want of
initiative in this essential matter, when, relying in the
near future upon the co-operation of Government, it risked
£50,000 of its capital in starting a work of such great
importance to the national honour and interests.
Another work of great administrative and commercial
importance was the connection of Mombasa with the
ports to the northward as far as Lamu by a line of land
telegraph with telephonic instruments attached. This
line, after following the coast to Melindi, a distance of
about 80 miles, deflects inland to Golbanti (on the lower
Tana) and Witu, its whole length from Mombasa to
Lamu being about 200 miles. The value of this line has
already been so greatly appreciated that its extension to
KisHia) u, and to certain stations in the interior, must
DE VELOPMENT OF TERRITOR Y 217
follow at an early date. The liue has cost the Company
£10,000, and it may be added here that, pending its
extension to the interior and the construction of a rail-
way, regular postal communication is provided as far as
Kikuyu (350 miles) by a fortnightly service of mail
runners, in connection with less regular despatches to
and from Uganda.
The vast uplands of the interior present advantages of
soil and climate, calculated, when railway communication
is provided to the coast, not merely to invite but to
attract European enterprise and even colonisation, as
suggested by Bishop Tucker and other competent authori-
ties. Meanwhile the lands nearer to the coast claim more
immediate attention by reason of their accessibility. To
obtain authoritative information as to the value of those
coastal lands, the Directors sent out a gentleman of large
experience and high qualifications as an expert in tropical
agriculture, to examine and report upon the character
and capabilities of the districts along the coast. Several
long and interesting reports have been received from this
gentleman bearing emphatic testimony to the general
fertility of the soil and its suitability for the production
of many of the most commercially valuable tropical
products, such as cotton, indigo, cocoa-nuts, cereals of
various kinds, oil seeds, ground nuts, tobacco. Large
quantities of india-rubber and gum copal are found to be
easily obtainable. The climate and soil are so favourable
to native Indians that the Directors have contemplated
from the first the colonisation of the vast unoccupied
areas adjacent to the coast with British Indian families
of the agricultural class. The prosperity of these would
2i8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
be assured where so many of their countrymen have for
years been settled as successful traders, and where con-
genial conditions of soil, climate, and government exist ;
while the relief which so eligible an outlet would afford
for the surplus population of India hardly needs to be
referred to. But in this, as in other matters affecting
national interests as much as those of the Company, the
Directors have been met by the same unsympathetic
disinclination on the part of Government authorities to
lend any co-operation. The Government of India have
not up to the present extended the Indian Emigration Act
to the territory administered by the Company. The
consequence is that no encouragement has been afforded
to open this field to Indian agriculturists, many of whom
could advantageously settle there, where extensive and
fertile lands are lying uncultivated close to the British
East African sea-ports.
In addition to the valuable agricultural investigations
and reports of Mr. W. W. A. Fitzgerald, the gentleman
above alluded to, extensive geological examinations of the
country were carried out by Messrs. Hobley, Walcot
Gibson and Macallister from the coast to Mount Eenia
and Uganda.
Such cultivation as is at present carried on is retarded
by the want of effective labour. With a view to promote
the substitution of free for slave labour, necessitated by
the number of slaves liberated, and by the impending
total abolition of domestic slavery in the Sultan's territory
on the mainland, inducements have been held out by the
Company to resident tribesmen to hire themselves for
daily wages, wuth results on the whole satisfactory, on
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 219
plantations worked by the local administration. The
usual obstacles have been encountered from the apathy
and ingrained habits of idleness characteristic of negro
races in a state of barbarism, but the experiment has
been so far successful as to reconcile Arab slave-owners to
the consequences of the change now rendered progressively
inevitable. The result aimed at would no doubt be
accelerated by the admixture of an Indian agricultural
population expert in improved methods of cultivation
and in the use of labour-saving appliances, as well as
socially raised above the level of the African.
What the Company has accomplished, in a cause which
appeals so powerfully to British sympathies, is to be
estimated not only by the extent to which freedom has
actually been given to slaves, but by the much more
important effect it has had in discrediting the institution,
not only as existing in the form of vested interests,
created and sanctioned by the law of the country on the
coast zone, but as prevalent under more fatal conditions,
though in varied degrees of oppressiveness, throughout
the more or less primitive and uncivilised tribes and
communities of the interior. At the coast and on the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba the eradication of the
evil must necessarily be gradual as the result of inani-
tion produced by general restrictive acts of authority.
These should be directed to stop the supply, but could
not legally be extended retrospectively to the uncondi-
tional emancipation of existing slaves in the Sultan's
dominions.!
^ In 1S73 Sir John Kirk extracted a Decree from the Sultan of
Zanzibar declaring illegal the further export of slaves from the main-
2i8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
be assured where so many of their countrymen have for
years been settled as successful traders, and where con-
genial conditions of soil, climate, and government exist ;
while the relief which so eligible an outlet would aflford
for the surplus population of India hardly needs to be
refeiTed to. But in this, as in other matters aflTecting
national interests as much as those of the Company, the
Directors have been met by the same unsympathetic
disinclination on the part of Government authorities to
lend any co-operation. The Government of India have
not up to the present extended the Indian Emigration Act
to the territory administered by the Company. The
consequence is that no encouragement has been afforded
to open this field to Indian agriculturists, many of whom
could advantageously settle there, where extensive and
fertile lands are lying uncultivated close to the British
East African sea-ports.
In addition to the valuable agricultural investigations
and reports of Mr. W. W. A. Fitzgerald, the gentleman
above alluded to, extensive geological examinations of the
country were carried out by Messrs. Hobley, Walcot
Gibson and Macallister from the coast to Mount Kenia
and Uganda.
Such cultivation as is at present carried on is retarded
by the want of effective labour. With a view to promote
the substitution of free for slave labour, necessitated by
the number of slaves liberated, and by the impending
total abolition of domestic slavery in the Sultan's territory
on the mainland, inducements have been held out by the
Company to resident tribesmen to hire themselves for
daily wages, with results on the whole satisfactory, on
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 219
plantations worked by the local administration. The
usual obstacles have been encountered from the apathy
and ingrained habits of idleness characteristic of negro
races in a state of barbarism, but the experiment has
been so far successful as to reconcile Arab slave-owners to
the consequences of the change now rendered progressively
inevitable. The result aimed at would no doubt be
accelerated by the admixture of an Indian agricultural
population expert in improved methods of cultivation
and in the use of labour-saving appliances, as well as
socially raised above the level of the African.
What the Company has accomplished, in a cause which
appeals so powerfully to British sympathies, is to be
estimated not only by the extent to which freedom has
actually been given to slaves, but by the much more
important effect it has had in discrediting the institution,
not only as existing in the form of vested interests,
created and sanctioned by the law of the country on the
coast zone, but as prevalent under more fatal conditions,
though in varied degrees of oppressiveness, throughout
the more or less primitive and uncivilised tribes and
communities of the interior. At the coast and on the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba the eradication of the
evil must necessarily be gradual as the result of inani-
tion produced by general restrictive acts of authority.
These should be directed to stop the supply, but could
not legally be extended retrospectively to the uncondi-
tional emancipation of existing slaves in the Sultan's
dominions.^
^ In 1S73 Sir John Kirk extracted a Decree from the Sultan of
Zanzibar declaring illegal the further export of slaves from the main-
220 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
At the coast the number of such slaves is comparatively
limited, and is undergoing a process of reduction by
arrangement with the owners, which enables the in-
dividual slave by consent to work out his own liberation
on terms which involve no legitimate grievance to either
party. Of this class 223 have been freed and have
received certificates of manumission. In addition, 1422
runaway slaves who had taken refuge at missionary
stations were restored to freedom on 1st January 1889,
through payment on their behalf of 25 dollars per head
to their masters, whose claims to their recovery were thus
compounded by special^ agreement, and whose threatened
action to make good their claims by force was averted.
To Mr. G. S. Mackenzie, then Acting Administrator at
Mombasa, is due the merit of the methods which have
been attended with such satisfactory results, and which
are directed to promote so largely the practical extinction
of domestic slavery. It is further to be added that 326
slaves have been freed in special cases by order of the
Company, 81 have been freed by their owners, and 201
have obtained freedom under the Decree of August 1,
land of Africa, either to other parts of his own dominions or to foreign
countries. It follows that every new slave since acquired in Zanzibar
or Pemba has been illegally obtained, and the strict application of this
law would probably affect most of the domestic slaves now held. A
decree of immediate and unconditional emancipation, say on the lines
of the Indian Act of 1843, would therefore, as far as regards the
majority perhaps of existing slaves, be strictly legal. But in view of
the fact that the Decree of 1873 has not been enforced by the Sultan
BO as to prevent or punish the importation of slaves from the mainland,
and that its contravention by the Sultan's subjects has been passively
sanctioned, the question arises whether Government would be pre-
pared to confiscate such proprietorial rights as have been acquired
under the connivance referred to, by an act of general emancipation
without compensation. See Appendix No. 13.
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 221
1890, in consequence of their owners dying without
lawful children.^ The total number who have thus
obtained freedom during the Company's administration
is 2387.
The railway and other public works of the Company,
and the requirements of the numerous caravans con-
stantly proceeding to the interior (a form of employment
much preferred by the coast people), not only furnished
the slaves with ample opportunities to work out their
freedom, but provided employment for them after obtain-
ing it. They were thus ensured against the destitution
which might under other circumstances have fallen upon
them when suddenly deprived of the right of maintenance
on the plantations of their masters. No more important
provision can possibly be kept in view in connection
with any scheme of general or even of partial emancipa-
tion than that of the means of self-support for liberated
slaves of both sexes when left to their own resources.
The arrangements of the Company kept this contingency
always in view, even to the extent of giving preferential
employment on the wages of free labour to persons of the
class in question. The arrangements set on foot in con-
nection with runaway slaves had also an influence beyond
their immediate object. The very low sum fixed as the
price of freedom, taken in conjunction with the total
stoppage of the supply from the interior, has operated to
raise the demand for free labour. In Witu, the principle
of self-redemption was also introduced by the Company
1 Article 4 of the Decree of August 1, 1890. The various decrees,
etc., relating to slavery and the slave-trade may be seen in Appendix
No. 13.
222 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
at the time of the settlement of that country, with the
further important provision, already mentioned, that
domestic slavery in the British Protectorate on the main-
land shall cease to exist in 1896.
The permanent establishment of British authority in
the dominions of Zanzibar was a fact, the significance of
which was not lost on the minds of slave-owners in rela-
tion to the future of slavery, and it has disposed them to
consider any proposals for emancipation which do not, on
the one hand, amount to confiscation of lawful property,
or, on the other, involve disaster to the shambas hitherto
dependent on slave labour. In the absence of such a
controlling influence successive decrees obtained from the
Sultan of Zanzibar by Sir John Kirk and his successors,
directed against the slave-trade, and on the Kismayu
coast abolishing slavery altogether, had from the nature
of the case remained inoperative, except in so far as the
slave traflBc at sea has been checked by the unceasing
vigilance of the British cruisers ; and, under the same
conditions of rule, not much was to be expected from the
promulgation of further decrees in the future. But the
same conditions have ceased to exist. It is generally
recognised by all concerned that, in one way or another,
the institution of slavery in the Zanzibar dominions is
doomed. Hence the practical acquiescence of the native
communities on the coast in the methods referred to,
attributable primarily to the action and influence of
the British East Africa Company, exercised through its
agents.
In the interior, where the Mohammedan law does not
prevail, and where domestic slavery is a practice deriving
DEVELOPMENT OF TERRITORY 223
from traditional and universal usage and having its origin
in tribal feuds, the custom is an incident of mere barbar-
ism which must be made amenable to authoritative
restrictions, and this and other kindred practices will
disappear pari passu with the establishment of good
government. One of the first acts of the Company in
virtue of its treaty relations with the tribes was to insti-
tute a condition which should have the force of law, that
no member of such tribes can be reduced to or held in
servitude. Its effect is to put an end to the supply of
slaves hitherto recruited from the tribes in question,
seeing that any member of those tribes discovered in
servitude at the coast becomes ipso facto entitled to his
freedom without right of compensation on the part of the
master.
In this way, and in this way only, can the evil of
slavery be finally eradicated, though, as all who are con-
versant with the conditions of trade and travel in East
Africa are aware, if this trade and travel are to be
possible in the near future, the law referred to must be
supplemented by the construction of the projected rail-
way and by the introduction and organisation of animal
transport, thereby promoting development of the mineral
and agricultural resources of the country, giving a stimulus
to free labour, and removing the motive to inter- tribal
raids for the purpose of converting human beings into .
beasts of burden and objects of barter.
CHAPTEE Xy
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS
The terms on which the Company administers those
parts of the coast belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar
are based upon the provisions of Article 9 of the con-
cession of the 9th of October 1888, as regards the annual
payment of a fixed amount of customs revenue to the
Sultan. In connection with this article of the concession
other provisions existed at the period of the settlement
which had to be taken into consideration. Article 2 of
the concession provided that all costs of administration
should be paid by the Company ; Article 4 laid down
that the Company's exercise of the powers conceded for
the regulation of trade and commerce should be in con-
foimity with existing treaties between the Sultan of
Zanzibar and foreign States ; and Article 9 granted to
the Company '^the right to claim and exercise any right,
privilege, or power granted by his Highness the Sultan to
the German East African Association in Article 9, or in
any other Article of their concession/
The General Act of the Berlin Conference, dated 26th
February 1885, decreed complete freedom to the trade of
all nations within certain limits of the continent of Africa
extending, as regarded the eastern coast, from 5 degrees
of north latitude to the mouth of the Zambesi. Within
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 225
these limits commercial access was free to all nations
and all import, transit, and differential dues, and all
monopolies, were forbidden. But the Berlin Act exempted
from the operation of its Free Trade Articles the terri-
tories of any independent sovereign state within the
defined zone, where such state declined to adopt them.
Accordingly, on the 8th of November 1886, the Sultan of
Zanzibar, in accepting the provisions of the Berlin Act,
formally attached by the advice of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, * the reservation that his adhesion to the said Act
shall not involve and shall not be held to signify his
acceptance of the principle of commercial liberty, which
according to Article 1st of the said Act, is not applicable
to these territories in the eastern zone therein defined,
except so far as he shall give his consent thereto.'
While still an independent sovereign he thus safe-
guarded the sources from which the rent payable to him
by the Company was derived under the concession. The
treaties between the Sultan and foreign States by which
the Company was bound under Article 4 of the concession
exempted subjects of those states from all taxation within
the Sultan's dominions * whether for their persons, houses,
lands, or goods,' except certain authorised import and
export dues specifically named. The class chiefly bene-
fited by this exemption was that formed of British
Indians, who were by far the most numerous and most
wealthy foreign element residing on the coast.
These treaties, and the Berlin Act, were the only
instruments external to the concession which touched the
principle of the revenue settlement between the Company
and the Sultan. There were, it may be remarked, two
p
226 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
fiscal settlements between the Company and the Sultan,
the first in reference to the Concession of 1888 embracing
the coast from the Umbe river to Kipini, and the second
supplementing the former and applying to all the
Zanzibar dominions held by the Company. It was in
connection with the first settlement that the principle
was established which governed the second.
The Concession of 1888 was signed by Sultan Khalifa,
but its terms had been negotiated with Sultan Barghash,
who had agreed to a substantially identical instrument in
May 1887. In the interval, however, the German Com-
pany had received its Concession, and the conditions of
this document caused the insertion of some new and
important stipulations in the British East Africa Com-
pany's Concession of 1888, which are to be found in
Articles 9 and 11. The basis upon which the annual
payment to the Sultan under the Concession was to be
made, is expressed in the same words in Barghash's grant
of May 1887, and Khalifa's of October 1888. 'The
Company hereby guarantees to his Highness the whole
amount of the custom duties which he now receives, both
from import and export trade of that part of his High-
nesses dominions included in the Concession.' The annual
average — it was provided by the Concession of 1888 — was
to be fixed after the first year's experience ; and during
this first year the Company was granted ' the right to
claim all and every pecuniary and other advantage con-
nected with the administration of tlie coast and customs
which is guaranteed under similar circumstances to the
Germany Company in their Concession.' The advantages
pointed to in this clause are those connected with the
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 227
first year's operations which are secured in the 9 th
Article of the German Concession, — namely, the right
of the Company to deduct from the customs collections
the amount of the expenses incurred in collecting the
duties, this amount not to exceed 170,000 rupees for
the year. The German Company was also allowed a
commission of 5 per cent, on * the net revenues paid to
his Highness.*
The outbreak of the revolt which followed the inaugura-
tion of the German East African Company on the coast,
and its disastrous effects upon the revenues of the Sultan
of Zanzibar and upon his authority itself, made the new
Sultan extremely unwilling to commit himself to possible
further risks of a like nature by tlie grant of another
Concession. The Sultan was disposed to be loyal to his
British engagements as far as he could go with safety to
himself. But in view of the situation which had arisen,
it became necessary for the Company to meet the Sultan
by waiving some of its legal rights in deference to the
existing circumstances. With the greater part of his
revenues lost, at all events for a time, by the revolt on
the coast, the British East Africa Company could not hope
to obtain the signature of a Concession, allowing it the
same fiscal privileges during the first year as had been
granted to the Germans. The right to claim the expenses
of revenue collection was therefore waived, as well as that
to the commission on the net balance paid to the Sultan,
An undertaking to this effect was given by her Majesty's
Consul-General to the Sultan, and was annexed to the
Concession, and in consideration of this engagement the
Concession was signed by Khalifa. After the first year
228 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the future annual payment to be made to the Sultan was
to be fixed. In determining this amount the Sultan had
advantages on his side which he was doubtless justified
in employing with all the effect of which they were
susceptible.
The Concession provided that the Sultan was to be paid
the whole amount of the customs duties which he then
received, such amount to be an ' annual average * fixed
* after the first year's experience/ The Sultan, at the
time of the settlement, found himself pressed on the one
side to grant a concession of Lamu to the Germans, and
on the other to keep a promise which he had made to
grant it to the British East Africa Company. Against the
strong pressure employed by the Germans in this matter,
the British Government, on account of Imperial considera-
tions of paramount importance elsewhere, were not in a
position to support the Sultan very strongly, and his
personal responsibility for the decision which he might
come to was proportionally increased. The grant of Lamu
to the Germans would have been fatal to the future of
British interests on the east coast. The Company had
therefore to choose between assenting to the Sultan's
interpretation of the meaning of the financial clauses of
the Concession, and virtually sacrificing his Highness's
adherence to British interests in reference to Lamu and
the Northern Ports. The Sultan claimed —
1. That the annual revenue or rental to be paid by the
Company should be based, not on an 'average' as the
Concession worded it, but on the actual results of the
first or trial year alone. The advantages of this were
obvious. During the first year the German ports were
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 229
closed, and some of their trade must have been added to
that of the British coast ; and the presence of the British
Company, by the confidence which it inspired, and the
order and regularity of collection, so largely augmented
the returns of revenue as to nearly double the customs
receipts in the twelve months.
2. That the payment to the Sultan should be deter-
mined by the amount of the gross revenue collected
during the trial year, without allowing for the expenses
of collection.
As regarded the first contention, the meaning of the
word ' average ' was plain enough, but its rejection did not
make a difference that it would have been judicious to
weigh against considerations of such moment as those
which were then pending. The second contention, that
in Article 9 of the Concession the words ' the whole
amount of the custom duties which he now receives,' were
to be interpreted as meaning the gross amount collected,
and not the net revenue actually paid into the Sultan's
treasury after deducting the expenses of collection,
involved a question of much greater importance. The
same form of words is used in the two Concessions to the
British Company — that of Barghash in May 1887, and
that of Khalifa in October 1888 — and in the German
Concession. The German Company had not reached any
settlement with the Sultan which would have formed a
precedent for its neighbour. It was obvious, however, in
respect to the German Concession, that the stipulation for
deduction of expenses of collection during the first year was
presumptive of the application of the same principle to
any further arrangement regarding the future. Nor was
230 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
it reasonable that any company should contract to pay the
Sultan the gross produce of his customs and itself bear
the gross burden of the expenses of collection and admini-
stration in the territory producing them. There was no
prospective advantage adequate to justify such an arrange-
ment, the Sultan being still entitled to a moiety of any
future net revenue realised after paying his subsidy and
the expenses. The Company was entitled to assume, and
to accept the Concession upon the assumption, that the
words ' the whole amount of the customs duties which he
now receives ' meant literally what they expressed, as it
was clear the Sultan did not ' receive ' that part of the
custom revenue which was absorbed in the necessary
expenses of collection and administration. It might be
asked why, in view of the ex 'parte interpretation to which
such a form of words was liable, the drafters of the Con-
cessions, British and German, did not exercise more care
to exclude such a possibility. The explanation is easy.
The German Concession was drawn on the lines of the
British Concession of May 1887, and the stipulation as to
deducting expenses from the first year's collections doubt-
less expressed the German understanding of the principle
to be followed in settling the future rental. In its second
Concession the British Company guarded itself against
any unfavourable interpretation of its liabilities by secur-
ing the right to whatever treatment might be given to the
German Company. It had provided no such safeguards
in the Concession of 1887, because the terms of the
agreement were rightly apprehended by Sultan Barghash
and the concessionnaires after ten years of negotiation, and
there was no risk of any misunderstanding on either side.
The absence of this condition on the part of the German
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 231
Company was doubtless what suggested in its Concession
the explicit stipulation as to expenses.^
Sultan Khalifa was entitled to ignore the presumed
intentions of his predecessor, and to urge his own inter-
pretation of the Concession as the right one. If there
was any doubt — and there was room for some doubt — he
had a strong claim to the benefit of it. Khalifa was not
in the circumstances enjoyed by Barghash, and was justi-
fied in taking rather than giving. Besides, the Company
had now an interest in the settlement that formed a
consideration for which in equity it ought to pay. It
wanted the Concession of Lamu and the Northern Ports, a
concession, as it proved, of vital importance in the future,
and by acceding to the Company's application the Sultan
incurred the risk of powerful displeasure on another side.
Under other circumstances the Company would have
resisted the Sultan's claims and would have held to the
terms of the Concession. In doing so there is no doubt
it would have succeeded in obtaining more equitable
terms ; but under the present altered conditions it would
have been not only ungenerous but in the highest degree
impolitic to cavil at the arrangement which the Sultan
was prepared to ratify. It was agreed that the rental
payable to the Sultan for the coast then held by the
Company — from Wanga to Kipini — should be fixed at
^ See Appendix No. 12, Article 9 o/the Oerman Company* s Conces-
sion, At the period of the first negotiations between Sultan Barghash
and Sir W. Mackinnon, the late Sir Tharia Topan farmed the customs
of Zanzibar. The article of the draft Concession of 1877 ran : — * The con-
cessionnaires, or tlieir representatives, guarantee his Highness the same
amount of customs revenue he now receives from Tharia Topan,' and,
after deducting all costs of collection, one-half of any surplus realised
in addition. This latter was an advantage presumably not enjoyed
by the Sultan in his lease to Tharia Topan, who, moreover, most cer-
tainly did not pay the Sultan the 'gross ' amount of revenue collected.
232 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the amount of the customs collected during the first year,
1888-1889, that is, 56,000 dollars ( = 119,000 rupees). The
settlement contributed somewhat to restore the shattered
finances of the Sultan, and did much more to confirm him
in his loyalty to British interests, which would have been
virtually extinguished in East Africa had the Sultan ceded
Larau and the Northern Ports to our rivals.
The Company's responsibilities in connection with the
ports north of Kismayu came to an end with the conclu-
sion of the Anglo-Italian Agreement of the 24th March
1891. In the same month a new Agreement was made
between the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Company, by
which the latter's tenure of its concessions was extended
in perpetuity in lieu of fifty years, the Sultan surrendered
his right to the 50 per cent, of the net increase of revenue
guaranteed to him, and the Company undertook not to
press during his lifetime any claim for the commutation
of the annual subsidy (or rent) by the payment of a lump
sum. This subsidy or rental was fixed for the whole of
the ports and territory administered by the Company at
the sum of 80,000 dollars (=170,000 rupees) per annum.
In a former chapter it was stated that the German East
African Company commuted the annual payment due to
the Sultan by the payment of a lump sum, thereby effect-
ing a very considerable saving of money. Article 11 of
the Concession of October 1888 guaranteed to the British
Company 'all the riglits, privileges, immunities, and
advantages which are or hereafter may be enjoyed or
accorded to any other Company or particular person to
whom his Highness may have given, or may give, Con-
cessions in any otlier part of his dominions similar to
those granted by this Concession to the Imperial British
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 233
East Africa Company, or of a different character/ The
German Company came under tliis category, and the
British Company accordingly claimed the same privilege
of commuting its annual payment to the Sultan as had
been accorded to the other. On the 22nd of November
1890 the Foreign Office conveyed to the Directors the
views of Lord Salisbury regarding their proposal. It was
explained that it was the German Government, not the
German Company, which had negotiated with the Sultan
and obtained a cession of his dominions, and that the
arrangement according to which the Company was to pur-
chase, by capitalising, the pecuniary interest of the Sultan
in the revenues ' was an incident, an essential incident, of
the negotiation ; but the leading feature was the transfer
of territoi7 to be placed, after the conclusion of the bar-
gain, under the German flag.' To carry out the proposals
of the British Company would require a parallel course,
— i,e, the cession of the territory administered by the
Company to the sovereignty of the British crown. It was
therefore evident. Lord Salisbury pointed out, that ' Im-
perial interests were directly concerned ' in the Com-
pany's proposals — a class of interests of whose exigencies
the Company had had frequent experience — and there
were very obvious difficulties, such as the existence of
slavery, in the way of placing the territory under British
law. On the wliole, it was the opinion of Government
that the sovereignty of the Sultan was a less inconveni-
ence, especially as its transfer to Great Britain would not
free the Company from the obligations of the treaties with
other Powers. 'For these reasons,' the despatch added,
'it will, in his Lordship's opinion, not be advisable to
disturb for the present the position of that part of the
234 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
mainland which will remain under the Sultan's flag
after the transfer of the southern portion to Grermany/
While the Government thus stood in the way of the
Company obtaining the same privilege as the Government
of Germany obtained for the German Company, and, a
month or two later, telegraphed to the British Consul-
General at Zanzibar * that if the Company's AdmiuLstra-
tor should prefer a claim to commutation on the ground that
the British Company is entitled to equal treatment with any
other Company' — (as the Concession expressly guaranteed)
— 'he would not be justified in supporting it'; it was
nevertheless conceded to the manifest justice of the case,
* that if the Administrator should obtain the consent of the
Sultan to stipulations under which the Company should
be granted the power of commutation, her Majesty's
Government will offer no objection to the arrangement on
condition that it be provided that the power shall not be
exercised without their ass^t.'
In the Agreement of 5th March 1891 the Sultan, Seyyid
Ali bin Said, acknowledged his liability to the commutation
claim when he gave his assent to the Company's right of
exercising it by stipulating that it should not be put in force
during his lifetime except at his own request or initiative,
or with the consent and approval of her Majesty's Govern-
ment. This compromise was obtained by the extension
of the term of the Concessions in perpetuity and the sur-
render of the Sultan's claim on future surplus revenue.
On the 1st of February 1892 her Majesty's Agent and
Consul-General formally declared Zanzibar a free port,
and from that date all articles imported from foreign
countries were free from import duties, except alcoholic
liquors, petroleum and all explosive oils and dangerous
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 235
substances, and arms and munitions of war. The regula-
tion applied only to the port of Zanzibar, but it was cal-
culated to exercise a prejudicial influence on the customs
receipts of the neighbouring mainland administered by
the Company, by giving rise to a system of smuggling
necessitating the organisation of a preventive service. The
Directors addressed a strong representation to Lord Salis-
bury pointing out the serious change made in the con-
ditions of the contract between the Sultan and the
Company by a regulation favouring the interests of one
part of the dominions which, deriving a considerable fixed
revenue from the other, contributed nothing towards its
administration or development. It was submitted that
the exercise by one party of the power to modify the con-
ditions upon which the contract was based, justified the
other party in claiming a corresponding modification of
the stipulated consideration. It was urged, further, that
the existing settlement had been largely influenced in the
Sultan's favour out of personal considerations towards his
Highness, but that the Company was no longer under the
obligation of such considerations, the advantages secured
to the Sultan by the settlement having now passed to the
Government of Zanzibar, from the revenues of which he
was merely provided with a civil list. The sovereignty
of the Sultan had thus lapsed into the British Protec-
torate, and existed but in name without the shadow of
executive authority.
In reply to this communication, which the potential
operation of the new regulation in the interest of the
Protectorate rather than its immediate effect jycr se
rendered necessary. Lord Salisbury expressed regret that
the arrangements should be thought to press hardly upon
234 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
mainland which will remain under the Sultan's flag
after the transfer of the southern portion to Gtermany/
While the Government thus stood in the way of the
Company obtaining the same privilege as the Grovernment
of Germany obtained for the German Company, and, a
month or two later, telegraphed to the British Consul-
General at Zanzibar * that if the Company's Administra-
tor should prefer a claim to commutation on the ground that
the British Company is entitled to equal treatment with any
other Company* — (as the Concession expressly guaranteed)
— 'he would not be justified in supporting it'; it was
nevertheless conceded to the manifest justice of the case,
' that if the Administrator should obtain the consent of the
Sultan to stipulations under which the Company should
be granted the power of commutation, her Majesty's
Government will offer no objection to the arrangement on
condition that it be provided that the power shall not be
exercised without tlieir assdnt.'
In the Agreement of 5th March 1891 the Sultan, Seyyid
Ali bin Said, acknowledged his liability to the commutation
claim when he gave his assent to the Company's right of
exercising it by stipulating that it sliould not be put in force
during his lifetime except at his own request or initiative,
or with the consent and approval of her Majesty's Govern-
ment. This compronuse was obtained by the extension
of the term of the Concessions in perpetuity and the sur-
render of the Sultan's claim on future surplus revenue.
On the 1st of February 1892 her Majesty's Agent and
Consul-CJeneral formally declared Zanzibar a free port,
and from that date all articles imported from foreign
countries were free from import duties, except alcoholic
liquors, petroleum and all explosive oils and dangerous
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 235
substances, and arms and munitions of war. The regula-
tion applied only to the port of Zanzibar, but it was cal-
culated to exercise a prejudicial influence on the customs
receipts of the neighbouring mainland administered by
the Company, by giving rise to a system of smuggling
necessitating the organisation of a preventive service. The
Directors addressed a strong representation to Lord Salis-
bury pointing out the serious change made in the con-
ditions of the contract between the Sultan and the
Company by a regulation favouring the interests of one
part of the dominions which, deriving a considerable fixed
revenue from the other, contributed nothing towards its
administration or development. It was submitted that
the exercise by one party of the power to modify the con-
ditions upon which the contract was based, justified the
other party in claiming a corresponding modification of
the stipulated consideration. It was urged, further, that
the existing settlement had been largely influenced in the
Sultan's favour out of personal considerations towards his
Highness, but that the Company was no longer under the
obligation of such considerations, the advantages secured
to the Sultan by the settlement having now passed to the
Government of Zanzibar, from the revenues of which he
was merely provided with a civil list. The sovereignty
of the Sultan had thus lapsed into the British Protec-
torate, and existed but in name without the shadow of
executive authority.
In reply to this communication, which the potential
operation of the new regulation in the interest of the
Protectorate rather than its immediate effect jycr se
rendered necessary. Lord Salisbury expressed regret that
the arrangements should be thought to press hardly upon
236 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the Company, but added that he was not prepared to press
the Government of Zanzibar to revise its financial rela-
tions with the Company. This decision, however, was
based upon the argument that while it was right for
Zanzibar to protect itself against the competition of
' powerful administrations on the mainland, which was
formerly under the control of the Sultan ' — the adminis-
trations being those of Germany and the British East
Africa Company — the latter should not be allowed ' the
policy of prospering at the expense of the former/ But
in thus declaring that what was law for Zanzibar island
was not law for the Zanzibar mainland administered by
the Company, the point of the Company's remonstrance
appeared to have escaped attention. It was not the
policy of the change which the Directors questioned, but
the right of the Zanzibar Government under British
auspices to modify the bases of a contract to its own
benefit in disregard of the interests of the second party.
This matter has been so fully explained because it
marks the beginning of a new order of things at Zanzibar
consequent upon the establishment of the British Protec-
torate, in which the rights of the Company under its Con-
cessions are subordinated, when necessary, to the interests
of the Zanzibar Government, as freely as the interests of
the Company under previous conditions had been obliged
to give way to considerations of Imperial policy.
In October 1891 an administration was instituted at
Zanzibar worked exclusively by British officials, and
under the supervision of her Majesty's Agent and Consul-
General. On the following 1st of February Zanzibar was
declared a free port. But there was another change in
preparation which the Directors felt it their duty to
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 237
resist to the utmost when they became aware of its
nature and possible consequences. On the 2nd of April
1892 the Brussels Act came into operation, a measure to
which the Directors were ready to give the warmest
support. They took early steps to be prepared to put
the Act in force in their territories, especially those parts
of it directed against the importation of arms and gun-
powder, and alcoholic liquors. A Declaration had been
added by the Powers to the General Act, having the
effect of so far modifying the Free Trade clauses of the
Berlin Act as to empower states enjoying sovereignty or
possessing protectorates in Africa to impose an import
duty not exceeding 10 per cent, ad valorem for the pur-
poses of the Brussels Act. The Powers on the west
coast fixed this tariff at 6 per cent., and those on the
east coast at 5 per cent. By the terms of the Sultan of
Zanzibar's adhesion to the Berlin Act an import duty,
fixed by the treaties at 5 per cent., was levied in his
dominions on all imports by sea, and the new regulation
merely replaced the treaty-tariff at the coast by another
similar in amount, and extended it to the inland frontiers.
The Agreement respecting the tariff of the eastern zone
of the Conventional Basin of the Congo was signed at
Brussels on the 22nd December 1890 by the delegates
of Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.
On the 22nd of June 1892 her Majesty's Government
sent a notification to the Powers Signatories of the Berlin
Act informing them that from the 1st of July the
dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar would be placed
within the Free Zone — from which the Sultan's act of
adhesion of 8th November 1886 had excluded them. The
effect of the change was stated in the notification to be
238 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
that ' the whole of the Sultau's doiuinioos, including the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and the mainland ter-
ritory under the administration of the Imperial British
East Africa Company, will, from the above-named date,
be placed permanently in the same financial position as
that in which the Congo Free State was placed by the
provisions of the Berlin Act, afterwards modified by the
Declaration annexed to the Brussels Act. The existing
system under which the tariffs and duties are regulated
by commercial treaties with individual Powers will be ex-
tinguished by the substitution for it of the system framed
for the Free Zone by the assembled Powers in 1885.*
As the extinction of the system under which the tariffs
were regulated by the commercial treaties meant the
extinction of the system on the conditions of which the
Company's Concession was based, the act of proclaiming
Zanzibar territory within the Free Zone was one fraught
with grave possibilities of injury to the British East
Africa Company, and was an act, irrespective of its con-
sequences, overtly affecting the validity of the. contract
between the Sultan and the Company. This fundamental
change in the conditions of their Concession had been
made, too, without reference to the Directors, whose first
knowledge of it was gathered from an incidental allusion
to the subject in a letter from the Foreign Office on the
6th of May 1892. No hint was vouchsafed of the effects
of a measure so innocent in its expression, yet so pregnant
with injury to the future interests of the Company. This
letter referred to the Directors an inquiry on the part
of the German Government for further information in
regard to the application of the Free Zone tariff of the
Congo Act to the Company's territory.
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 239
As this territory lay partly within, and partly with-
out, the operations of the free trade system of the
l^erlin Act — the excluded part being that belonging to
the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar — the Directors,
after formally declaring that ' the position of the Imperial
British East Africa Company as regards territories ad-
ministered under the Sultan's Concession is now as it
was in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba prior to the
abolition of import duties,' proceeded to state their views
as to the effect of the new tariff in the 'free zone' which
the Company administered under its Charter beyond the
ten-mile coastal limit, and as to the effect of the exten-
sion of the Free Zone system to the territory held under
Concession. No answer to this letter was received from
the Foreign Office, until the announcement of 25th June
that the whole of the dominions of the Sultan were to be
placed under the Free Zone system, and that the fiscal
system on which the Company's Concession was based
was thereby extinguished. The Directors re-aflSrmed
their view that the change was not competent to modify
the conditions of the Sultan's Concession or affect the
disposal of the duties collected thereunder, — or, as they
repeated on 4th November, that it 'could not modify the
conditions of an existing contract between the Sultan of
Zanzibar and the Company, already recognised and con-
firmed by her Majesty's Government.' One of the
grounds supporting this contention was the fundamental
one that a contract cannot be varied or altered without
the consent of all the parties to it. The consent of the
Company had not been sought, nor indeed had the Direc-
tors been informed of the steps which were being taken
until they made the incidental discovery before referred
240 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
to. A lengthy correspoudence ^ ensued between the
Directors and the Foreign Office, in which the latter con-
tended that the former were aware of the Sultan's inten-
tion to place his dominions within the Free Zone, and
had assented to his doing so. This the Directors denied,
as an incorrect construction of their statements. As
already stated, the reference of the German inquiiy by
the Foreign Office on 6th May was the first, and was
only an incidental, intimation of what was going on with
regard to the Free Zone policy ; and in replying to that
letter the Directors guarded the Company's position in
limine distinguishing between the territory held under
Charter (included in the Free Zone), and that held under
Concession (excluded from the Free Zone). The condi-
tions on which the Company was willing to assent to the
extension of the Free Zone system to the ten-mile ter-
ritory were expressed in the view that in the event of
the ten-mile coast zone being assimilated to the rest of
the territory inland, and placed under the joint action of
the Berlin and Brussels Acts, it would be understood by
the Company that the 5 per cent, duty on imports now
levied under treaty would be replaced by a similar duty
under the Declaration of the Brussels Act, 'that the
special tariff in the British and German treaties should
disappear, and the Company would be free to deal with
produce and exports, as also to impose personal and pro-
perty taxes as it now can (with the approval of her
Majesty's Government) outside the ten-mile zone.' These
conditions not having been accepted, the Directors, on
^ See Appendix No. 14, Correspondence relating to the placing of
the Company's Concession territory in the Free Zone.
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 241
the part of the Company, retired to the status quo ante in
order to preserve the Company's full rights.
With reference to the contention of the Directors for
the fundamental principle that a contract cannot be
changed or in any way dealt with except with the con-
sent of both the parties to it, her Majesty's Government
answered, on the 24th February 1893, that the relations
between the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Imperial British
East Africa Company were not derived from a contract
at all, but from a mere ' delegation.' This official inter-
pretation of the position of the Company under its Con-
cession deserves to be quoted in full : —
' I am to state,* says the Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, in his letter of the 24th February 1893,
' that the fresh contention advanced in your letter of
16th December, that the Sultan's acceptance of the invi-
tation of the Powers is incomplete without the acquies-
cence of the Company, is absolutely untenable. His
Highness in delegating to the Company the administra-
tion of a portion of his dominions retained his sovereignty.
In the exercise of his sovereign powers he adhered to the
Berlin Act, and subsequently completed his acceptance
of its provisions by placing his dominions within the
Free Zone. The Company, which has no voice in his
council, is bound to the same extent as officers adminis-
tering other portions of his dominions to accept the ruler's
action, and to administer in accordance with it. Should it
decline to do so,' it was added, ' it would be questionable
whether its concession would not thereby be invalidated.'
As to this doctrine, it may be observed that the public
relations of the Company and the Sultan had already
been authoritatively defined by the Marquis of Salisbury
242 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
in 1890. In that year the Sultan of Zanzibar, on the
advice of her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, pro-
mulgated a Decree relating to slavery, the provisions of
which the Company was required to execute. The Com-
pany's Administrator had not been consulted or notified
before the issue of an ordinance for the execution of
which he was made responsible. The Administrator
remonstrated strongly against the constitutionality of the
coui*se adopted in regard to the territory, the administra-
tion of which was vested in the Company, without such
previous reference to him as would have enabled him to
communicate with his Directors and make the necessary
preparations. Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General
asserted, on the contrary, that the Decree was the act
of the Sultan, and as emanating from his Highness
' must have the same force in the territory under the
administration and influence of the British Company as
if decreed and enacted within the town of Zanzibar itself.*
The Directors supported their administrator, and addressed
to Lord Salisbury (on the 11th of October 1890) a strong
representation of tlie points at issue, which were —
1. The right — 'the absolute and undoubted right' — of the
Sultan to issue decrees to his own subjects located in the
British sphere of influence without previous concert or
communication with the representatives of the Company.
2. The medium by which such decrees should rightly
be promulgated.
3. The responsibility of lier Majesty's Consul-General
for the enforcement of such decrees in supersession of
the authority of the Company's agents.
The Directors thought the principles involved to be of
sufficient importance to call for an authoritative decision,
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 243
in order/ as they stated, *to determine in the future
the relations of the Company with his Highness as well
as the official control of her Majesty's Consul-General
over the Company's administration.'
The Decree in question was the famous franchise of
emancipation, the most important clause of which had
been set aside by the action of the Sultan only a few
days after its issue. It served, however, the useful pur-
pose of drawing from the Marquis of Salisbury an autho-
ritative decision on the question at issue, in a despatch
(No. 176) addressed to the British Consul-General on
the 4th of November 1890. In relation to the letter of
the Foreign Office above quoted, the following extracts
from Lord Salisbury's despatch are interesting : —
* In order to prevent any misunderstanding in future,
I am to state that, in Lord Salisbury's opinion, it should
be regarded as an established rule that, in all matters
affecting the part of the Sultan's dominions under the
Company's administration, the Administrator should re-
ceive full information in order to enable him to express
an opinion before a final decision is taken, and, if he
wishes, to apply for instructions to his Directors.
'The portion of the coast in question is, of course,
tinder the sovereignty of the Sultan, but it is the Com-
pany on whom fall the duties of administration, together
with all the attendant responsibilities, risks, and expendi-
ture ; and it is therefore obviously reasonable that their
officers should receive timely intimation of any measures
affecting it, and should have the fullest opportunity of
considering, in consultation with his Highness and her
Majesty's representative, how the position of the Com-
pany would be affected.
242 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
in 1890. In that year the Sultan of Zanzibar, on the
advice of her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, pro-
mulgated a Decree relating to slavery, the provisions of
which the Company was required to execute. The Com-
pany's Administrator had not been consulted or notified
before the issue of an ordinance for the execution of
which he was made responsible. The Administrator
remonstrated strongly against the constitutionality of the
course adopted in regard to the territory, the administra-
tion of which was vested in the Company, without such
previous reference to him as would have enabled him to
communicate with his Directors and make the necessary
preparations. Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General
asserted, on the contrary, that the Decree was the act
of the Sultan, and as emanating from his Highness
' must have the same force in the territory under the
administration and influence of the British Company as
if decreed and enacted within the town of Zanzibar itself.'
The Directors supported their administrator, and addressed
to Lord Salisbury (on the 11th of October 1890) a strong
representation of the points at issue, which were —
1. The right — ' the absolute and undoubted right' — of the
Sultan to issue decrees to his own subjects located in the
British sphere of influence without previous concert or
communication with the representatives of the Company.
2. The medium by which such decrees should rightly
be promulgated.
3. The responsibility of her Majesty's Consul-General
for the enforcement of such decrees in supersession of
the authority of the Company's agents.
The Directors thought the principles involved to be of
suflicient importance to call for an authoritative decision,
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 243
in order/ as they stated, *to determine in the future
the relations of the Company with his Highness as well
as the official control of her Majesty's Consul-General
over the Company's administration.'
The Decree in question was the famous franchise of
emancipation, the most important clause of which had
been set aside by the action of the Sultan only a few
days after its issue. It served, however, the useful pur-
pose of drawing from the Marquis of Salisbury an autho-
ritative decision on the question at issue, in a despatch
(No. 176) addressed to the British Consul-General on
the 4th of November 1890. In relation to the letter of
the Foreign Office above quoted, the following extracts
from Lord Salisbury's despatch are interesting : —
* In order to prevent any misunderstanding in future,
I am to state that, in Lord Salisbury's opinion, it should
be regarded as an established rule that, in all matters
affecting the part of the Sultan's dominions under the
Company's administration, the Administrator should re-
ceive full information in order to enable him to express
an opinion before a final decision is taken, and, if he
wishes, to apply for instructions to his Directors.
'The portion of the coast in question is, of course,
under the sovereignty of the Sultan, but it is the Com-
pany on whom fall the duties of administration, together
with all the attendant responsibilities, risks, and expendi-
ture ; and it is therefore obviously reasonable that their
officers should receive timely intimation of any measures
affecting it, and should have the fullest opportunity of
considering, in consultation with his Highness and her
Majesty's representative, how the position of the Com-
pany would be affected.
244 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
'When decrees are issued by the Sultan dealing,
directly or indirectly, with the portion of coast in the
occupation of the Company, express reservation should
always be made of the right of the administrating Com-
pany to apply them in such manner, and at such time, as
may in their judgment be best. Such a course would
clearly not only be in the interest of the Company, but
also in that of the Sultan, for his Highness would be
liable to claims for compensation in the event of losses
falling upon the Company in consequence of any action
that had been taken by his Highness without due notice
to them/
There is no room for doubt as to the meaning of the
foregoing decision, or as to the total want of correspon-
dence with its terms which is shown in the Foreign
Office pronouncement of the 24th February 1893, and in
the course of action which led up to it. The fiscal system
on which the contract between the Sultan and the Com-
pany was based has been arbitrarily altered in the name
of one of the parties without the consent of the other,
and on the advice of her Majesty's Government. How
far this action is in accord with the declarations of Lord
Salisbury any one may judge ; and a high legal authority
has pronounced the action of the Sultan to be a plain
violation of contract for which, if he could be sued in a
British court of law, he would certainly be condemned in
damages. The Sultan, however, is not amenable to the
jurisdiction of British courts ; and since a sovereign
cannot be sued in his own courts except with his consent
by way of petition of right, the Company is without legal
remedy for the wrong done to it. Under the regis of its
charter it has the right to look for rediess and support to
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 245
her Majesty's Government in such a case, but the un-
fortunate situation is that her Majesty's Government are
also, as the protecting power, a party to the wrong, only
free by a legal fiction from responsibility for the acts
done on their advice.
The establishment of the Protectorate over Zanzibar,
and the extension of the functions of the Diplomatic
Agent and Consul-General to the control of the execu-
tive Government of the Sultan, have created an anomalous
situation on the east coast which calls for a reconsidera-
tion of the relations existing between the Company and
the Protectorate. This situation becomes further ac-
centuated by the withdrawal of the Company from
Uganda. The instructions of Lord Rosebery to Sir
Gerald Portal in regard to his mission to that country
indicate a perception of the anomalous relations and the
conflict of interests created by the recent political and
administrative changes on the coast, and of a remedy —
an obvious and practicable remedy — in the annexation of
the interior of the British sphere of influence to the
Protectorate of Zanzibar, and in the re-absorption of the
coast, now administered by the Company under its con-
cession. The reports on the Zanzibar Protectorate, lately
presented to Parliament,^ illustrate in a striking manner
the singular relations which prevail in the Protectorate.
Whilst a surplus of revenue amounting to 170,000 rupees
is derived from the customs paid by the British East
Africa Company to the Government of Zanzibar, there is
not, in any part of the public accounts of expenditure,
past, present, or future, the most remote indication of an
interest on the part of the Central Government in that
1 Africa No. 4(1893).
246 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
portion of the Sultan's dominions from which they obtain
their surplus revenue. Thus, while paying nearly all
the public revenue of its territory into the Zanzibar
treasury, which contributes not one rupee towards the
expenses of collection, administration, or development
the Company is compelled to draw heavily on its own
capital for these expenses. Her Majesty's Government
have so far refused to give the Company the elementary
right — which it certainly had been led to expect at an
early stage of its operations — to tax British Indian
subjects for the maintenance of the police and other
mimicipal services from which that class derives the
largest measure of advantage. It is time that some
equitable arrangement were applied to a situation so
hopelessly complicated that it can only be mended by
being ended. The Company will be as ready to facilitate
the transfer of its territory and property to the Pro-
tectorate of Zanzibar as it has always been to meet the
views of her Majesty's Government in other respects.
The Directors have grudged neither exertion nor money to
the service of the nation in Africa, and they can point to
the sphere of influence acquired, and so largely opened
up to civilisation and good government, by the operations
of the Company, as evidence of what the empire owes to
it. For this, however, they seek no acknowledgment
beyond the consciousness that they have done their duty
under circumstances of no small difficulty ; and they are
willing to surrender all the results of their work, either to
her Majesty's Government or that of Zanzibar, without
further consideration than that which is equitably due to
the interests of the shareholders whom they represent.
The acquisition of so vast a territory to the state would
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 247
have been impmcticable withoat the intervention of the
Company, formed as it was in direct concert with her
Majesty's Government ; and the facility with which her
Majesty's Commissioner has been enabled to realise the
national policy is evidence of the value of the agency
employed to initiate it.
This history cannot be more fitly concluded than by
quoting the following extract from a speech by Mr.
Burdett-Coutts, M.R, in the House of Commons on 6th
February 1893, which ably and forcibly indicates the
national services rendered by the Company in Africa : —
' Sir, at the time of what I may call the scramble for
East Africa amongst the European Powers, this Company,
by its existence — in the earlier days by the fact that it
was in embryo and ready to take a footing in these
territories, and subsequently by the fact that it was
there — afforded a justification for the claims of England
to a share of that country, which the respective Govern-
ments of that time gladly welcomed. It is more true
to say that the Government used the Company as an
instrument for the delimitation of boundaries than that
we drew the Government on to larger and wider respon-
sibilities. The policy of treaty-making, followed up by
effective occupation, has been undertaken by the Company,
with the continued knowledge and sanction of her
Majesty's Government ; and every treaty we have made
has been submitted to the Foreign Office. It has been a
political policy, and in that aspect it belongs not only
to the Company, but to the British Government. It
has been what I may call the substantive part as dis-
tinguished from the diplomatic part of negotiations
which aimed at the acquisition of a portion of East
248 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Africa for England. I am aware that the hon. gentleman
does not approve of this policy of acquisition, but there are
a vast number of people in this country who do approve
of it. Lord Granville, Lord Ilosebery, Lord Salisbury
approved of it. And the part we have played in it has
given enormous assistance to those Foreign Ministers in
carrying out that policy. It is in that light that we
claim that we have acted largely in the national interest.
* We played our part in securing that the British flag
should remain on the east coast of Africa ; that instead
of having no port from Aden to Natal, the finest harbours
on that coast should form a rendezvous for the British
fleet ; that the old established trade of thousands of our
Indian fellow-subjects settled there should be saved
from passing under the control of a Foreign Power ; that
at a moment when an iron band of prohibitive duties
was drawn around Africa by every other Power, we
opened a free highway into that country for the products
of English manufacture. When we were Hemmed in on
both sides, north and south, by Germany, our position
between justified the claim of the Government that
Germany should confine itself to the south and leave the
north to us ; and in this connection I may say that so
far from our evincing " land-hunger," while the Sultan of
Zanzibar conceded to us the whole of the northern ports
up to Warsheikli we were content with the boundary of
the Juba river and Kismayu, giving up to Italy over
400 miles of wliat had been conceded to us. When the
doctrine of the " hinterland " was accepted, the fact that
the Company dc facto formed a base upon the coast
substantiated England's claim to this very country of
Uganda. I am speaking of it in its widest sense as
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 249
including the Great Lake, the key of the Nile basin,
the heart of the trade of Central Africa, and the link in
the chain of communication from the Cape to Alexandria,
for over the strip between Victoria Nyanza and Tan-
ganyika, which does not belong to us, free communication
of every kind is secured by the General Act of the Berlin
Conference and by the treaty between Great Britain and
Germany. The acquisition of the whole of these terri-
tories for England opened the way to the head waters
of the Nile, and to the equatorial provinces which be-
longed to Egypt. This was the road to the equatorial
provinces which General Gordon always advocated as
the most practicable, and the best for the effective de-
velopment of those regions.
* But, sir, these are all parts at least of a political or
national policy ; and whatever we have gained ourselves,
which, pecuniarily speaking, is as yet nothing, it is
impossible to deny that the larger portion of our capital
has gone in helping to secure these national interests, as
represented by a territory nearly equal in area to British
India.'
Eegarding the reference of Mr. Burdett-Coutts, M.P.,
to the value of the fine naval harbours acquired by the
Company on the east coast, the testimony already borne
to the cordial support and co-operation invariably received
from Vice-Admiral Sir E. Fremantle, K.C.B., and the
officers of the squadron may be usefully supplemented
by the following reports of the naval authorities on the
character of the principal harbours between the mouth
of the Umbe and that of the Juba.^
1 These are extracted from The Africa Pilot, Part in., 1889,
chapter x., and the ' Revised Supplement, 1892,' page 75 to end.
250 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Wasin harbour, between the island of that name and
the mainland, east of the port of Wanga, is a safe anchor-
age in any weather, with from six to ten fathoms. Its
eastern entrance is clear from danger, and on the west
there is a navigable channel between Tanga and Wasin
inside the reefs, which has not yet been examined ; but
in 1878 the Fawn found no difficulty in proceeding from
Tanga island as far as Gomani Bay.
Mombasa has several harbours. Port Morribasa, on the
eastern side of the island, is one and a-half miles in length
and about two cables in breadth, with good anchoring
depths close to the shore on either side in most places.
The anchorage is eleven to twelve fathoms water in mid-
channel. Fort Tvdor is a land-locked harbour on the
north side of the island, and is reached by a narrow
winding channel on the east side of Mombasa island, which
has depths of from eight to twenty fathoms, and more
in places with bold shores. There are few more beautiful
places than this winding channel with its steep wooded
banks. The anchorage at Port Tudor is in from five to
ten fathoms, mud ; and although the passage is imprac-
ticable for a sailing ship on account of its windings, there
is no difficulty for a vessel, however large, to steam up to
the harbour. Fort Kilindini is a fine sheltered harbour
on the west side of Mombasa island, leading to Port Eeitz,
and is about two and a-half miles long by half-a-mile wide,
with depths varying from six to twenty fathoms, and as
much as thirty fathoms at each end of the port, where it is
narrow. The harbour is available for all classes of vessels.
Fort Eeitz is a fine inland harbour about four miles east
and west by one mile broad, and may be entered without
FISCAL CONDITIONS OF CONCESSIONS 251
difficulty through Port Kilindini, which forms the channel
to it. There is anchorage in Port Eeitz in twelve to fifteen
fathoms, mud. In February 1890, Vice- Admiral Sir K
Fremantle anchored eleven men-of-war in this harbour.
Passing the harbours of Kilifi and Melindi, which are
not so well sheltered at all times, Lamu Bay claims next
notice, although it is partially obstructed by sand banks
and exposed to the south- wiest monsoon. During the rest
of the year there is good shelter in five fathoms. In Lamu
harbour there is secure anchorage for all vessels that can
cross the bar, which carries seventeen feet at low- water
springs over a breadth of 160 yards.
Manda Bay, at the entrance of a large mangrove-lined
creek, that runs many miles inland, is a magnificent har-
bour with deep water and room for the largest ships. It
is situated between Manda and Patta islands, and is con-
nected with Lamu harbour by a passage, available for
boats at half-flood, northward of Manda island.^ The
anchorage is in six fathoms water.
Kismayu Bay, the northernmost anchorage on the east
coast of Africa, is better than any other at present known
northward of Manda Bay, and for this reason will always
be valuable as a port of refuge for vessels of war cruising
on this part of the coast. There is sheltered anchorage at
either end of the bay, according to the direction of the
wind, from three-and-a-half to four fathoms water.
^ A tramway across Manda island to connect the harbour of Manda
with the port of Lamu has been projected by the Company, and would
possess the special advantage of being available all through the year.
The cost would be small.
Memorandum, on the effect as regards the Imperial
British East Africa Company of the withdrawal by
the Sultan of Zanzibar, acting under the advice of
the protecting Power, of the reserve under which he
gave his adhesion to the General Act of the Con-
ference of Berlin, with remarks on the obligations
imposed upon the Powers under that Act in com-
mercial matters.
By Sir John Kirk, G.O.M.G., K.O.B.,
Late H.M. Diplomatic Agent and Consul-Geneiul at Zanzibar.
At the time the Sultan granted the two concessions of
May 24tli, 1887, and October 9th, 1888, and entered into
armngements with the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany regarding Lamu and the Northern Ports confiiming
the previous concessions in perpetuity, and not for a
term of years as originally agreed to, he was the ruler of
a sovereign state, the independence of which Great
Britain, France, and Germany had formally bound them-
selves mutually to respect.
The Sultan had, previous to granting to the Company the
concessions they now hold, entered into treaty obligations
with certain Christian Powers, giving to such within his
dominions ex-territorial rights over their own subjects,
and among other things fixing the import and export
duties to which their subjects were liable. The import
MEMORANDUM 253
duty so fixed was collected at the common rate of 5 per
cent, ad valorem on all goods when landed for the first
time at any of the ports within his Highnesses dominions,
excepting only on goods previously declared as for tran-
shipment to a specified foreign port. The 5 per cent,
so fixed was paid to the Sultan irrespective of whether
the goods so taxed were to be consumed within the
Sultan's dominions or not ; so also as regards the tax on
products shipped at any of the Zanzibar ports and ex-
ported, on which it was agreed that the fixed tariff duty
was to be collected irrespective of whether such produce
had its origin in the Sultan's dominions or came from
countries beyond, such as then were the German Pro-
tectorates of Usagara, etc., which had been officially
recognised prior to the British and German treaties being
negotiated.
The produce tax above-mentioned was, however, de-
fined and fixed in the tariff annexed to the treaties,
the Sultan thereby abandoning the sovereign right he
otherwise had till then enjoyed of charging produce duty
at a variable rate, and even of holding the monopoly,
recognised in all the previous treaties, of the most valu-
able articles of export, such as ivory and copal.
Wlien in 1886 the Sultan joined the Act of Berlin he
did so with the same reserves as Portugal, thus preserving
all his prior existing fiscal rights intact. It was under
these conditions, and with his rights intact, that his
Highness granted to the Company their right under the
concession among other things to occupy in his name all
ports and forts, etc. etc., included in the limits of the
concession ; to establish custom-houses and to levy and
Memorandum, on the effect as regards the Imperial
British East Africa Company of the withdrawal by
the Sultan of Zanzibar, acting under the advice of
the protecting Power, of the reserve under which he
gave his adhesion to the General Act of the Con-
ference of Berlin, with remarks on the obligations
imposed upon the Powers under that Act in com-
mercial matters.
By Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
Late H.M. Diplomatic Agent and Consul-Geneial at Zanzibar.
At the time the Sultan gmnted the two concessions of
May 24th, 1887, and October 9th, 1888, and entered into
arrangements with the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany regarding Lamu and the Northern Ports confiiming
the previous concessions in perpetuity, and not for a
term of years as originally agreed to, he was the ruler of
a sovereign state, the independence of which Great
Britain, France, and Germany had formally bound them-
selves mutually to respect.
The Sultan had, previous to granting to the Company the
concessions they now hold, entered into treaty obligations
with certain Christian Powers, giving to such within his
dominions ex- territorial riglits over their own subjects,
and among other things fixing the import and export
duties to which their subjects were liable. The import
MEMORANDUM 253
duty so fixed was collected at the common rate of 5 per
cent, ad valorem on all goods when landed for the first
time at any of the ports within his Highness's dominions,
excepting only on goods previously declared as for tran-
shipment to a specified foreign port. The 5 per cent,
so fixed was paid to the Sultan irrespective of whether
the goods so taxed were to be consumed within the
Sultan's dominions or not ; so also as regards the tax on
products shipped at any of the Zanzibar ports and ex-
ported, on which it was agreed that the fixed tariff duty
was to be collected irrespective of whether such produce
had its origin in the Sultan's dominions or came from
countries beyond, such as then were the German Pro-
tectorates of Usagara, etc., which had been officially
recognised prior to the British and German treaties being
negotiated.
The produce tax above-mentioned was, however, de-
fined and fixed in the tariff annexed to the treaties,
the Sultan thereby abandoning the sovereign right he
otherwise had till then enjoyed of charging produce duty
at a variable rate, and even of holding the monopoly,
recognised in all the previous treaties, of the most valu-
able articles of export, such as ivory and copal.
Wlien in 188G the Sultan joined the Act of Berlin he
did so with the same reserves as Portugal, thus preserving
all his prior existing fiscal rights intact. It was under
these conditions, and with his rights intact, that his
Highness granted to the Company their right under the
concession among other things to occupy in his name all
ports and forts, etc. etc., included in the limits of the
concession ; to establish custom-houses and to levy and
cuiiditions imposed by the I
as it now is by the provisions
Conference of Brussels, upon i
reserve or withdraw these res*
done. This is necessary in or
eflfect of the Sultan's withdra>^
upon the position of the Comp
The Berlin Act embodies an
applicable over a large part of
the Conventional Basin of the
dominions of Zanzibar might a
ence of the sovereign, be incl
part — that is, with or without
posed, and which was fully accc
exists — as must be the case in t
of the signatory Powers after th
in which case reserves are not j
first general principle affecting 1
shall for a period of twpnfv ^
MEMORANDUM 255
the Powers, that in such parts of Africa taxes are alone
to be collected on behalf of the state in which the goods
or products, whether imported or exported, are to be con-
sumed, or where they originate. The principle of free
transit insisted upon in the Act excludes therefore all
taxation of goods or products elsewhere than in the coun-
tries of consumption or production, and allows the collec-
tion in other districts of only such a sum as may be
levied in the way of fair compensation for expenditure in
the interests of trade, and of no other.
* The total prohibition of import dues declared in the
Berlin Act in countries subject to the full operation of
the free transit clauses was so far modified by the General
Act of Brussels as to allow of an import duty being
collected by the eastern Powers, having influence within
the zone with which alone we have now to do, in case of
necessity, at the rate of 5 per cent., but only under the
reserve which was insisted upon by the British Govern-
ment and inserted in the protocols, that the proceeds of
this new tax shall be used and expended for the purpose
only of carrying out the provisions of the Brussels Act —
i,e, for the suppression of the slave-trade in the manner
therein laid down ; and that the principle of free transit
is not affected. It will thus be seen that a state such as
Zanzibar, which comprised only a coast-line reaching not
more than ten miles inland, but commanding all the ports
of entry and exit to and from the interior, and depending
as it did almost entirely upon taxes on goods entering or
coming out of the interior (the commercial treaties with
foreign Powers excluding other taxation), would lose the
greater part of its revenue by adhering to the full fiscal
256 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
system of the Berlin Act, for by so doing it would be
deprived of the whole of the 5 per cent, import duties
on goods which it, under its reserves, had a right to
devote to any object, and which the late Sultan did dele-
gate by a perpetual arrangement to be collected by the
Company and handed over to himself to be expended as
he thought fit ; and would as regards import duty acquire
a right to 5 per cent, on such goods only as were to be
consumed within the ten-mile coast zone of his territory,
this limited amount having moreover to be devoted to
the slave-trade suppression, and not to general purposes,
or used for payment of the rental due to his Highness
under the concession. The bulk of the duty on imports
would thus be lost to tlie Company, for the trade goods
used in the purchase of ivory in the interior — which
otherwise under the commercial treaties are liable to
duty — would thus be entitled to pass free in transit,
while the country beyond, where the goods are con-
sumed, would collect and keep the new import tax to
the detriment of the coast revenue.
The effect of the withdrawal of the original reserves
upon the Sultan's coast revenue from export on country
products would be still more disastrous, for here all ivory,
hides, and other valuable produce coming from beyond the
ten-mile coast zone would cease to pay at the coast any
duty whatever, but pass out free in transit, having pre-
viously paid to the Government of the state whence it
came any duty that state might be pleased to impose, the
Berlin Act placing no restriction whatever upon the
amount of produce or export duty levied by the state of
origin of tlie goods. Thus not only would Zanzibar,
MEMORANDUM 257
or rather the Company, lose the export duty, which, like
the import, the Sultan had previously assigned as part
consideration for an equivalent payment by the Company
to him in perpetuity, but there would cease to be any
guarantee that only a moderate duty, such as that agreed
to by the Sultan in the tarifif attached to the commercial
treaties, would be collected.
The Sultan therefore acting under the advice of the
British Government, the protecting Power, has by with-
drawing the reserve under which he originally joined the
Berlin Act and contracted with the Company for payment
in perpetuity to him of a fixed yearly sum representing
the custom collections as they then were, deliberately
annihilated the source of revenue which he sold, and
clearly broken his contract.
It may be certainly assumed that had the Company's
concession been held as was that of M. Greflfulhe for the
coining of money, by the subject of a foreign Power, the
protecting Power would have been compelled to place the
question in an equitable way of settlement as it was in the
case above referred to, and this no doubt would have been
done in the case of the Company had the British Govern-
ment not in the meantime become a party interested in
the case, in fact the reversionary of the duties thus
diverted from that part of the Sultan's dominions held by
the Company, and of which the Company was wrongfully
deprived.
The course followed by withdrawal of the reserves and
full adhesion to the Act of Berlin is not what the Sultan,
acting in his own interest had he retained the administra-
tion of the coast in his own hands, would ever have taken
R
258 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
nor did the British Government in 1886, then a foreign
but a friendly Power, having no interest of its own to serve,
advise him then to take it ; on the contrary, the British
Government then advised him in giving his adhesion to
the Act to reserve as he did his full fiscal independence,
when he would be, as was then pointed out to his High-
ness, in the same position in which Portugal now stands
in her Mozambique possessions — that is, with his original
rights of taxation unimpaired ; or as Germany still does
in that part of the Zanzibar dominions purchased before
the Sultan had withdrawn liis reserves.
As the full extent of the operations of the Berlin and
Brussels Acts is not fully understood, the above memoran-
dum has been written in order to show clearly that
nothing is gained by the trading community by the change,
but that it is simply a spoliation of Zanzibar — that is, of
the Company — for the benefit of others.
The result of past arrangements as regards states on
the eastern side of Africa within the Free Trade Zone is
at present that the Government of the territories held by
Portugal from the mouth of the Zambesi to the Eovuma
although within the Conventional Basin of the Congo,
does, in virtue of the reserve under which Portugal joins,
collect any import or export duty it thinks fit, collect
transit dues and create any monopoly in trade or other-
wise, being in no way hampered by tlie commercial pro-
visions of the Berlin Act by which so far Portugal is in
no way bound. The navigation of the rivers Zambesi and
Shire is under certain conditions open to trade, and there
by agreement with Great Britain goods can reach our
Nyassa Protectorate free of import duties, but once landed
MEMORANDUM 2jg
it is only such goods as are for consumption in our Pro-
tectorate that pay the 5 per cent, import to our Nyassa
Administration ; all goods landed in our Protectorate and-
declared as for German or Portuguese possessions on the.
Nyassa Lake or for transport to Tanganyika, to the Congo
State, or for (Herman territory, are entitled to pass free of
duty through our administration and over our roads, being
taxed the 5 per cent, import duty allowed by the Brussels
Act only by and for the state where the goods are to be
consumed. So likewise as concerns products such as ivory,
gold, copper, hides, coffee, etc. ; these if originating in our
Nyassa Protectorate will pay duty to us at any rate we
choose to fix ; but the same products, if originating in
and sent from German, Portuguese, or Congo Free State
Protectorates, on Nyassa or Tanganyika, and sent . in
transit through our Protectorate, will pay to those states
any duty that may be fixed by such states and thereafter
pass free through our whole line of communica'tion by land
or water.
Following the east coast of Africa from where the
Portuguese dominions now terminate at the mouth of the
Itovuma, the whole coast without a break is held by
Germany as far north as the Umbe river ; and although
the district so held is to it a new possession, yet having been
acquired from the Sultan of Zanzibar by purcliase subse-
quent to the ratification of the Berlin Act, that Power
refused to be bound by the Free Trade and fiscal rules of
that Act on the ground that Germany is the successor of
the Sultan of Zanzibar, and of his previously expressed
reserves. Germany being a great power is able thus to set
aside the operation of the Act in that question and to use
26o BRITISH EAST AFRICA
her independent right of taxation, of imposing transit dues,
and of granting monopolies ; she is not even bound by the
obligation by which the Sultan's power at the time of the
cession to Germany was limited and regulated under the
commercial treaties. The only part of the east coast of
Africa that is therefore under the full operation of the
free transit rules of the Berlin Act is that held by the
Company, together with the insignificant part between
Kipini and Kismayu now become a direct British Protec-
torate, but dependent in a great measure on the Company's
ports of Lamu and Kismayu for trade access w^ith the
interior. The British sphere of influence in Uganda and
generally beyond the Sultan's ten-mile coast zone of terri-
tory is under the full operation of the Berlin Act, and it
is with the object of collecting for the benefit of these
new administrations the dues which the Sultan previously
held, and which with the cognisance and encouragement
of the British Government he transfen-ed for an annual
money payment to the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany, that the protecting Power has now used its influence
and caused the Sultan to withdraw his reserves, demand-
ing from the Company at the same time full payment of
the rent which these reserves were assigned to meet.
John Kirk.
July 27th, 1893
APPENDICES
APPENDIX No. 1
CONCESSION GIVEN BY THE SULTAN OP ZANZIBAR TO
THE BRITISH EAST AFRICAN ASSOCIATION
Preamble.
His Highness the Settid Barghash-Bin-Said, Sultan of Zanzibar
and its East African dependencies, hereby grants the following
concessions for a term of fifty years to the Corporation or Associa-
tion under the presidency of Mr. William Mackinnon, hereinafter
to be called the British East African Association, or the Association
who, on their part, agree to accept the accompanying obligations.
Article I.
His Highness the Sultan makes over to the British East African
Association all the power which he possesses on the mainland in the
Mrima, and in all his territories and dependencies from Wanga to
Kipini inclusive, the whole administration of which he concedes to
and places in their hands to be carried out in his Highness's name,
and under his flag, and subject te his Highness's sovereign rights ;
but it is understood that the Association is to be responsible for
all the affairs and administration of that part of his Highness's
dominions included in this concession, and that his Highness the
Sultan shall not be liable for any expenses connected with the same,
nor for any war or *diya' (blood-money), or for any claims arising
therefrom, none of which his Highness shall be called upon to settle.
No other but themselves shall have the right of purchasing public
lands on the mainland or anywhere in his Highness's territories,
possessions, or dependencies within the limits above named except
through them, as is the case now with his Highness. He also grants
to the Association or to their representatives the faculty of levying
taxes upon the people of the mainland within the limits above named.
His Highness further agrees to do all acts and deeds that may be
necessary to give full effect to the terms of this concession, to aid and
support the Association or their representatives with all his authority
■I
" I!
W
APPENDIX No. 1
CONCESSION GIVEN BY THE SULTAN OP ZANZIBAR TO
THE BRITISH EAST AFRICAN ASSOCIATION
Preamble.
His Highness the Seyyid Barqhash-Bin-Said, Sultan of Zanzibar
and its East African dependencies, hereby grants the following
concessions for a term of fifty years to the Corporation or Associa-
tion under the presidency of Mr. William Mackinnon, hereinafter
to be ciilled the British East African Association, or the Association
who, on their part, agree to accept the accompanying obligations.
Article I.
His Highness the Sultan makes over to the British East African
Association all the power which he possesses on the mainland in the
Mrima, and in all his territories and dependencies from Wanga to
Kipini inclusive, the whole administration of which he concedes to
and places in their hands to be carried out in his Highness's name,
and under his flag, and subject te his Highness's sovereign rights ;
but it is understood that the Association is to be responsible for
all the affairs and administration of that pnrt of his Highness's
dominions included in this concession, and that his Highness the
Sultan shall not be liable for any expenses connected with the same,
nor for any war or *diya' (blood-money), or for any claims arising
therefrou), none of which his Highness shall be called upon to settle.
No other but themselves shall have the right of purchasing public
lands on the mainland or anywhere in his Highness's territories,
possessions, or dependencies within the limits alx)ve named except
through them, as is the case now with his Highness. He also grants
to the Association or to their representatives the faculty of levying
taxes upon the people of the mainland within the limits above named.
His Highness furtlier agrees to do all acts and deeds that may be
necessary to give full effect to the terms of this concession, to aid and
support the Association or their representatives with all his authority
«b!t
ip
^64
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
« aod forot, so as to secure to them the rights and powers hereby
gfmted.
It is further agreed upon by the contracting parties that nothing
contained in the following Articles of Concession shall in any way
infringe or lessen the rights accorded by his Highness to the
subjects. or citizens of Great Britain, the United States of America,
France, Germany, or any other foreign powers hi^ving treaty relations
with his Highneife, or the obligations which are or may be imposed
upon him by his adhesion to the Berlin General Act.
Article II.
His Highness authorises the Aflftociation or their representatives
to appoint in his name and on his behalf conmiissioners to admin-
ister any districts in his Highness's possessions included in the
limit of territories named above, except as hereinafter provided ; to
appoint such subordinate officers as may be required ; to pass laws
for the government of districts ; to establish courts of justice ; and
generally to adopt such measures as may be necessary for the protec-
tion of the districts and interests under their nile.
His Highness further authorises the Association or Ailr represen-
tatives to make treaties with subordinate and other native chiefs,
such treaties and engagements to be ratified and confirmed by him
in such cases as they are made in the name of his Highness. His
Highness also agrees to cede to the Association or to their repre-
sentatives all the rights which he himself possesses over the lands in
the whole of his territory on the mainland of Africa within the limits
of this concession, only excepting the private lands or 'shambas,'
and gives the Association all forts and unoccupied public buildings,
excepting such buildings as his Highness may wish to retain for his
own private use, a schedule of such buildings, plantations, or
properties to be drawn up and agreed to between his Highness
and the Association. Further, he authorises them to acquire and
regulate the occupation of all lands not yet occupied ; to levy and
collect local or other taxes, dues, and tolls ; to do all these and
such other acts as may be necessary for the maintenance and support
of such local governments, forces, administration of justice, the
making and improving of roads or water communications, or other
public works, defensive or otherwise, and for the liquidiition of debts,
and payment of interest upon capital expended. The judges shall
be appointed by the Association or their representatives, subject to
the Sultan's approval ; but all Kathis shall be nominated by his
Highness.
APPENDIX I. . 065 *^
In aboriginal tracts the law shall be acUuinistered by thttJj^fsocia-'^
tion or their officials. 4" ^
The stipends of the Governors, and all other officials in the /
territories occupied and controlled by the Association or their repre-
sentatives, shall be paid by them.
Article III. *
His Highness grants to the Associatton or to their representatives
the right to trade, to hold property, to erect buildings, and toacquire
lands or buildings by purchase or negotiation any where within his>"^
Highness's territories included in the limits of this concession, with
the consent of the proprietors of any such lands and houses.
Article IV.
His Highness grants to the Association or to their representatives
special and exclusive privileges and powers to regulate trade and
commerce ; also the navigation of rivers and lakes, and control of
fisheries ; the making of roads, tramways, railways, canals, and
telegraphs, and to levy tolls and dues on the same ; also the power
to control or prevent the impoitation of any merchandise, arms,
ammunition of all sorts, intoxicating liquors, or any other goods
which, in the opinion of the Association or their representatives,
are detrimental to law, order, and morality, and in whatsoever his
Highness is not bound towards other Governments. But it is clearly
understood that all exercise of these privileges and powers shall be
in conformity with existing treaties between his Highness and foreign
states.
Article V.
His Highness authorises the Association or their representatives
to occupy in his name all ports at the mouth or mouths of any river
or rivers, or elsewhere in his dominions included in the Hmits of this
concession, with the right to establish custom-houses and to levy
and collect dues on any vessels, goods, etc., arriving at or departing
from such port or ports, and to take all necessary measures for the
prevention of smuggling, subject in aH cases to the treaties above
named.
Article VI.
His Highness grants to the Association or to their representatives
the exclusive privilege to search for and work, or to regulate, lease,
or assign, in any part of his Highnesses territories within the limits
of this concession, any mines or deposits of lead, coal, iron, copper,
tin, gold, silver, precious stones, or any metal or mineral, or mineral
266 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
oils whfttooeyer ; also liie exclusive zight to trade in the same, free
from all taxes and dues, excepting such moderate royalty on minerals
only, not exceeding ^yq per cent, on the first value of the article, less
the working expenses, as may be hereinafter agreed by the Associa-
tion and their representatives, to be paid to his Highness ; also the
right to use all forest trees and other woods and materials of any
kind whatsoever for the purpose of the works afor^aid, and also for
trade. But the wood used iot building and for burning, commonly
known as * borti,' may be cut on the mainland by others, as now, by
payment of such dues to the Association or to their representatives
9A they may agree upon ; but no such dues shall be required for wood
cut for his Highness's use.
Article VII.
His Highness grants the Association or their representatives the
right to establish a bank or banks anywhere in his Highness's
territories above mentioned, with the exclusive privilege of issuing
notes.
Article VIII.
All the aforesaid powers and privileges to extend over and be
available for the purposes and objects of the Association or their
representatives, during the whole of the term of fifty years next, and
dating from the time of this concession being signed.
At the conclusion of the said term all the public works, buildings,
etc., shall revert to the Sultan, his heirs and successors, if desired,
at a valuation to be fixed by arbitrators chosen by both parties.
Article IX.
His Highness grants to the Association or to their representatives
the r6gie or lease of the customs of all the ports throughout that
part of his Highness's territories above defined, for an equal period
of time to the other concessions, upon the following terms, viz.; —
The Association hereby guarantee to pay to his Highness the Sultan
the whole amount of the custom duties which he now receives both
from the import and export trade of that part of his Highness's
dominions included in this concession, but it is understood that his
Highness shall not claim the duty on any part of this trade twice
over, and that the Association shall therefore be entitled to claim a
drawback for the amount of any duties which may hereafter be paid
direct to his Highness on any imports to, or exports from, the ports
included in this concession ; and the Association further guarantees
APPENDIX L 267
to pay to his Highness fifty per cent, of the additional net revenue,
which shall come to them from the custom duties of the ports included
in this concession, and his Highness grants to the Association all
rights over the territorial waters in or appertaining to his dominions
within the limits of these concessions, particularly the right to
supervise and control the conveyance, transit, landing, and shipment
of merchandise and produce within the said waters by means of a
coastguard service both on land and water.
Article X.
In consideration of the foregoing concessions, powers, and privilegtB
being granted by his Highness, the Association, or their repre-
sentatives, allot to his Highness, free of cost, one founder's share,
which shall entitle him to such proportion of the net profits, as shown
by the books of the Company, after interest at the rate of eight per
cent, shall have been paid upon the shareholders' paid-up capital, as
shall attach to the one founder's share.
Articlk XI.
These concessions do not relate to his Highness's possessions in
the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, nor to his territories south of
Wanga or norlh of Kipini ; and it is understood that all public,
judicial, or government powers and functions herein conceded to the
Association or to their representatives shall be exercised by them
only in the name and under the authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Article XII.
It is here})y agreed by both parties that these concessions and the
corresponding obligations, as set forth, shall be binding upon both
parties, their heirs, successors and assigns, during the term of fifty
years for which they have been agreed upon.
Zanzibar, May 24, 1887.
For the British East African Association,
(Signed) E. N. Mackenzie.
Zanzibar, May 24, 1887.
I witness the above signature of Mr. E. N. Mackenzie.
(Signed) Fredc. Holmwood.
Registered No. 1464a.
(Signed) Fredc. Holmwood.
British Consulate-General, Zanzibar,
May 25, 1887.
266 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
oils whAtooerer ; also the exclasive right to trade in the same, free
from all taxes and dues, excepting such moderate royalty on minerals
only, not exceeding five per cent, on the first value of the article, less
the working expenses, as may be hereijiafter agreed by the Associa-
tion and their representatives, to be paid to his Highness ; also the
right to use all forest trees and other woods and materials of any
kind whatsoever for the purpose of the works aforesaid, and also for
trade. But the wood used for building and for burning, commonly
known as * borti,' may be cut on the mainland by others, as now, by
payment of such dues to the Association or to their representatives
as they may agree upon ; but no such dues shall be required for wood
cut for his Highness's use.
Article VII.
His Highness grants the Association or their representatives the
right to establish a bank or banks anywhere in his Highness's
territories above mentioned, with the exclusive privilege of issuing
notes.
Article VIII.
All the aforesaid powers and privileges to extend over and be
available for the purposes and objects of the Association or their
representatives, during the whole of the tenn of fifty years next, and
dating from the time of this concession being signed.
At the conclusion of the said term all the public works, buildings,
etc., shall revert to the Sultan, his heirs and successors, if desired,
at a valuation to be fixed by arbitrators chosen by both parties.
Article IX.
His Highness grants to the Association or to their representatives
the Hqie or lease of the customs of all the ports throughout that
part of his Highness's territories above defined, for an equal period
of time to the other concessions, upon the following terms, viz.: —
The Association hereby guarantee to pay to his Highness the Sultan
the whole amount of the custom duties which he now receives both
from the import and export trade of that part of his Highness's
dominions included in this concession, but it is understood that his
Highness shall not claim the duty on any part of this trade twice
over, and that the Association shall therefore be entitled to claim a
drawback for the amount of any duties which may hereafter be paid
direct to his Highness on any imports to, or exports from, the ports
included in this concession ; and the Association further guarantees
APPENDIX L 267
to pay to his Highness fifty per cent, of the additional net revenue,
which shall come to them from the custom duties of the ports included
in this concession, and his Highness grants to the Association all
rights over the territorial waters in or appertaining to his dominions
within the limits of these concessions, particularly the right to
supervise and control the conveyance, transit, landing, and shipment
of merchandise and produce within the said waters by means of a
coastguard service both on land and water.
Article X.
In consideration of the foregoing concessions, powers, and privilegtB
being granted by his Highness, the Association, or their repre-
sentatives, allot to his Highness, free of cost, one founder's share,
which shall entitle him to such proportion of the net profits, as shown
by the books of the Company, after interest at the rate of eight per
cent, shall have been paid upon the shareholders' paid-up capital, as
shall attach to the one founder's share.
Article XL
These concessions do not relate to his Highness's possessions in
the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, nor to his territories south of
Wanga or iiorlh of Kipini ; and it is understood that all public,
judicial, or government powers and functions herein conceded to the
Association or to their representatives shall be exercised by them
only in the name and under the authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Article XII.
It is hereby agreed by both parties that these concessions and the
corresponding obligations, as set forth, shall be binding upon both
parties, their heirs, successors and assigns, during the term of fifty
years for which they have been agreed upon.
Zanzibar, May 24, 1887.
For the British East African Association,
(Signed) E. N. Mackenzie.
Zanzibar, May 24, 1887.
I witness the above signature of Mr. E. N. Mackenzie.
(Signed) Fredc. Holmwood.
Registered No, 1464a.
(Signed) Fredc. Holmwood.
British Consul ate- General, Zanzibar,
May 25, 1887.
268 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
CONCESSION OF 9th OCTOBER 1888
Whereas His Highness Setyid Barohash-Bin-Said, the late
Sultan of Zanzibar, granted certain concessions by a deed, document,
or agreement, dated the 24th day of May 1887, to an Association or
Company under the Presidency of Mr. William Mackinnon, and
which Association or Company, now known as the Imperial British
East Africa Company Chereinafter referred to as the said Company),
has been duly incorporated by a Charter granted by her Majesty
Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen,
Empress of India. And whereas the said Company, in con-
sideration of the rights, powers, and privileges and authorities made
over by such concession, entered into certain obligations towards
his Highness, his heirs, successors and assigns, and has formally
apportioned or allotted to his Highness one founder's share in the
said Company, whereby his Highness, his heirs, successors and
assigns have become entitled to one-tenth of the net profit made by
the Company, as shown by the books of the Company, after payment
or making provision for all the interests, working and other expenses
and depreciations of and incidental to the carrying out of the objects
of the Company, and after allowing interest at the rate of eight per
cent, per annum on the capital called and paid-up from tine to time
by the shareholders in the Company, and the right and title to
such founder's share is evidenced by the certificates which have
been issued by the Company to his Highness the Sultan Seyyid
Khalifa as the successor of his Highness the Sultan Seyyid
Barghash-Bin-Said. And whereas the said Company has applied
to his Highness to grant further facilities to the said Company for
the more beneficial and efi'ectual exercise of the rights, powers, privi-
leges and authorities already granted by the concession before-
mentioned in order that the objects for which the Company has been
established may be fully carried out, and that certain provisions in
the said concession may be more clearly defined, so that no dispute
or discussion may at any time arise as to the true meaning thereof.
Now IT IS HEREBY WITNESSED that in Consideration of the premises
his Highness Seyyid Khalifa Sultan of Zanzibar and its East African
dependencies hereby declares and agrees that these presents and the
following articles shall be read with the concession to the Company
of the 24th day of May 1887, as if the same were a part thereof.
APPENDIX /. 269
Article I.
His Highness the Sultan makes over to the Imperial British East
Africa Company all the powers and authority to which he is entitled
on the mainland in the Mrima, and in all his territories and depen-
dencies from Wanga to Kipini inclusive, also the islands embraced
in such territory, the whole administration of which he concedes to
and places in their hands to be carried out in his Highness's name
and under his flag, and subject to his Highness's sovereign rights ;
but it is understood that the Company will conduct all the affairs and
administration of that part of his Highness's dominions included in
this concession, and that his Highness the Sultan shall not be liable
for any expenses connected with the same, nor for any war or *diya'
(blood-money), or for any claim arising therefrom, none of which his
Highness shall be called upon to settle. No other but themselves
shall have the right of purchasing or dealing with public lands on the
mainland or anywhere in his Highness's territories, possessions, or
dependencies within the limits above named except through them, as
is the case now with his Highness. He also grants to the Company
or to their representatives the sole right and powers of levying taxes
upon the people of the mainland within the limits above named.
His Highness further agrees to do all acts and deeds that may be
necessary to give full effect to the terms of this concession, to aid and
support the Company or their representatives with all his authority
and force, so as to secure to them the rights and powers hereby
granted.
It is further agreed upon by the contracting parties that nothing
contained in the following Articles of Concession shall in any way
infringe on or lessen the rights accorded by his Highness to the
subjects or citizens of Great Britain, the United States of America,
France, Germany, or any other foreign Powers having treaty relations
with his Highness, or the obligations which are or may be imposed
upon him by his adhesion to the Berlin General Act.
Article II.
His Highness authorises the Company or their representatives to
appoint in his name and on his behalf commissioners to administer
any districts in his Highness's possessions included in the limit of
territories named above, except as hereinafter provided ; to appoint
such subordinate officers as may be required ; to pass laws for the
government of districts ; to establish courts of justice ; and
4-
270 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
generally to adopt such measures as may be necessary for the protec-
tion and government of the districts and interests under their rule.
His Highness further authorises the Company or their representa-
tives to make treaties with subordinate and other native chiefs, auch
treaties and engagements to be ratified and confirmed by him in any
cases in which they are made in the name of his Highness. His
Highness also agrees to cede to the Company or to their representa-
tives all the rights which he himself possesses over the lands in the
whole of his territory on the mainland of Africa within the limits of
this concession, only excepting the private lands or ^shumbas/ and
gives the Company all forts and public buildings, excepting such
buildings as his Highness may wish to retivin for his own private use,
a schedule of such buildings, plantations or properties to be drawn
up and agreed to between his Highness and the Company, Further,
he authorises and empowers them to acquire and regulate and
dispose of the occupation of all lands not yet occupied ; to levy and
collect local or other taxes, dues, and tolls ; to do all these and such
other acts as may be necessary for the maintenance and support of
such local Governments, forces, administration of justice, the making
and improving of roads or water communication, or other public
works, defensive or otherwise, and for the liquidation of debts, and
payment of interest upon capital expended. The judges shall be
appointed by the Company or their representatives, and the Sultan
shall confirm all such appointments, but all ^Kathis' shall be
nominated by his Highness.
In aboriginal tracts the law shall be administered by the Company
or their oflicials.
The stipends of the Governors, and all other officials in the
territories occupied and controlled by the Coni])any or their
representatives, shall be paid by them.
Article III.
His Highness grants to the Company or to their representatives
the right to trade, to hold property, to erect buildings, and to accjuire
lands or buildings by purchase or negotiation anywhere within his
Highness's territories included in the limits of this conce;§sion, with
the consent of the proprietors of any such lands and houses.
Article IV.
His Highness grants to the Company or to their representatives
special and exclusive privileges and powers to regulate trade and
APPENDIX L 271
commerce ; also the navigation of rivers and lakes, and control of
fisheries, the making of roads, tramways, railways, canals, and
telegraphs, and to levy tolls and dues on the same ; also the power
to control or prevent the importation of any merchandise, arms,
ammunition of all sorts, intoxicating liquors, or any other goods
which, in the opinion of the Company or their representatives, are
detrimental to law, order, and morality, and in whatsoever his High-
ness is not bound towards other Governments. But it is clearly
understood that all exercise of these privileges and powers shall be in
conformity with existing treaties between his Highness and foreign
states.
Article V.
His Highness authorises the Company or their representatives to
occupy in his name all ports and forts at the mouth or mouths of any
river or rivers, or elsewhere in his dominions included in the limits
of this concession, with the right to establish custom-houses, and to
levy and collect dues on any vessels, goods, etc., arriving at or depart-
ing from such port or ports, and to take all necessary meiisures for
the prevention of smuggling, subject in all cases to the treaties above-
named.
Article VI.
His Highness grants to the Company or to their representatives
the exclusive privilege to search for and work, or to regulate, lease,
or assign, in any part of his Highness's territories within the limits of
this concession, any mines, or deposits of lead, coal, iron, copper, tin,
gold, silver, precious stones, or any metal or mineral, or mineral oils
whatsoever ; also the exclusive right to trade in the same, free from
all taxes and dues, excepting such moderate royalty on minerals only,
not exceeding five per cent, on the first value of the article, less the
working expenses, as may be hereinafter agreed by the Company and
their representatives to be paid to his Highness ; also the right to
use all forest trees and other woods and materials of any kind what-
soever for the purpose of the works aforesaid, and also for trade.
But the wood used for building and for burning, commonly known as
* borti,* may be cut on the mainland by others, as now, by payment
of such dues to the Company or to their representatives as they
may agree upon ; but no such dues shall be required for wood cut
for his Highnesses use.
272 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Article VIL
His Highness grants the Company or their representatives the
right to establish a bank or banks anywhere in his Highnes&'s
territories above mentioned, with the exclusive privilege of issuing
notes.
Article VIII.
All the aforesivid powers and privileges to extend over and be
available for the purposes and objects of the Company or their
representatives during the whole of the term of fifty years next, and
dating from the time of this concession being signed.
At the conclusion of the said term all the public works and build-
ings may revert to the Sultan, his direct heirs, and successors
nominated by him, if desired, at a valuation to be fixed by
Arbitrators chosen by both parties, subject to conditions of
Article XIV.
Article IX.
His Highness grants to the Company or to their representatives
the Hgie or lease of the customs of all the ports throughout that
part of his Highness's territories above defined, for an equal period of
time to the other concessions upon the following terms, namely :
The Company hereby guarantees to his Highness the whole amount
of the custom duties which he now receives, both from import and
export trade of that part of his Highness's dominions included in this
concession. The definite amount of the annual average shall be
fixed after one year's experience. During the first year the Imperial
British East Africa Company shall have the right to claim all and
every pecuniary or other other advantage connected with the adminis-
tration of the coast and customs which is guaranteed under similar
circumstiinces to the German Company in their concession.
For the first year also the Company guarantees to his Highness
the amount of the customs which he now receives, as shown by the
books, to be paid by monthly instalments, i)09i numerandOf accord-
ing to the Arab reckoning of the year.
After the first yeai-'s experience the annual average of the sum
to be paid to his Higliness by the Company shall be fixed. The
Company, however, shall have the right, at the end of every third
year, according to the results of the i)revious three years, as shown
by their books, to enter into fresh negotiations with his Highness
in order to fix a revised average. Further, it is understood that his
Highness shall not claim the duty on any part of this trade twice
APPENDIX L 273
over, and that the Company shall therefore be entitled to claim a
drawback for the amount of any duties which may hereafter be paid
direct to his Highness on any imports to, or exports from, the ports
included in this concession ; and the Company further guarantees
to pay to his Highness fifty per cent, of the additional net revenue
which shall come to them from the custom duties of the ports included
in this concession after pajrment of all expenses, and his Highness
grants to the Company all rights over the territorial waters in or
appertaining to his dominions within the limits of these concessions,
particularly the right to supervise and control the conveyance, transit,
landing, and shipment of merchandise, and produce within the said
waters by means of a coastguard service both on land and water.
Finally, in addition to all that is stated in the foregoing Article, the
Imperial British East Africa Company shall have the right to claim
and exercise every right, privilege, or power granted by his Highness
the Sultan to the German East African Association in Article IX.,
or in any other Article of their concession.
Article X.
In consideration of the foregoing concessions, powers, and pri-
vileges being granted by his Highness, the Company or their repre-
sentatives allot to his Highness the dividend on the value of that
part of the Company's capital which is corresponding to one founder's
share of the Imperial British East Africa Company, free of cost,
which shall entitle him to one-tenth of the net profits, as shown by
the books of the Company, after payment of all expenses, interests,
and depreciations, and after interest at the rate of eight per cent; shall
have been paid upon the shareholders' paid-up capital.
Article XL
The Imperial British East Africa Company shall enjoy all the
rights, privileges, imiimnities, and advantages which are or hereafter
may be enjoyed by or accorded to any other Company or particular
person to whom his Highness may have given, or may give, conces-
sions in any other part of his dominions similar to those granted by
this concession to the Imperial British East Africa Company, or of a
dififereot character.
Article XII.
These concessions do not relate to his Highnesses possessions in
the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, nor to his territories south of
S
274 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Wanga or north of Kipini ; and it is understood that all public,
judicial, or Government powers and functions herein conceded to the
company or to their representatiTes shall be exercised by them
only in the name and under the authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
Article XIII.
It is hereby agreed by both parties that these concessions, and
the corresponding obligations set forth, shall be binding upon both
parties, their heirs, successors, and assigns during tlie term of fifty
years, for which they have been agreed upon.
Article XIV.
All railways, tramways, caravanserais (rest-houses), roads, canals,
telegraphs, waterworks, gas-works, and other works of public utility,
also mines constructed by the Company or by parties authorised by
them with all their lands, buildings, and appurtenances shall be the
property of the contracting Company in perpetuity or of any Com-
pany which may be formed by the said Company to make them, and
they shall be free for ever from taxation of any kind, excepting only
the royalties on minerals previously provided for in Article VI.
Article XV.
Pending such reasonable period after the date of the final ratifica-
tion of this agreement as may be required by the Imperial British
East Africa Company to make their arrangements for administering
the territories and revenues conceded to them herein, the officials and
troops of his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar shall continue in
possession of such territories until the aforesaid Company intimate
their readiness to take over the whole administration, including the
collection of revenues. The Company shall be responsible to the
Sultan for the payment of the amount to which he may be entitled
under the provisions of Article IX. of this agreement, only from the
date on which they may take over charge of the administration as
above specified. It is further understood that the time of transfer of
the customs, lands, and buildings aforesiiid shall be fixed by si)ecial
agreement, but it is understood that such transfer shall be made
before the 1st January 1889 at latest.
Articl?: XVI.
The present Agreement has been made out in four copies, two of
which are written in the Arabic and two in the English language.
APPENDIX L 1^^
All these copies have the same issue and meaning. Should differ-
ences, however, hereafter arise as to the proper interpretation of the
English and Arabic text of one or other of the stipulations of
this concession, the English copy and meaning shall be considered
decisive.
In faith whereof his Highness, the Seyyid Khalifa and George
Sutherland Mackenzie, Director, on behalf of the Imperial British East
Africa Company, have signed this concession, and affixed their seals.
Done at Zanzibar this 9th day of October 1888.
(Sultan's Signature).
(Signed) George S. Mackenzie, Director
Imperial British East Africa Company.
Witness to the above —
(Signed) Lloyd William Mathews,
In command of Zanzibar troops.
I certify the above seals and signatures of his Highness the Sultan
of Zanzibar, and Mr. George Sutherland Mackenzie, a Director of the
Imperial British East Africa Company.
(Signed) C. B. Euan-Smith, Colonel, ]
H.B.M. Agent and Consul-General.
Zanzibar, October 9<A, 1888.
Copt of Undertaking given by the Consul-General to his High-
ness Seyyid Khalifa, in consideration of his signing the
concession herein— with special reference to Article IX. of
same — dated said Undertaking, 3rd October 1888.
It is never intended by the concession submitted for signature
that the Company shall charge the Sultan Rs. 170,000 for administer-
ing the coast. The Sultan shall not be responsible for this pay-
ment. By the concession the cost of administration is borne by the
Company ; but this can be settled between Mr. Mackenzie and his
Highness the Sultan. I have no doubt that Mr. Mackenzie will
propose that for the present his Highness shall himself pay the
Grovemors, etc. etc., and that there will be afterwards a settlement
of accounts.
With regard to the five per cent, charged by the German Company,
there is no mention of this in Article IX. The Company has, I
believe, no intention of asking for this payment unless arrangements
will be specially come to between them and the Sultan afterwards
which should make it desirable and advantageous for his Highness
to make this payment.
I hereby certify the above to be a true copy. G. S. M.
APPENDIX No. 2
FOUNDERS' AGREP:MENT, 1888
1. The Undersigned hereby agree to form themselves into an
Association or Company (hereinafter referred to as * the Company ')
under the name or style of the * Im ferial British East Africa
Company ' (hitherto called * The British East African Association ';,
having a nominal Share Capitul of £1,000,000 or such other sum as
the Company may hereafter agree upon, with power also to raise
further capital at any time by the issue of Ordinary or Preference
shares or Debentures, and if at any time so determined to convert
such Preference Shares and Debentures into Preference and Deben-
ture Stocks.
2. The objects for which the Company is formed are inter alia as
follows : —
(a) To take over, acquire, accept, hold and enjoy the concessions,
dated the 24th day of May 1887, granted by H.H. the
Seyyid Barghash-Bin-Said Sultan of Zanzibar for himself,
his heirs, successors and assigns to the British East African
Association under the presidency of Mr. William Mac-
Kinnon, which Association is now to be called the Imperial
British East Africa Company.
(6) To apply for and obtiiin from the Crown a charter or charters
incorporating the Company as a British corporate body and
under British protecti(m or otherwise, the liability of its
shareholders being limited to the amount for which they
severally subscribe, and its business and affairs being con-
trolled or directed by a President, Vice-President, and a
Court of Directors consisting of foiurteen persons or such
other number as may hereafter be agreed upon, or as the
charter may direct.
(r) To undertake under the terms of the said concessions the
entire nianagement^and administration of those parts of the
APPENDIX IL 277
mainlands and islands of the Zanzibar dominions on the
coast of Africa appertaining to the territory lying between
Wanga and Kiplni, both inclusive, which are recognised in
the Anglo-German treaty of 1886 as reserved for the
exclusive exercise of British influence, together with any
further rights of a similar or other nature in East Africa or
elsewhere which the Company may hereafter acquire.
(rf) Also to acquire from rulers, chiefs, or others, within the
districts reserved for British influence and elsewhere in
Africa (with due observance of international obligations)
lands, territories, and stations, with or without sovereign
rights, by concession, purchase, or otherwise, and to ad-
minister and govern the same and to exercise all the powers
and rights incidental thereto.
(e) To make and enforce laws for the government of districts, to
establish courts of justice, to appoint judges, magistrates,
and other officials, and generally to adopt all or any such
measures as may be deemed necessary in the interest and
for the protection and government of the districts for the
time being under the rule of the Company.
(/) To grant or withold licences, to levy taxes, customs, imports,
and other dues of any sort or kind whatsoever within such
districts.
(g) To construct and regulate, either directly or through others, all
roads, harbours, railroads, tramroads, telegraphs, telephones,
and other public or private works of any kind soever. To
erect waterworks, wharves, and any and every kind of build-
ing. To establish banks, issue notes, and coin money, and
genenilly to discharge and perform within the sphere of
their operations the functions which appertain to such rights
of sovereignty or ownership as may now or hereafter vest in
the Company by charter, concession, purchase, or otherwise.
Qi) To undertake all such trading or other operations as may
hereafter be decided upon within such territories and
districts or elsewhere.
{%) And generally to acquire, hold, enjoy, and exercise all other
powers, privileges, and rights of every kind and description
whatsoever and upon any terms or conditions whatsoever
which the President and Court of Directors for the time
being of the Company may in their absolute discretion
think advisable to apply for, seek to obtain, or acquire.
3. The Capital of the Company shall be divided into Ordinary
278 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Shares of ^£100 cnch, and in respect of every ten of such shares on
which all calls made thereon have been paid, the holder thereof shall
be entitled to one vote.
The first issue of capital shall be £250,000.
4. There shall also be five shares termed Founders' Shares, on
which no payment shall be made or shall at any time be required.
(a) Each of the said Founders' Shares shall be entitled to ten per
cent, of the net profits of the Company in each year remain-
ing after payment of a dividend upon the Ordinary shares at
the rate of eight per centum upon the paid-up capital for
the time being. Nothing herein shall limit the discretion or
powers of the President and Court of Directors, or of the
shareholders, as to determining what are net profits, or
whether a dividend has or has not been earned, or as to the
amount thereof, or as to the formation of a Reserve Fund,
or as to increasing the Share Capital of the Company.
Provision for settling these and similar questions is to be
made by the deed of settlement of the Company, and failing
any other mode, provision is to be made for their settlement
in case of necessity by arbitration. A Founder's Share shall
not carry any other right except in case of a voluntary sale
of the undertaking of the Company, in which event one-
twentieth part of the purchase-money shall be deemed to
belong to the Founders' Shares.
(6) The annual income attaching to the Founders' Shares shall
be disposed of or dealt with in the following manner : —
(c) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be paid to H.H. the Sultan of Zanzibar, according to
the terms and conditions of the concession already granted
and herein before more particularly referred to.
ifi) As to two of such shares (to be divided respectively into
twenty-five parts each or such other number of parts, or
other number as may within one year from the date of
these presents be agreed between the founders then living
or the majority of iheni) the annual income attaching there-
to shall be paid to an account to the use yro rata of the
undersigned, their executors, administrators, or assigns as
the founders of the Company and as the subscribers of
the £250,000 above mentioned, in proportion to the amount
hereby subscribed by them respectively. The deed of settle-
ment is to contain provisions prescribing the mode in which
such payment is to be made, so that the Company may be
APPENDIX II. 279
discharged by payment in the prescribed mode, and shall
not be obliged to inquire as to the persons entitled or their
several interests.
{c) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be reserved as special additional remuneration to the
President, Vice-President, and Court of Directors of the
Association for the time being, and shall be paid to them in
such proportion as they may from time to time decide upon.
(J) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be applied by the Court of Directors in such manner
as they in their absolute discretion may think fit, either in
rewarding employees and others who may render good service
to the Company or in creating or adding to a Keserve Fund.
5. All shares, in the Company shall be transferable in the form and
manner prescribed by the Court of Directors, and such transfers shall
be registered in the books of the Company, but no transfer of a share
which has not been fully paid up shall be made until the name of the
proposed transferee has been submitted to the Court of Directors
and has been approved by them in writing.
6. The undersigned as such founders as before-mentioned hereby
agree to contribute towards the capital required to carry out the
objects of the Company, such sum as is set opposite to their respective
signatures at the foot hereof as the amount of their respective contri-
butions, and, in consideration of the allotment to be made to them
respectively of shares in the capital of the Company to the amount
of such subscriptions respectively, to pay the same in such calls or
instalments and at such times as the Court of Directors for the time
being may, in their absolute discretion, appoint, and the shares
allotted in respect of the aggregate amount of such subscriptions shall
be considered as the first portion of the hereinbefore mentioned share
capital of the Company issued by the Company.
7. The liability of the undersigned is limited to the sum set
opposite their respective signatures.
8. All moneys so contributed shall be applied for the purposes
of the Company, including the reimbursement of moneys already
expended in the purchase of certain land and otherwise in and
about the objects of the Compa»y and estimated not to exceed at
the present time i,'r)0(X), and also including the payment of all legal
and other expenses, incurred or to be incurred, of and incidental to
the formation of the Company and in or about the application for and
obtaining of a charter or charters.
9. For the time being, and for three years after the incorporation
278 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Shares of ^lOO cnch, and in respect of every ten of sucli Bhana on
which all calla macic thereon hare been paid, the holder thereof aball
be entitled to one T<jte.
The first iMue of capital shall be £250,00(1.
4. There shall also be five shares termed Founders' Shares, on
which no pajment shall he made or shall at any time be required,
(a) Each of the said Founders' Shares shall be entitled to ten per
cent, of the net profits of the Company in each year remain*
ing after payment of a dividend upon the Ordinary shares at
the rate of eight per centum upon the paid-up capital for
the time being. Nothing herein shall limit the discretion or
powers of the President and Court of Directors, or of the
shareholdeis, as to deterjnining what are net profits, or
whether a dividend has or has not been earned, or as to the
amount thereof, or a? to the formation of a Reserve Fund,
or as to increasing the (Share Capital of the Company.
Provision for settling theae and similar questions is to be
made by tiie deed of settlement of the Company, and failing
any other mode, provision is to be made for their settlement
in case of necessity by arbitration. A Founder's Share shall
not carry any other right except in case of a voluntary aale
of the undertaking of the Company, in which event one-
twentieth part of the purchase-money aball be deemed to
belong to the Founders' Shares.
(6) The annual income attaching to the Founders' Shares shall
he disposed of or dealt with in the following manner : —
(r) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be paid to H.H. the Suilan of Zanzibar, according to
the terms and conditions of the concession already granted
and herein before more particularly referred to.
{fi) As to two of such shares (to be divided respectively into
twenty-five parts each or such other number of parti, or
other number as may within one year from the date of
these presents be agreed between the founders then living
or the majority of them) the annu:il income attaching there-
to shall be paid to an account to the use ;iro raio, of the
undersigned, their executors, administrators, or assigns as
the founders of the Company and as the subscribers of
the ;C2SO,UO0 above mentioned, in proportion to the amount
hereby subscribed by them respectively. The deed of settle*
ment is t-> contain provisions prescribing the mode in which
payment is to be made, so that the Company may be
APPENDIX II. 279
discharged by payment in the prescribed mode, and shall
not be obliged to inquire as to the persons entitled or their
several interests.
(t) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be reserved as special additional remuneration to the
President, Vice-President, and Court of Directors of the
Association for the time being, and shall be paid to them in
such proportion as they may from time to time decide upon.
if) As to one of such shares the annual income attaching thereto
shall be applied by the Court of Directors in such manner
as they in their absolute discretion may think fit, either in
rewarding employees and others who may render good service
to the Company or in creating or adding to a Reserve Fund.
5. All shares. in the Company shall be transferable in the form and
manner prescribed by the Court of Directors, and such transfers shall
be registered in the books of the Company, but no transfer of a share
which has not been fully paid up shall be made until the name of the
proposed transferee has been submitted to the Court of Directors
and has been approved by them in writing.
6. The undersigned as such fuunders as before-mentioned hereby
agree to contribute towards the capital required to carry out the
objects of the Company, such sum as is set opposite to their respective
signatures at the foot hereof as the amount of their respective contri-
butions, and, in consideration of the allotment to be made to them
respectively of shares in the capital of the Company to the amount
of such subscriptions respectively, to pay the same in such calls or
instalments and at such times as the Court of Directors for the time
being may, in their absolute discretion, appoint, and the shares
allotted in respect of the aggregate amount of such subscriptions shall
be considered as the first portion of the hereinbefore mentioned share
capital of the Company issued by the Comi>any.
7. The liability of the undersigned is limited to the sum set
opposite their respective signatures.
8. All moneys so contributed shall be applied for the purposes
of the Company, including the reimbursement of moneys already
expended in the purchase of certain land and otherwise in and
about the objects of the Comj)a»y and estimated not to exceed at
the present time ^.^OOO, and also including the payment of all legal
and other expenses, incurred or to be incurred, of and incidental to
the formation of the Company and in or about the application for and
obtaining of a charter or charters.
9. For the time being, and for three years after the incorporation
ZSo
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
of the Company, the affairs of the Company shall be under the control
and direction of a President, Vice-President, and a Court of Directors,
who shall conduct the same in such manner as they may think liest.
10. The said William Mackinnon mentioned in the concession
referred to in clause 2 (a) of this Agreement as the President shall be
such first President, the undersigned the Right Honourable Lord
BrasseYjK.C.B., shall be the first Vice-President, and the undersigned
General Sir Donald M. Stewart, Bart., G.C.B., Sir T. Fowell
Buxton, Bdrt., Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., General Sir Arnold
BuRRowES KembAll, R. A., K.C.B., K.C.S.L, Lieutenant-Greneral Sir
Lewis Pelly, M.P., K.C.B., K.C.S.L, Colonel Sir Francis de
WiNTON, R.A., K.C.M.G., C.B., W. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., A. L.
Bruce, R. P. Harding, George S. Mackenzie, Robert Ryrie, shall
constitute the first Court of Directors with power to fill up any vacan-
cies which may arise and to add to their number, but not exceeding
sixteen, in all, including the President and Vice-President. At the
expiration of three years from the date of incorporation, three of such
Directors shall retire annually, but such retiring Directors shall
respectively be eligible for re-election.
11. Anything hereinbefore contained is subject to such alteration
or amendment as may be imposed by the terms of any other concession
which may be accepted by the Company or by any charter or
charters which may be granted to the Company by the Queen's Most
Excellent Majesty in Council or by the deed of settlement executed
in pursuance thereof.
Dated this 18th day of April 1888.
\
W. Mackinnon,
•
£25,000
Brassey,
•
10,000
R. P. Harding,
10,000
P. Mackinnon,
15,000
Wm. Vaughan Morgan,
10,000
S. Vaughan Morgan,
10,000
W. Vaughan ]Morgan,
«
5O0O
Alexander L. Bruce,
5000
H. J. Younger,
5000
A. G. Schiff, .
10,000
Geo. W. Medley, .
10,000
D. Macncill,
10,000
J. Mackinnon, .
5000
W. Burdett-Coutts, .
10,000
C. Tcnnant,
5000
APPENDIX IL
281
Ths. Fowell Buxton,
;glO,000
Edwyn S. Dawes,
5000
George S. Mackenzie,
5000
W. H. Bishop,
10,000
Richard Helme,
5000
P. C. Leckie, .
5000
N. Macniichael,
5000
James 11. llenton, .
5000
R. Ryrie,
5000
Kinnaird,
. • 5000
J. H. Piileston,
5000
A. Gordon,
5000
Walpole Greenwell,
5000
James F. Iliitton, .
5000
Duncan Mackiunon,
5000
D. M. Stewart,
1000
John Kirk,
1000
A. B. Kemball,
1000
Lewis Pelly,
1000
F. de Winton, .
1000
Fredc. Holmwood,
1000
J.M.Hall, .
4000
i
APPENDIX No. 3
ROYAL CHARTER
(Dated 3rd September 1888)
Victoria by the Grace of God, of the United KiDgdoni of Great
Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith. To all to whom
these presents shall come. Greeting :
WHERE-.VS a humble Petition has been presented to Us in our
Council by William Mackinnon, of Loup and Baliuakill, in the
County of Argyll, Scothmd ; the Right Honourable Lord Brassey,
Knight Commander of Our Most Honourable Order of the Bath,
of Normanhurst Court, Sussex ; General Sir Donald Stewart,
Baronet, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Honourable Order of the
Bath, Knight Grand Commander of Our Most Exalted Order of the
Star of India, and a Companion of Our Most Eminent Order of
the Indian Empire, of Harrington Gardens, London; Sir Joiin Kirk,
Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael
and St. George, of Wavertree, Sevenoaks, Kent ; William Burdett-
CouTTS, a Member of the Commons House of Parliament, of Holly
Lodge, Highgate, Middlesex ; Robert Palmer Harding, of Wetherby
Gardens, Kensington, Esquire ; George Sutherland Mackenzie,
of 13 Austin Friars, London, Merchant :
And Wuereas the said Petition states amongst other things : —
That the Petitioners and others are associated for the purpose of
forming a Company or Association, to be incorporated, if to Us
should seem fit, for tlie objects in the said Petition set forth under
the corporate name of the Imperial British East Africa Company.
That his Highness the Seyyid Barghash-Bin-Said, Sultan of
Zanzibar and its East African dependencies, by his grants or con-
cessions datc<l the 24th ^May 18^17, granted and conceded to the
Petitioners, or some of them, under the name or description of the
British East African Association, all his powers, and the rights and
duties of administration, and other privileges specially named, on
APPENDIX III. 283
the malDland of East Africa, in the territory of the Mrima, and also
on the islands embraced in such territory, and in all his territories
and dependencies on the coast of East Africa, from Wanga to
Kipini, both inclusive, such powers, rights, and duties to be exercised
and performed in his name and under his flag, and subject to the
provisions of the said grants and concessions.
That divers preliminary agreements have been made on behalf of
the Petitioners with chiefs and tribes in regions which adjoin or are
situate to the landward of the territories included in the said grants
or concessions, and which are included in the sphere of British
influence, agreed on behalf of ourselves and the Government of his
Majesty the Emperor of Germany, in 1886, by which powers of
government and administration in such regions are granted or con-
ceded to or for the benefit of the petitioners.
That the Petitioners desire to carry into effect the said grants,
concessions, and agreements, and such other grants, concessions,
agreements, and treaties as they may hereafter obtain within the
districts already referred to as being within the sphere reserved for
British influence and elsewhere, as We may be pleased to allow with
the view of promoting trade, commerce, and good government in the
territories and regions which are or may be comprised in such grants,
concessions, agreements, or treaties, as aforesaid, and the Petitioners
believe that, if the said grants, concessions, agreements, or treaties
can be carried into effect, the condition of the natives inhabiting the
aforesaid territories and regions w^ould be materially improved, and
their civilisation advanced, and an organisation established which
would tend to the suppression of the slave trade in such territories,
and the said territories and regions would be opened to the lawful
trade and commerce of Our subjects and of other nations.
That the possession by a British company of the coast-line, as
above defined, and which includes the port of Mombasa, would be
advantageous to the commercial and other interests of Our subjects
in the Indian Ocean, who may otherwise become compelled to reside
and trade under the government or protection of alien powers.
That the success of the enterprise in which the Petitioners are
engaged would be greatly advanced if it should seem fit to Us to
grant them our Royal Charter of Incorporation as a British Company
under the said name or title, or such other name or title and with
such powers as to Us may seem fit for the purpose of more effectually
carrying out the objects aforesaid.
That the Petitioners have already subscribed large sums of money
for the purposes of the intended Company, and are prepared to
I
284 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
subscribe or to procure such further amount as may hereafter be
found requisite for the development of the said enterprise in the
event of Our being pleased to grant to them Our Royal Charter of
Incorporation, as aforesaid.
Now, Therefore, We having taken the said Petition into Our
Royal consideration in our Council, and being satisfied that the
intentions of the Petitioners are pr.iiseworthy and deserve encourage-
ment, and that the enterprise in the Petition described may be
productive of the benefits set forth in the said Petition by our
prerogative Royal, and of Our special grace, certain knowledge and
mere motion have constituted, erected and incorporated, and by this
Our Charter for Us and Our heirs and Royal successors do constitute,
erect, and incorporate into one body politic and corporate by the
name of The Imperial British East Africa Company the said
William Mackinxon, the Right Honourable Lord Brassey, K.C.R,
General Sir Donald Stewart, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., CLE., Sir
John Kirk, G.C.!^LG., Willi an Burdett-Codtts, M.P., Robert
Palmer Harding, George Sutherland Mackenzie, and such other
persons and such bodies as from time to time become and are mem-
bers of that body, with perpetual succession and a Common Seal,
with power to break, alter, or renew the same at discretion, and with
the further autiiorities, powers, and privileges conferred, and subject
to the conditions imposed by tiiis Our Charter, and we do hereby
accordingly will, ordain, grant, and declare as follows (that is to
say): —
1. The said Imperial British East Africa Company (in this Our
Charter referred to as *the Company') is hereby authorised and
empowered to hold and retain the full benefit of the several grants,
concessions, agreements, and treaties aforesaid, or any of them, and
all rights, interests, authorities, and powers, necessary for the purposes
of government, preservation of public order in, or protection of, the
said territories, or otherwise, of what nature or kind soever, under or
by virtue thereof, or resulting therefrom, and ceded to or vested in
the Company, in, over, or affecting the territories, lands, and property
comprised in those several grants, concessions, agreements, or treaties,
or in, over, or affecting any territories, lands, or property in the neigh-
bourhood of the same, and to hold, use, and exercise the same lands,
])roperty rights, interests, authorities, and powers respectively for
the purposes of the Company, and on the terms of this Our'Charter.
2. The Company is hereby further authorised and empowered,
subject to the approval of one of Our iDrincipal Secretaries of State
(herein referred to as Our Secretary of State) to acquire and take by
APPENDIX III, 285
any grant, concession, agreement, or treaty, other rights, interests,
authorities, or powers of any kind or nature whatever, in, over, or
affecting the territories, lands, or property comprised in the several
grants, concessions, agreements, or treaties, as aforesaid, or any rights,
interests, authorities, or powers of any kind or nature whatever in,
over, or affecting other territories, lands, or property in Africa, and to
hold, use, enjoy, and exercise the same for the purposes of the Com-
pany, and on the terms of this Our Charter.
3. Provided that none of the powers of this Our Charter shall be
exercised under or in relation to any grant, concession, agreement, or
treaty, as aforesaid, until a copy of such grant, concession, agreement,
or treaty in such form and with such maps or particulars as Our
Secretary of Stiite approves and verified as he requires, has been
transmitted to him, and he has signified his approval thereof, either
absolutely or subject to any conditions or reservations.
4. The Company shall be bound by and shall fulfil all and singukr
the stipulations on their part contained in any such grant, concession,
agreement, or treaty, as aforesaid, subject to any subsequent agree-
ment affecting those stipulations approved by Our Secretary of State.
5. The Company shall always be and remain British in character
and domicile, and shall have its principal office in Great Britain,
and the Company's principal representative in East Africa, and all
the Directors shall always be natural-born British subjects or persons
who have been naturalised as British subjects by or under an Act of
Parliament of Our United Kingdom.
6. The Company shall not have power to transfer wholly or in
part the benefit of the grants, concessions, agreements, or treaties
aforesaid, or any of them, except with the consent of Our Secretary
of State.
7. In case at any time any difference arises between the Sultan of
Zanzibar, or the chiefs of tribes which are included in the sphere of
British influence, as hereinbefore recited, and the Company, that
difference shall on the part of the Company be submitted to the
decision of our Secretary of State, if he is willing to undertake the
decision thereof.
8. If at any time Our Secretary of State thinks fit to dissent
from or object to any of the dealings of the Company with any
foreign power and to make known to the Company any suggestion
founded on that dissent or objection, the Company shall act in
accordance therewith.
0. If at any time Our Secretary of State thinks fit to object to
the exercise by the Company of any authority or power within any
286 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
part of the territories comprised in the several grants, concessions,
agreements, or treaties aforesaid, or otherwise acquired by the
Company, on the ground of there being an adverse claim to that part,
the Company shall defer to that objection until such time as any
such claim has been withdrawn or Anally dealt with or settled by
Our Secretary of State.
10. The Company shall, to the best of its power, discourage, and,
so far as may be practicable and as may be consistent with existing
treaties between non-African powers and Zanzibar, abolish by degrees
any system of slave trade or domestic servitude in the Company's
territories.
11. The Company as such, or its officers as such, shall not in any
way interfere with the religion of any class or tribe of the peoples of
its territories or of auy of the inhabitants thereof, except so far as
may be necessary in the interests of humanity, and all forms of
religious worship or religious ordinances may be exercised within the
said territories, and no hindrance shall be offered thereto except as
aforesaid.
12. In the administration of justice by the Company to the peoples
of its territories or to any of the inhabitants thereof, careful regard
shall always be had to the customs and laws of the class or tribe or
nation to which the parties respectively belong, especially with
respect to the holding, possession, transfer, and disposition of lands
and goods, and testate or intestate succession thereto, and marriage,
divorce, and legitimacy and other rights of property and personal
rights.
13. If at any time Our Secretary of State thinks fit to dissent from
or object to any part of the proceedings or system of the Company
relative to the peoples of its territories or to any of the inhabitants
in respect of slavery or religion, or the administration of justice, or
other matter, he shall make known to the Company his dissent or
objection, and the Company shall act in accordance with his direc-
tions duly signified.
14. The Company shall freely afford all facilities requisite for Our
ships in the harbours of the Company without payment, except
reasonable charges for work done or services rendered, or materials or
things supplied.
15. Except in the dominions of his Highness the Sultan of Zanzi-
bar (within which it is required to use his Highness's flag) the
Company may hoist and use on its buildings and elsewhere in its
territories and on its vessels such distinctive fli^ indicating the
British character of the Company, as our Secretary of State and the
APPENDIX HI, 287
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty shall from time to time
approve.
16. Nothing in this Our Charter shall be deemed to authorise the
Company to set up or grant any monopoly of trade, provided that
the establishment of or the grant of concessions for banks, railways,
tramways, docks, telegraphs, waterworks, or other similar under*
takings, or any undertakings or system of patents or copyright
approved by Our Secretary of State, shall not be deemed monopolies
for this purpose.
17. Subject to the customs duties and taxes, hereby authorised,
and subject to such restrictions as may be imposed by the Company
on importation of spirits, opium, arms and ammunition, and to
restrictions on other things similar to those restrictions which may
be applied in Our United Kingdom, or in Our Indian Empire, or as
may be approved by Our Secretary of State, there shall be no
differential treatment of the subjects of any power as to trade or
settlement, or as to access to markets ; provided that foreigners as
well as British subjects shall be subject to administrative dispositions
in the interest of commerce and of order.
18. The Company shall, in Zanzibar territory, conform to all the
restrictions and provisions with respect to export and import or
other duties or taxes which are contained in any Treaty for the time
being in force between Zanzibar and any other power in relation to
the Zanzibar territories of the Company.
19. The Company shall not in Zanzibar territory levy on foreigners
any other duty or taxes than such as are authorised in Zanzibar
territory by such treaties as last mentioned, and shall not in their
other territories, without the approval of our Secretary of State, levy
on foreigners any duties or taxes, other than duties and taxes similar
to those authorised to be levied in Zanzibar territory by the treaties
in force between Us and the Sultan of Zanzibar at the date of this
Our Charter, and if any such other taxes are levied with the approval
of our Secretary of State, accounts of their nature, incidence, pro-
ceeds, and application shall from time to time, if required, be
furnished to Our Secretary of State at such times, and in such form,
and in such manner as he directs.
20. For the more effectual prevention of the slave trade, the
Company may, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained,
levy within the territories administered by the Company, other than
their Zanzibar territory, a tax on caravans and porters, or carriers
carrying merchandise or other goods passing through the Company's
territories, provided such tax shall not be imposed in contravention
of any treaties between Great Britain and Zanzibar.
288 BRITISH EAST AFRICA * ^-
21. For regulating the hunting of elepfaiats, and for their preser-
vation, for the purpose of providing meant nf military and other
transport in Our Indian Empire or elsewhere, the Company may,
not\vithst:tnding anything hereinbefore contained, impose and levy,
within any territories administered by them, other than their Zanzibar
territory, a licence duty, and may grant licences to take or kill
elephants, or to export elephants' tusks or ivory.
22. The Company shall be subject to, and shall perform and under-
take all the obligations contained in, or undertaken by Ourselves
under any treaty, agreement, or ariangement between Ourselves and
any other. St^te or Power, whether already made, or hereafter to
be made.
In all matters relating to the observance of this Article, or to the
exercise within the Company's territories for the time being of any
jurisdiction exercisable by Us under the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts,
the Company shall conform to, and obsef ve and carry out, all such
directions as may from time to time be given in that behalf by Our
Secretary of 8tat^, and the Company shall appoint all necessary
officers to perform such duties, and shall provide such Courta and
other requisites as may from time to time be necessary for the
administration of Justice.
23. The Company is hereby further specially authorised and
empowered for the purposes of this Our Charter —
(I.) To fix the capital of the Company, and to increase the same
from time to time, and for the purpose of raising such
sums of money as it may find necessary for the proper
working of the Company as the field of its operations
extend, to issue shares, and to borrow moneys by deben-
tures or other obligations.
(II.) To acquire and hold, or charter, or otherwise deal with, steam
vessels and other vessels.
(III.) To create banks and other companies, and authorise per-
sons and companies, and establish undertakings or
assocLitions for purposes consistent w^ith the provisions of
this Our Charter.
(IV.) To make and maintain therein roads, harbours, railways,
telegraphs, and other public and other works, and carry
on therein mining and other industries.
(V.) To make therein concessions of mining, forestal, or other
rights.
(VI.) To improve, develop, clear, plant, and cultivate any terri-
tories and lands comprised in the several grants aforesaid,
or otherwise acquired under this Our Charter.
-j; '-•» APPENDIX III, 289
^>. . ; r t
( VtT) To settle apy sudhuterritories and lands as aforesaid, and
aid and p<MIH« immigration into the same.
(VIII.) To grant any lands therein for terms or in perpetuity
absolutely, or by way of mortgage or otherwise.
(IX.) To make loans or contributions of money, or money's worth,
for promoting any of the objects of the Company,
(X.) To acquire and hold personal property.
(XL) To carry on any lawful commerce, trade, or dealing whatso-
ever, in connection with the objects of the Company,
(XII.) To establish and maintain agencies in our Colonies and
Possessions, and elsewhere.
(XIII.) To sue and be sued by the Company's name of incorporation,
as well in our Courts in our United Kingdom, or in our
Courts in our Colonies or Possessions, or in our Courts in
foreign countries, or elsewhere.
(XIV.) To take and hold without licence in mortmain or other
authority than this, our Charter, messuages, and heredita-
ments in England, and subject to any local law in any of
our Colonies or Possessions, and elsewhere, convenient for
carrying on the management of the affairs of the Company,
and to dispose from time to time of any such messuage
and hereditaments when not required for that purpose.
(XV.) To do all lawful things incidental or conducive to the
exercise or enjoyment of the authorities and powers of
the Company in this our Charter expressed or referred to,
or any of them.
24. Within one year after the date. of this our Charter, there shall
be executed by the members of the Company for the time being a
deed of settlement, providing so far as necessary for —
(I.) The further definition of the objects and purposes of the
Company.
(II.) The amount and division of the capital of the Company,
and the calls to be made in respect thereof.
(III.) The division and distribution of profits.
(IV.) The number, qualification, appointment, removal, rotation,
and powers of Directors of the Company, and the time
when the first appointment of Directors under such deed
is to take effect.
(V.) The registration of members of the Company.
(VI.) The preparation of Annual Accounts, to be submitted to the
members at a Greneral Meeting.
(VII.) The audit of those Accounts by independent auditors.
T
290 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
(VIII.) The making of Bye-laws.
(IX.) The making and using of official seals of the Companj.
(X.) The winding up (in case of need) of the Company's affairs.
(XI.) Any other matters usual or proper to be provided for in
respect of a Chartered Company.
25. The Deed of Settlement shall, before the execution thereof, be
submitted to and approved by the Lords of our Council, and a
certificate of their approval thereof, signed by the Clerk of our
Coumiil, shall be indorsed on this Our Charter, and on the Deed of
Settlement, and such Deed of Settlement shall take effect from the
date of such approval.
26. The provisions of the Deed of Settlement may be from time to
time varied or added to by a supplementary Deed, made and executed
in such manner, and subject to such conditions, as the Deed of Settle-
ment prescribes.
27. Such Deed of Settlement may provide for the creation of
Founders' Shares, and for assigning to the holders of such shares a
right to a proportion of the profits or revenues of the Company, to
be defined by the Company's Deed of Settlement, to be approved, as
aforesaid, without contribution to the capital of the Company.
28. The members of the Company shall be individually liable for
the debts, contracts, engagements, and liabilities of the Company to
the extent only of the amount for the time being unpaid on the
shares held by them respectively.
29. Until such Deed of Settlement as aforesaid takes effect, the
said William Magkinnon shall be the President ; the said the
Right Honourable Lurd Brassev, K.C.B., shall be Vice-President ;
and the said General Sir Donald M. Stew^art, Bart., G.C.B. ; Sir
Thomas Fowell Blxton, Bart. ; Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G. ;
General Sir Arnold BurrowesKkmbalLjR A. ,K. C.S.I. ; Lieutenant-
General Sir Lewis Pelly, M.P., K.C.B., K.C.S.I. ; Colonel Sir
Francis de Winton, R.A., K.C.M.G., C.B. ; W. Burdett-Coutts,
M.P. ; Alexander Low Bruce ; Robert Palmer Harding ;
George Sutherland Mackenzie ; and Robert Ryrie, shall be
Directors of the Company, and may, on behalf of the Company, do
all things necessary or proper to be done under this Our Charter by
or on behalf of the Company.
And We do further will, ordain, and declare that this Our Charter
shall be acknowledged by our Governors, and our Naval and Military
OflBcers, and our Consuls, and our other Officers in our Colonies, and
possessions, and on the high seas, and elsewhere, and they shall
severally give full force and effect to this Our Charter, and shall
APPENDIX II L 291
recognise, and be in all things aiding to the Company and its
Officers.
And We do further will, ordain, and declare that this Our Charter
shall be taken, construed, and adjudged in the most favourable and
beneficial sense for and to the best advantage of the Company, as
well in Our Courts in Our United Kingdom, and in Our Courts in
Our Colonies or possessions, and in Our Courts in foreign countries or
elsewhere, notwithstanding that there may appear to be in this Our
Charter any non-recital, mis-recital, uncertainty, or imperfection.
And We do further will, ordain, add declare that this Our Charter
shall subsist and continue valid, notwithstanding any lawful change
in the name of the Company or in the Deed of Settlement thereof,
such change being made with the previous approval of our Secretary
of State signified under his hand.
And We do lastly will, ordain, and declare, that in case at any
time it is made to appear to Us in Our Council that the Company
have substantially failed to observe and conform to the provisions of
this Our Charter, or that the Company are not exercising their powers
under the recited grants, concessions, agreements, and treaties, so (is
to advance the interests which the Petitioners have represented to Us
to be likely to be advanced by the grant of this Our Charter, it shall
be lawful for Us, Our heirs and successors, and We do hereby expressly
reserve and take to Ourselves, Our heirs, and successors the right and
power by writing under the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom to
revoke this Our Charter without prejudice to any power to repeal the
same by law belonging to Us or them, or to any of Our Courts,
Ministers, or Officers, independently of this present declaration and
reservation.
In Witness whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made
patent.
Witness ourself at Westminster, the third day of September, in the
fifty-second year of our reign.
By Warrant under the Queen's Sign Manual.
MuiR Mackenzie.
(Seal.)
APPENDIX No. 4
BARON LAMBERMONT'S AWARD
(Translated from the French)
Baron Lambermont to Lord Vivian.
Brussels, 11 th August 1889.
My Lord, — I hand to your Excellency the Award which I haye
given upon the subject of the Island of Laniu, in fulfilment of the
mandate which her Britannic Majesty's Government and the Im-
perial German Government did me the honour to confer on me.
Being an Arbitrator and not a Mediator, I had only to pronounce
what were the strict rights, and I could not enter into the domain of
compromises.
But if the study which I have had to make, and a loyal spirit of
conciliation could entitle me in the eyes of the two Governments to
do so, I would here record, in a purely personal manner, and without
confining myself to the strict limits of my judicial task, the impres-
sion which has been left on me by an examination of the facts
accomplished, or in course of being accomplished, in East Africa, and
a wish which is at the bottom of my sentiments.
In 1886, Germany and England, in a spirit of mutual harmony,
and by an agreement to which the Sultan of Zanzibar adhered,
adjusted their respective rights in a considerable portion of East
Africa. This act was not and could not be complete ; it corresponded
to a given state of afifairs, and to some extent necessarily followed the
march of events. Could not the same as was done three years ago,
with regard to the territories to the south of the Tana, be done with
regard to those which lie to the north of that river ? I do not venture
to decide that question. It is for the interested Governments to
examine it, and, if the case arises, to select the opportune moment.
Upon so vast a theatre there are numerous elements of compromise.
If a fresh agreement should be made, regulating them, one could not
only arrive at arrangements which would settle the present difficulties
APPENDIX IV, 293
in a mutually advantageous manner, but one would eliminate for the
future the very source of differences which, in the present state of
affairs, have a tendency to multiply.
These desirable results cannot be expected from an award which
decides by right, and upon an isolated case ; it separates the interests
at issue, and does not reconcile them. It may leave behind it regrets ;
it does not suppress the principle of rivalry capable of hampering the
course of works of civilisation, for which the spirit of concord and
the co-openition of all beneficent energies are the first condition of
success. It is the sincere wish of the Arbitrator to see the two
great Powers complete, in that sense, the task which has devolved
upon him, and arrive at a general compromise worthy of their
sagacity, and worthy of the solicitude which they manifest, in an
equal degree, for the grave interests involved in the taking possession
of African territories by European nations.
Upon the conclusion of my task, I desire to express once more my
profound gratitude for the token of confidence bestowed on me, and
which I ascribe entirely to my country, and to my sovereign. Permit
me to hope, my Lord, that your excellency, with your perfect oblig-
ingness, will be good enough to act as my intermediary with her
Majesty's Government.
I take the opportunity, etc. etc.,
(Signed) Baron Lambermont.
Award given on the 17th August by Baron Lambermont,
Minister of State of his Majesty the King of the Belgians,
on the subject of the Island of Lamu.
We, Baron Lambermont, Minister of State of his Majesty the
King of the Belgians :
Having accepted the appointment of Arbitrator which has been
conferred on us by the Government of her Majesty the Queen of
Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and by the Grovernment
of his Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, with
reference to a dispute which has arisen between the Imperial British
East Africa Company and the German Witu Ct>mpany :
Animated by the sincere desire to respond, by a scrupulous and
impartial decision, to the confidence which the two Governments
have shown in us :
Having for that purpose duly examined and maturely considered
the documents which have been produced on either side :
294 BRITISH EA S T AFRICA
And desiring to give a decision upon the subject of tbe dispute,
which is the farming of the customs, and the administration of the
Island of Laniu situate on the East Coast of Africa :
One of the parties claiming for the German Wita Company priority
of right as to such farming :
The other contending that the late Sultan and the present Sultan
of Zanzibar undertook to concede the said farming to the Imperial
British East Africa Company, and that tbe objections raised on the
part of Germany are not of a nature to place any obstacle in the way
of the Sovereign of the Island of Lamu fulfilling the obligations con-
tracted by his predecessor and himself toward that Company.
I.
Considering that in the Memorandum presented by the Imperial
German Government, the right of the Witu Company is, in the first
place, stated to be derived from the Convention made on the 29th
October and 1st November 1886 between Germany and England, and
from the signification said to have been attached to that Agreement
by the contracting Powers.
Whereas the said Convention circumscribed the area to which it
is to apply within expressly determined limits, namely — starting from
the sea — the Rovuma on the south and the Tana on the north.
Whereas it then divided this space into two zones, separated by a
line of demarcation following the Wanga or Umbe.
Whereas of these two zones, one is allotted exclusively to German
influence, which is to be exercised to the south of the line of demar-
cation, and the other exclusively to English influence, which ia to be
exercised to the north of the said line.
Whereas the respective limits of the two zones of influence are
thus clearly fixed, and are formed by the line of demarcation and the
perimeter, beyond which they cannot extend without going out of
the territory subject to the arrangement.
Whereas, to draw from the spirit or sense of the Convention an
inference which does not arise from its text, and which would
attribute to Germany exclusive freedom of action in the territories
situate to the north of the Tana, it would be necessary that a special
and fresh agreement should be made to that eflfect between the con-
tracting Powers, and should be duly proved.
Whereas no document is produced proving the existence of such
an agreement.
And whereas such proof does not arise from the Note of the
British Government, dated 7th September 1888, inasmuch as, in
APPENDIX IV. 295
admitting that the sphere of English influence does not extend as far
as the river Osi, that document is in perfect harmony with the terms
of the 1886 arrangement, which limits its application to the territories
comprised between the Kovuma and the Tana.
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that — save the clause which acknowledges as
belonging to the Witu territory the strip of coast between Kipini and
the northern end of the Bay of Manda — the Anglo-German agree-
ment of the 29th October and 1st November 1886 does not extend
its eflfects either beyond the Tana or beyond the Rovuma, and does
not give either of the parties a preferential right as to the farming of
the customs, and the administration of the Island of Lamu, which is
situate beyond the limits within which the said arrangement is,
according to its own terms, to have its application.
II.
Considering that, according to the German Memorandum, the
Islands of the Bay of Manda, from a geographical point of view,
belong to the Witu country, of which they are said to be the pro-
longation ; that, looked upon from a commercial standpoint, the
Island of Lamu is the place of deposit for the goods which come
from the Witu country, or which are intended for that German
possession ; and lastly, that its connection with the continent still
further appears in regard to judicial or political order, by reason of
the manifold relations of the inhabitants of the island with the
continent, and the questions of ownership, or of cultivation connected
therewith ; the whole of these facts demonstrating that the admini-
stration of the island must be intrusted to the same hands as have
the administration of the continent ;
Considering that, on the other hand, the English Memorandum
represents the Island of Lamu as having for a long time past been a
mart for British commerce, a place where the steamers of the British
India Company trading tu East Africa touch, and a centre of commerce
which is almost exclusively in the hands of English merchants.
Whereas no argument drawn from the proximity of the continent
could, so far as regards the Island of Lamu, prevail against the
formal clause of the Anglo- German agreement of the 29th October
and 1st November 1886, which places that Island amongst the
possessions, the sovereignty of which is acknowledged in the Sultan
of Zanzibar.
And if considerations based upon financial and administrative
296 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
interests or upon political convenience can show the advantages or
the disadvantages offered by a solution in conformity with the views
of one or the other of the parties, such reasons do not rank as a mode
or acquisition recognised by international law.
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that neither the geographical connection, nor
the commercial connection, nor the political interest, properly so
called, pLoce either of the parties in a position to claim, as a right,
the cession of the customs and the administration of the Island of
Lamu.
III.
The questions of a prejudicial character being thus decided and
the discussion being reduced to the question of the engagements said
to have been entered into by the Sultans of Zanzibar towards the
two parties :
Considering that it is necessary to examine whether and to what
extent the engagements invoked by the two parties combine the
conditions necessary for the proof of their existence and their validity ;
As regards the German Witu Company :
Considering that, on the lOth December 1887, the Grerman
Consul-General and Mr. Toeppen, the representative of the Witu
Company, had an audience of the Sultan Seyyid Barghash, of which
audience the Consul-General gave an account to his Government
by a report, which is not produced, but the analysis of which in the
German Memorandum ends with these words: 'The result of this
interview expanded may be summed up in this sense, that the Sultan
declared himself to be at once ready (* sofort sich bereit erklarte) to
grant the Concession for the Islands of Manda Bay to the Witu
Company, as soon as the other arrangement with the German East
African Company should be concluded, and that he only desired to
retain his freedom of action for the fixing of one method or the
other of indemnifying him in money ; ' and that in his letter of the
16th November 1888 to the Sultan Seyyid Khalifa, the Consul-
General expresses himself thus : *I take the liberty of lecalling the
fact that, under Seyyid Barghash, negotiations were already carried on
for a concession of the islands of Manda Bay to the German W'itu
Company, of which Mr. Toeppen is the representative at Lamu.
Seyyid Barghash received Mr. Toeppen in my presence and showed
himself ready to ttssume such an engagement (* Seyyid Barghash hat
seine Bereitwilligkeit ein derartiges Abkommen zu treffen ausges-
APPENDIX IV, • 297
prochen) as soon as the Convention with the East Africatf Company
should have been concluded.'
Whereas the expressions made use of by the Sultan, taken in their
natural sense, would imply the intention of concluding a Convention.
Whereas in order to transform this intention into a unilateral
promise, availing as a Convention, the harmony of wishes ought to
have been manifested by the express promise of one of the parties,
together with the acceptance of the other party, and this harmony of
wishes should have applied to the essential elements which constitute
the subject of the Convention.
Whereas in a case such as the one in question, the farming of the
customs and administration of a territory or a port must be a
mutual contract, comprising on the part of the lessor the cession of the
exercise of sovereign rights, which may be formulated in very
different manners as regards their subject and their duration, and
consisting on the part of the lessee of a fixed or proportionate
royalty.
Whereas in the words attributed to the Sultan, such as they are
summed up by the German Memorandum and reproduced in the
letter of the German Consul- General of the 16th November 1888,
the essential conditions of the contract to be entered into are not
fixed.
Whereas, if no law prescribes any special form for Conventions
between independent States, it is none the less contrary to interna-
tional usages to contract verbally engagements of that nature and of
that importance.
Whereas the adoption of the written form is particularly necessary
in dealings with the Governments of but little civilised nations,
which often only attach binding force to promises made in a solemn
form or in writing.
Whereas, especially in this case, the existence of a verbal Conven-
tion should be shown by formal stipulations, and one could not,
without grave detriment to the security and facility of international
relations, infer it from the simple statement that one is ready to
grant a concession ;
Whereas no other documents written about the period in question
are produced but the letter dated 21st November 1887, in which
the German Counsul-General transmitted to Sultan Seyyid Barghash
the proposal of Mr. Toeppen, and the acknowledgment of receipt by
the Sultan, dated the same day and which said nothing about the
actual issue.
Whereas between the 10th December 1887, the date of the
"f t li.- (.-nii'I'ivi I -. iiti'l ilj li.li
t i-iu- 1 iia\ f hccn f'Hii'l, >;il(
<»f receipt showed tliat at that
Whereas therefore, whatev
of Sultan Seyyid Barghash, pi
• on]y has been famished ; ai
although it is mentioned in t
General wrote to the Sultan on
I It is referred to in the despatch
r Government after the audienc
must be a principle, in intcn
irrespective of any question of
title for one's self.
Whereas lastly, however wortl
may be, and putting his good ft
the words of Sultan Seyyid Ba
gathered and translated by a Dn
cheek the accuracy of such trans
neither confirmed by the ]ate
successor ;
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that proof (
contracted by Sultan Seyyid Barg
lease the customs and the ndn:
to the German Witu Com pan v.
suflBcipn**''
APPENDIX IV. 299
Khalifa is said to have declared to the German Consul-General, in
June 1888, that he would not grant any further Concession without
having come to an understanding with the representatives of Germany
and of England, and according to the letter of the German Consul-
General to the Sultan dated the following 16th November, the latter
had assured him that there was as yet no English proposal, and that
if any should be put forward, he would ask the opinion of the
German Consul-General in advance.
Whereas, in his letter of the 12th January 1889 to the said
Consul- Grenera], Seyyid Khalifa denies that he made or could have
made such declarations, saying that the mistake might in his opinion
have arisen from a misunderstanding attributable to the Dragoman ;
and, in his letter of the 16th of the same month to the English
Consul-General, which letter is inserted in the English Memorandum,
his Highness repeated his denials.
Whereas, without putting in question the good faith of the parties,
one can and must acknowledge that the declarations in question
could not in themselves have conferred any right on the Witu
Company to the Island of Lamu.
And moreover, as regards their bearing in other respects, they
would come, by reason of their form, within the application of the
principles above enunciated.
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that the facts subsequent to the interview
of the 10th December 1887 have not altered the bearing of that
interview as defined in the foregoing conclusions.
As regards the Imperial British East Africa Company :
Considering that, according to the English Memorandum, the
Sultans of Zanzibar have, since 1887, constantly held at the disposal
of Mr. William Mackinnon, his partners, and the future British
Company, a concession of territories, including the Island of Lamu ;
that the said concession, far from being ever rejected or withdrawn, is
said to have been accepted from time to time with regard to certain
parts of these territories, the remainder, and particidaurly Lamu,
having been reserved for the subsequent disposal of the said persons
and Company.
Whereas the Contract of cession which should form the basis of
these promises is represented only by a draft, which bears neither
date nor signature ;
Whereas, in that form, it can only be looked upon as a proposal
made to Sultan Seyyid Barghash, without it being proved that such
proposal was transformed into a Concession from his Highness to
300 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Mr. Mackinaon or iuto a general promise to cede the administration
from the Sultanate to the English Company, which promise the said
Company had successively accepted for the various parts of t^e
territories belonging to the Sultan.
Whereas none of the subsequent documents alleged by the English
Company directly and clearly mentions this project, which was
never commenced to be carried out.
Whereas the evidence of General Mathews, commander of the
Sultan's troops, which is recited in the English Memorandum and
was taken on oath on the 23rd January 1889, mentions negoiioiifmi
entered into about nine years previously and carried on up to the
beginning of 1887, but does not cite any Convention concluded
during that period.
Whereas the document in solemn form delivered by Sultan Seyyid
. Barghash to the English Consul-General under date of the 6th Decem-
ber 1884, would have been useless if the Draft of 1877 had had the
force of a contractual promise absolutely binding the Sultan towards
the Imperial British Company.
Whereas it is not possible, with the aid of the documents produced,
to connect with that draft, by a direct link showing the execution of
a previous perfect and valid Convention, the negotiations which
were resumed by Mr. Mackinnon in the spring of 1887.
Whereas under date of the 22nd February 1887, Sultan Seyyid
Barghash sent Mr. Mackinnon a telegram, in which his Highness
declared himself ready to grant him the Concession which he
(Mr. Mackinnon) had previously proposed, and this offer was
followed, on the 24th May, by the conclusion of an agreement con-
ceding to the Imperial British Company the strip of coast from the
Wanga to Kipini.
Whereas in that agreement no mention is made of the territories
situate to the north of Kipini and comprising the Island of Laniu.
Whereas with rci^ard to these latter, the Imperial British Company
limits itself to invoking the evidence of General Mathews to the
effect that, to his knowledge, these territories were offered by the
Sultan to Mr. Mackinnon in 1887 ; that he always understood that
they were reserved, in accordance with Mr. Mackinnon's wish, for a
subsequent Concession ; and that he was sent, as representative of
the Sultan, to make a verbal communication to Mr. E. N. Mackenzie,
the agent of the Imperial Briiish Company, authorising him to
inform Mr. Mackinnon that all the territories to the north of the
Kipini would be offered to him in preference, when they came to be
leased or ceded.
APPENDIX IV, 301
Whereas, in the verbal message with which General Mathews
was intrusted, whatever consideration his evidence may merit, one
cannot find the elements of an actual and positive promise to grant
a concession, whereof the essential conditions were suflficiently
determined.
And, as regards the reserved or anticipated acceptance of Mr.
Mackinnon, it only forms the subject of a purely personal opinion
on the part of the General
Whereas the evidence of General Mathews is in harmony with
the above quoted telegram of Sultan Seyyid Barghash with reference
to the intention of treating with the English, and this intention is
found again and takes shape in the letter addressed by his successor
on the 26th August 1888 to the English Consul-Greneral.
Whereas, however, if this latter letter constitutes a political
engagement between Government and Government not to cede the
administration of the Sultanate to any others than to subjects of the
Sultan, or to Englishmen, or to Mr. Mackinnon so fur as regards
Zanzibar and Pemba, one does not yet find in it the direct and
actual promise to cede to the Imperial British Company itself all the
ports of the north.
Whereas the intention of treating with the English is, moreover,
expressed in an evident manner in the letter of Seyyid Khalifa to the
Grerman Consul-General, dated 12th January 1889.
And there is no occasion to pay any regard to the objection that
this determination was vitiated through having had a false cause,
viz., that the Sultan Seyyid Khalifa only adopted it on account of a
promise which he believed to have been made by his predecessor to
the English Company, as the knowledge of the communication made
on the 22nd February 1887 by his predecessor, and the steps taken
in the name of the latter by General Mathews may legitimately have
influenced his decision, and the Sultan may moreover have decided
not from one sole motive, as appears from his said letter to the
German Consul-General and from those which he sent in the course
of the same month to the English Consul-General, and which are
reproduced in the English Memorandum.
Whereas the intention repeatedly manifested by Sultan Seyyid
Khalifa was transformed into a fact by the negotiations which were
opened in the month of January 1889, between his Highness and
Mr. Mackenzie, the attorney of Mr. Mackinnon.
Whereas in these negotiations the essential conditions of the
resumption of the administration and customs of the Island of Lamu
were put forward and discussed for the first time between the parties.
302 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Whereas harmony of wishes was established upon all points, as is
shown by the exchange of the letters of the 19th and 20th January
1889, between the Sultan and Mr. Mackenzie, combined with the
telegram from the Sultan to Mr. Mackinnon dated the 30th of the
same month.
But wherens the document so prepared has not receiTed the
signature of the Sultan and the latter has subordinated it to the
removal of an obstacle which stopped his final determination.
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that the Sultan has remained free to dispose of
the exercise of his sovereign rights, within the limits traced out by
the letter of his predecessor to Sir John Kirk of the 6th December
1884 and by the one which he himself addressed to the English
Consul- General on the SGth August 1888.
And that the Imperial British East Africa Company docs not
produce any engagement validly assumed towards it by any of the
Sultans of Zanzibar, and creating in its favour an exclusive right to
the resumption of the customs and the administration of the Island
of Lanm.
Considering lastly that the signing of the Convention formulated
between the Sultan Seyyid Khalifa and the representative of the
Imperial British East Africa Company has only been deferred in
consequence of the opposition of the German Consul-General.
And whereas this opposition is founded upon the right of priority
claimed by the German \Vitu Company, the reality of which right
has formed the subject of the foregoing conclusions :
For these reasons :
We are of opinion that the proposed agreement between the
Sultan Seyyid Khalifa and the representative of the Imperial British
East Africa Company on the subject of the Island of Lamu can be
signed without giving rise to any rightfully founded opposition.
Done at Brussels in duplicate.
17^^ August 1889. (Signed) Baron Lambermont.
A P P E N D I X No. f).
AGREEMENT between his Highness the SULTAN OF ZANZI-
BAR AND GERALD HERBERT PORTAL, Acting English
Consul-Gen ERAL.
His Highness Seyyid Klmlifa- Bin-Said, with the concurrence of the
English Government, hereby grants a lease of his possessions to the
Imperial British East Africa Company on the following conditions : —
1. His Highness hands over to the Imperial British Eiist Africa
Company all his towns, lands, and possessions on the mainland from
Kipini to Mruti or Marote (excepting Witu) including the islands of
Lamu and Manda and Patta and Kiwihu and all other islands in
that vicinity, and in Manda Bay, and any other islands on that coast,
and the ports of Kisiniayu, Brawa, Merka, Magadisho, and War-
sheikh and Mruti to be at disposition of and in the hands of the
Company.
2. These possessions to be held by the Company as his Highness's
vakil and plenipotentiary and agent, and they are to be ailministered
according to the Sherial (Mohammedan laws and customs). His
Highness's flag Liwalis, Askaris, and Katteis will be maintained.
His Highness's authority will be respected as now, but these officials
will be under the orders of the Company in all fiscal matters and for
the maintenance of public order ; but his Highness will have the
right of veto in matters of public polity in so far as concerns his
subjects.
3. The custom duties in the above mentioned places are to be
levied in conformity with the existing treaties between his Highness
and Foreign States, and his Highness's subjects will be liable to the
same duties.
4. In the above mentioned places the Company will have the
right to select for their own use during the period of this concession
any building for or belonging to his Highness.
The Company will have the ri(^ht to acquire lands and buildings
by purchase or negotiation, with consent of the proprietors.
304
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
5. This agreement is ton five years from the date of- its signature.
After these five years have elapsed the Sultan shall give another
concession for more than five yeflltB, according to agreement between
himself and the Company.
6. For five years the employees of his Highness will remain iu
the Custom House. After the lapse of this period his Highness
will hand over the customs entirelj to the Company, and all increase
on net profit shall be divided e<[ually between his Highness and the
Company.
In faith whereof his Highness, Seyyid Khalifa-Bin-Said, and Genid
Herbert Portal, British Acting Agent, and CoDSul-General on behalf
of the Imperial British East Africa Company, have signed this agree-
ment, and affixed their seals.
Done at Zanzibar, this 3l8t day of August 188U.
(Seal) Signed and sealed in Arabic by his Highness.
(Seal) Subject to concurrence of the Imperial British East
Africa Company (Signed) G. H. Portal.
1
AP.PENDIX. No. 6
MANDA AND PATTA CONCESSION (Correspondence)
Colonel Euan-Bmith to thb Marquis of Salisbury
(No. 133. Confidential. Ext. 76, 80, and 84.)
Zanzibar, April 2, 1890.
Mr Lord,— I have the honour to report, for the information of
your Lordship, that on the 27th ultimo the German Consul-General
called upon me in order to communicate to me the substance of a
despatch received by him from Berlin, and according to which he
was instructed to demand from his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar
the rescission of the concession of the islands of Manda and Patta
recently granted by the late Sultan Seyyid Khalifa to the Imperial
British East Africa Company, the demand in question being based
upon the contents of a despatch from the British Ambassador at
Berlin to the German Foreign Office, in which it was admitted that
his Highness the Sultan had no right to make such a concession.
Dr. Michahelles proceeded to inform nie that he had no wish to
address the Sultan in the sense indicated without previously inform-
ing nie and feeling iissured that his demand would not meet with
opposition from myself. He was anxious that the Sultan should
understand that the British and German representatives were acting
generally in complete harmony one wuth the other ; and he would
await before addressing his Highness the result of any telegraphic
communication I might deem it advisable to make to your Lordship
on the subject. Dr. Michahelles plainly evinced a desire that the
demand when made should receive my support.
I thanked the German Consul-General for his courtesy in mention-
ing this matter to me, and stated that I would at once communicate
to your Lordship by telegraph the substance of whtit he had said to
me during our interview.
On the afternoon of the 31st ultimo, the German Consul-General
called upon the Sultan to take leave of his Highness previous to his
departure for Witu, and took the opportunity of mentioning to his
Highness the nature of the demand which he was instructed to make,
after which he came to visit me and mentioned what he had done.
U
3o6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
That same eveuing he addressed to the Sultan a letter (of which I
enclose translation), in which he formally demanded the rescission of
the concession of the islands of Manda and Patta which His High-
ness the late Seyyid Khalifa had made to the British Company. The
Sultan replied to this demand in a letter dated to-day, and of which
he has had the goodness to furnish me with a copy. Translation is
herewith enclosed. The Sultan has also sent me copy of the letter
(of which I likewise enclose tninslation) which he has addressed to
the Administrator-in-chief of the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany, temporarily suspending the concession of these islands, and
promising its immediate renewal as soon as the arbitration shall hare
been decided in his favour. — I have, etc.
(Signed) C. B. Ectan-Smith.
Dr. Michahelles to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
(Translation.)
(After compliments). March 31, 1890.
I have to inform your Highness of what was agreed upon between
njy Government and the English Government in the months of
October and November 1886 regarding the boundaries of the Zanzi-
bar Sultanate. It was not decided at that time to whom the islands
of Manda and Patta belonged, and it was agreed upon by the two
Governments that this question was to be disposed of after mutual
consultation. The late Seyyid Khalifa committed a mistake in
lousing these two islands to the English Company, together with the
farming of the customs there. The question was under the con-
sideration of the two Governments, who had not yet come to a
decision as to the ownership of those two islands. The late Seyyid
Klialifa ought to have consulted the two Governments before he
granted the concession to the Company. Your Highness should
therefore rescind your concesision regarding the islands of Manda
and Patta, and leave them in the same condition until the two
Governments have come to an agreement about them.
I have received orders from my Government, who have recognised
your Highness as a sovereign, to request you to rectify what has
been done by the late Seyyid Khalifa under a misapprehension.
I request your Highness to cancel the concession of Manda and
Patta granted to the British Company.
This is what I have to inform your Highness of. Please answer me.
May God give you a long life.
(Signed) G. MicnAHELLES,
Imperial German Consul -General.
APPENDIX VL yyj
The Sultan of Zanzibar to Dr. MicHAnsLLES.
(Translation.)
(After compliments.) AyrU, 2, 1890.
Oh, my friend ! we luive received your letter of yesterday's date
regarding the islands of Manda and Patta, and we have now under-
stood what you mentioned. What you say has caused us much
surprise and regret and astonishment, and we cannot in our heart
understand the reason how it can be said that these islands do not
belong to us to do what we please with.
Oh, my friend ! they have always belonjjed to us since the time of
our fathers, and your Janab yourself, in your letter of the 16th
November 1888, to our late lamented brother Seyyid Khalifa,
expressly asked him to concede these islands of Manda and Patta to
the Germans, and he replied that he had promised them to the
English, and in that time there was no question that they belonged
to somebody else, as is now said by you.
But our belief in the all-seeing justice of God, which is not a new
thing of yesterday, and in the uprightness of the two great Govern-
ments, is very great. And our desire to do everything to please
German Government, by whose order you write, is also very great.
Tlie arbitration which we hear is intended to be made upon our
rights will surely make them as clear as day, and will destroy all
other claims for ever. We have no fear on these points. God is
great I We will therefore, since you wish it, write to the British
Company and tell them that we suspend the concession we gave
them for the islands, and that it is abeyance until our sovereign
rights are for ever determined by arbitration, at which time we shall
restore the concession to them as before.
But oh, my friend, we write this letter (of which we send you a
copy) only to please your great Government, and on distinct under-
.standing that it must not be considered as any proof or any
admission on our part that we yield even one little bit of our
sovereign rights to these islands, which have always been ours. W^e
maintain those rights. Also, it must not be considered that we had
no right to cede these blands to the British Company, and that for that
reason we have suspended the concession. They are our property,
like all other concessions, and let this be known to you from your
friend, and salaam.
3o8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
The Sultan of Zanzibar to Imperial British East Africa
Company.
(TraDsIatioD.)
(After compliments.) April 2, 1890.
Oh, my friend ! Be it known to you that our friend the German
Consul-General has written to us, by order of his Goyernment, and
has also spoken on the matter to us, that the two great Governments
have decided that the question of our sovereignty over Manda and
Patta must be sent to arbitration, and he says that these islands have
not been proved to belong to us, and that others claim them, and
that our late brother did wrong in giving the concession of them
to you.
But we cannot understand this, for the islands have belonged to us
ever since the time of our fathers, and our friend the German Consul-
General himself asked our brother to concede them to the Germans,
and he refused, because he had given them to the English. But we
wish to please the Government of Germany if we can ; and what can
it matter to us if our claims go to arbitration? They must be
decided in our favour. Our sovereign rights are known to all and
God, and the two great Governments cannot do us injustice. But
the (ierman Consul-General has asked us to cancel our concession to
you for these islands, but this is not necessary for the sake of the
arbitration desired by the two Governments, We have told him
that we will write to you, and ask you to consider the concession of
the islands as being suspended until our rights are decided for ever
by arbitration. And we will then at once restore the concession to
you. And this is what we have to ask of you. Please do nothing
with regard to the concession until the arbitration is decided in our
favour, when we will once again give it to you with the same rights
and privileges as before.
This is what we ask of you, and salaam from your friend.
APPENDIX No. 7
ITALIAN AGREEMENT
(3rd August 1889)
Agreement entered into the 3rd day of August 1889, between Thb
Imperial British East Africa Company, hereinafter called the
British Company, of the one part, and M. Catalan i, Charg^ d' Affaires
for his Majesty the King of Italy in London, for and on behalf of the
Royal Italian Government of the other part, whereby it is agreed as
follows : —
1st. Whereas negotiations have been carried on for some time
past and are still pending between the British Company and his
Highness Seyyid Khalifa, Sultan of Zanzibar, for the cession by the
said Sultan to the British Company of certain lands, territories, and
countries which lie on the coast from and including Kismayu, and
north of the mouth of the river Juba including the ports of Brava,
Meurka and Magadisho with radii landwards of ten sea miles and of
Warsheikh with a radius of five sea miles. And Whereas his High-
ness the said Seyyid Khalifa, Sultan of Zanzibar, by a letter dated
January the 15th, 1889, addressed to his Majesty the King of Italy
through her Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul-General at
Zanzibar authorised his Majesty the King of Italy's Government to
arrange with the British Company for the joint occupation of
Kismayu. And Whereas the Royal Itidian Government are
desirous of acquiring territories and ports on the East Coast of
Africa and the British Company are anxious to assist the Royal
Italian Government in attaining such object.
Now it is hereby mutually agreed between the parties hereto that
when his Highness Seyyid Khalifa, Sultan of Zanzibar, concedes to
and hands over according to his promises and declarations to the
British Company the said lands, territories, and countries lying on
such coast from and including Kismayu and north of the mouth of
the river Juba, including the ports of Bravn, Menrka, and Magadisho
3 lo BRITISH EAST AFRICA
with radii landwards of 10 sea miles and of Wanheikh with a radios
of five sea miles, the British Company shall with the coDsent and
approval of the Sultan but at the expense of the Italian Government
transfer or cause to be transferred to the duly authorised Agents
of the Italian Government the aforesaid lands, territories, and
countries and the above ports of Brava, Meurka, Magadisho aod
Warsheikh to be held by the Italian Government on the same terms
and conditions as those which may be contained in the Concession to
be granted for the aforesaid ports and territories to the British
Company or on the best terms obtainable from the Sultan. Except
as to Kismayu and its adjoining territory which is to be jointly
occupied by the parties hereto as hereinafter provided.
2n(l. The Italian Government hereby agrees to indemnify the
British Company from all expenses, reasonable demands, and claims,
if any that may arise by reason of the provisions of this Agreement
or in the carrying out of the same.
3rd. The British Company a;^ree with the Italian Government u^on
an equal joint occupation of Kismayu and its adjoining territory, as
conceded by the Sultan, which will be jointly and equally held and
administered by the two contracting parties. Both the British
Company and the Italian Government shall possess at Kismayu and
its adjoining territory perfect equality of rights and privileges, but
subject always to the terms if any of the Concession to be granted as
aforesjvid. The Italian Government and the British Company shall
bear and pay an equal share of the cost of administration, and shall
divide equally the net returns from Kismayu and its adjoining
territory. The detailed provisions for arriving at a nw(his vivendi
and ciirrying out in the most friendly way the provisions of this
clause aie to be agreed upon and settled and at Kismayu by the
Agents of the Italian Government and the Agents of the British
Company duly authorised as soon as possible after Kismayu has been
li:in<1ed over by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the British Company and
by the British Company to the Italian Government.
4th. The Italian Government bind themselves to limit the Italian
.sphere of influence and operations on the East African Continent by
refraining from exercising any political or other influences, accepting
protectorates, making acquisitions of lands, or interfering with the
extension of British intluence on the territories or over the tribes
lying to the west or south of a line drawn from the north bank of the
mouth of the Juba river and intended to keep always on the north
and east sides of the river Juba to the point where the 8th degree of
north latitude intersects the 40th degree of east longitude,'^and a line
APPENDIX VII. 311
drawn direct from the above-named point and running over the
parallel intersecting the 35th degree of longitude east of the meridian
of Greenwich. On their part the British Company agree and bind
themselves to limit the said British Company's sphere of influence
and operations on the East African Continent by refraining from
exercising any political or other influence, accepting protectorates,
making acquisitions of lands, or interfering with the extension of
Italian influence on the territories or over the tribes lying to the east
and north-east of the lines above specified, provided nevertheless
that if the course of the Juba river should on survey be ascertained
to flow at any points to the north or east of the above-mentioned
lines, then the northern or eastern bank of the said river, as the case
may be, shall at such points be accepted as the line of demarcation
between the said parties. This proviso however shall only extend to
deviations of the said river up to the point where the 8th degree of
north latitude intersects the 40th degree of east longitude. The above-
mentioned lines are distinctly marked in red on the map annexed
hereto, and which map for the purposes of identification has been
signed by the parties hereto.
5th. It is hereby further agreed that the Italian Government shall
have joint and equal rights with the British Company of navigation
on the river Juba and its tributaries so far as it may be requisite to
give the Italian Government free access to the territories reserved to
its sphere of influence as above-mentioned.
6th. The two contracting parties agree that any controversies which
may arise respecting the interpretation or the execution of the present
agreement, or the consequences of any violati thereof, shall be
submitted when the means of settling them by means of an amicabl
arrangement are exhausted to the decision of the Commissions o*
Arbitration, and that the result of such arbitration shall be binding
upon both contracting parties. The members of such Commissions
shall be elected by the two contracting parties by common consent,
failing which each of the parties shall nominate an Arbitrator, or an
equal number of Arbitrators, and the Arbitrators thus appointed shall
select an Umpire.
7th. The Royal Itiilian Government reserve to themselves full
power to delegate all their rights, powers, and privileges belonging to
them or acquired through the present agreement to an Italian
Company in course of formation to be called * The Royal Italian East
Africa Company,* or some such similar name, binding themselves,
however, that the said Italian Company shall comply with all
obligations undertaken herein by the Italian Government who will
.• \
312
I
BRITlS8'£AST AFRICA
themselves remain responsible for the strict compliance with the
obligations herein contained. Tkls Agreement to be construed
according to English Law.
Done and signed at London in duplicate in the English and Italian
languages, with the understanding that the English text shall be
binding, this 3rd day of August in the year 1889.
Signed by the said Sir William \
Mackinnon and Signer Cata- f
lani in the presence of George C
S. Mackenzie. /
W. MACKINNON.
T. Catalani
3rcZ August 1889.
Notwithstanding the boundaries herein specified, the Imperial
British East Africa Company shall have the right to require that the
boundary shall be modified by drawing a line in a north-westerly
direction from about the 37tli degree of east longitude on the 8th
degree of north latitude to a point on the Blue Nile or Abawi River
westward of the 37th degree of east longitude, which river shall be
the boundary to the 35th degree of east longitude, thereafter the
boundary westwards and northwards shall be as marked on the map.
1 *
APPENDIX No. 8
AGREEMENT OF JULY, 1, 1890
The undersigned, —
Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary ;
Sir Henry Percy Anderson, Chief of the African Department of
her Majesty's Foreign Office ;
The Chancellor of the German Empire, General von Caprivi ;
The Privy Councillor in the Foreign Office, Dr. Kraeul, —
Have, after discussion of various questions affecting the Colonial
interests of Germany and Great Britain, come to the following
Agreement on behalf of their respective Governments : —
Article I.
In East Africa the sphere in which the exercise of influence is
reserved to Germany is bounded —
1. To the north by a line which, commencing on the coast at the
north bank of the mouth of the river Umbe, runs direct to Lake
Jip<^ ; passes thence along the eastern side and round the northern
side of the lake, and crosses the river Lume ; after which it passes
midway between the territories of Taveita and Chagga, skirts the
northern base of the Kilimanjaro range, and thence is drawn direct
to the point on the eastern side of Lake Victoria Nyanza which is
intersected by the 1st parallel of south latitude ; thence, crossing the
lake on that parallel, it follows the parallel to the frontier of the
Congo Free Stiite, where it terminates.
It is however understood that, on the west side of the lake, the
sphere does not comprise Mount Mfumbiro ; if that mountain shall
prove to lie to the south of the selected parallel, the line shall be
deflected so as to exclude it, but shall, nevertheless, return so as to
tenuinatc at the above-named point.
2. To the south by a line which, starting on the coast at the
northern limit of the Province of Mozambique, follows the course of
314 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
the river Rovunia to the point of confluence of the Msinje ; thence it
runs westward along the parallel of that point till it reaches Lake
Nyassa ; thence striking northward, it follows the eastern, northern,
and western shores of the lake to the northern bank of the mouth of
the river Song we ; it ascends that river to the point of its intersec-
tion by the 33rd degree of east longitude ; thence it follows the river
to the point where it approaches most nearly the boundary of the
geographical Congo Basin defined in the 1st Article of the Act of
Berlin, as marked in the map attached to the 9th protocol of the
Conference.
From that point it strikes direct to the above-named boundary ;
and follows it to the point of its intersection by the 32nd degree of
east longitude ; from which point it strikes direct to the point of
confluence of the northern and southern branches of the river
Kilambo, and thence follows that river till it enters Lake Tan-
ganyika.
The course of the above boundary is traced in general accordance
with a map of the Nyassa-Tanganyika plateau, officially prepared for
the British Government in 1889.
3. To the west by a line which, from the mouth of the river
Kilambo to the 1st parallel of south latitude, is conterminous with
the Congo Free State.
The sphere in which the exercise of influence is reserved to Great
Britain is bounded —
(1.) To the south by the above-mentioned line running from the
mouth of the river Umba to the point where the 1st panillel of south
latitude reaches the Congo Free State. Mount Mfumbiro is included
in the sphere.
(2.) To the north by a line commencing on the coast at the north
bank of the mouth of the river Juba ; thence it ascends that bank
of the river, and is conterminous with the territory reserved to the
influence of Italy in Gallaland and Abyssinia, as far as the confines
of Egypt.
(3.) To the west by the Congo Free State, and by the western water-
shed of the basin of the Upper Nile.
Article II.
In order to render effective the delimitation recorded in the pre-
ceding Article, Germany withdraws in favour of Great Britain her
Protectorate over Witu. Great Britain engages to recognise the
sovereignty of the Sultan of Witu over the territory extending from
APPENDIX VIII. 315
Kipini to the point opposite the island of Kwyhoo, fixed as the
boundary in 1887.
Germany also withraws her Protectorate over the adjoining coiist
up to Kisniayu, as well as her clamis to all other territories on the
mainland to the north of the river Taua, and to the islands of Patta
and Manda.
Article III.
In South-West Africa the sphere in which the exercise of influence
is reserved to Germany is bounded :
1. To the south by a line commeAcing at the mouth of the Orange
Kiver, and ascending the north bank of that river to the point of its
intersection by the 2()th degree of east longitude.
2. To the east by a line commencing at the above-named point,
and following the 20th degree of east longitude to the point of its
intersection by the 22nd parallel of south latitude, it runs eastward
along that parallel to the point of its intersection by the 21st degree
of east longitude ; thence it follows that degree northward to the
point of its intersection by the 18th parallel of south latitude ; it runs
eastward along tliat parallel till it reaches the river Chobe ; and
descends the centre of the main channel of that river to its junction
with the Zambesi, where it terminates.
It is understood that under this arrangement Germany shall have
free access from her Protectorate to the Zambesi by a strip of terri-
tory which shall at no point be less than 20 English miles in width.
The sphere in which the exercise of influence is reserved to Great
Britiiin is bounded to the west and north-west by the above-men-*
tioned line. It includes Lake Ngami.
The course of the above boundary is traced in general accordance
with a map ofl&cially prepared for the British Government in 1889.
The delimitation of the southern boundary of the British territory
of Walfish Bay is reserved for arbitration, unless it shall be settled
by the consent of the two Powers within two years from the date
the conclusion of this Agreement. The two Powers agree that, pend-
ing such settlement, the passage of the subjects and the transit of
goods of both Powers through the territory now in dispute shall be
free ; and the treatment of their subjects in that territory shall be in
all respects equal. No dues shall be levied on goods in transit^
Until a settlement shall be effected the territory shall be considered
neutral.
3i6 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Article IV.
In West Africa : —
1. The boundary between the Oerman Protectorate of Togo and
the British Gold Coast Colony commences on the coast at the marks
set up after the negotiations between the Commissioners of the two
countries of the 14th and 28th of July 1886 ; and proceeds direct
northwards to the 6° 10' parallel of north latitude ; thence it runs
along that parallel westward till it reaches the left bank of the river
Aka ; ascends the mid-channel of that river to the 6** 20' parallel of
north latitude ; runs along that parallel westwards to the right bank
of the river Dchawe or Shavoe ; follows that bank of the river till it
reaches the parallel corresponding with the point of confluence of the
river Deine with the Volta ; it runs along that parallel westward till
it reaches the Volta ; from that point it ascends the left bank of the
Volta till it arrives at the neutral zone established by the Agreement
of 1888, which commences at the confluence of the river Dakka with
the Volta.
Each Power engages to withdraw immediately after the conclusion
of this Agreement all its officials and employees from territory which
is assigned to the other Power by the above delimitation.
2. It having been proved to the satisfaction of the two Powers that
no river exists on the Gulf of Guinea corresponding with that
marked on maps as the Rio del Rey, to which reference was made in
the Agreement of 1885, a provisional line of demarcation is adopted
between the German sphere in the Cameroons and the adjoining
British sphere, which starting from the head of the Rio del Rey creek,
goes direct to the point, about 9° 8' of east longitude, marked
* rapids ' in the British Admiralty chart.
Article V.
It is iij^reed that no Treaty or Agreement, made by or on behalf of
either Power to the north of the river Benue, shall interfere with the
free passage of goods of the other Power, without payment of transit
dues, to and from the sliores of Lake Chad.
All treaties made in territories intervening between the Benue and
Lake Chad shall be notified by one power to the other.
Article VI.
All the lines of demarcation traced in Articles I. to IV. shall be
subject to rectification by agreement between the two Powers, in
accordance with local requirement?.
APPENDIX VII L 317
It is specially uuderstood that, as regards the boundaries traced in
Article IV., Comniissioners shall meet with the least possible delay
for the object of such rectification.
Article VII,
The two powers engage that neither will interfere with any sphere
of influence assigned to the other by Articles I. to IV. One power
will not in the sphere of the other make acquisitions, conclude
treaties, accept sovereign rights or protectorates, nor hinder the
extension of influence of the other.
It is understood that no companies or individuals subject to one
Power can exercise sovereign rights in a sphere assigned to the other,
except with the assent of the latter.
Article VIII.
The two Powers engage to apply in all the portions of their respec-
tive spheres, within the limits of the free zone defined by the Act of
Berlin of 1885, to which the first ^^% Articles of that Act are applic-
able at the date of the present Agreement, the provisions of these
Articles, according to which trade enjoys complete freedom ; the
navigation of the lakes, rivers, and canals, and of the ports on those
waters is free to both flags ; and no difl*erential treatment is permitted
as regards transport or coasting trade ; goods, of whatever origin, are
subject to no dues except those, not differential in their incidence,
which may be levied to meet expenditure in the interest of trade ; no
transit dues are permitted ; and no monopoly or favour in matters of
trade can be granted.
The subjects of either Power will be at liberty to settle freely in
their respective territories situated within the free trade zone.
It is specially understood that, in accordance with these provisions,
the paasiige of goods of both powers will be free from all hindrances
and from all transit dues between Lake Nyassa and the Congo State,
between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, on Lake Tanganyika, and
between that lake and the northern boundary of the two spheres.
Article IX.
Trading and mineral Concessions, and rights to real property held
by companies or individuals, subjects of one Power, shall, if their
validity is duly established, be recognised in the sphere of the other
Power. It is understood that Concessions must be worked in accord-
ance with local laws and regulations.
3i8 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Article X.
In all territories in Africa belonging to, or under the influence of
either Power, missionaries of both countries shall haye full protection.
Religious toleration and freedom for all forms of divine worship and
religious teaching are guaranteed.
Article XI.
Great Britain engages to use all her influence to facilitate a friendly
arrangement by which the Sultan of Zanzibar shall cede absolutely to
Germany his possessions on the mainland comprised in existing
Concessions to the German East African Company, and their depend-
encies, as well as the island of Mafia.
It is understood that his Highness will at the same time receire
an equitable indemnity for the loss of rerenue resulting from such
cession.
Germany engages to recognise a Protectorate of Great Britain over
the remaining dominions of the Sultnn of Zanzibar, including the
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, as well as over the dominions of the
Sultan of Witu, and the adjacent territory up to Kismayu, from which
her Protectorate is withdrawn. It is understood that if the cession
of the German coast has not taken place before the assumption by
Great Britain of the Protectomt^ of Zanzibar, her Majesty's Grovern-
ment will, in assuming the Protectorate, accept the oblig^ition to
use all their influence with the Sultan to induce him to make that
cession at the earliest possible period in consideration of an equitable
indemnity.
Article XII.
1. Subject to the assent of the British Parliament, the sovereignty
over the island of Heligoland, together with its dependencies, is
ceded by her Britannic Majesty to his Majesty the Emperor of
German V.
2. The German Government will allow to all persons, natives of the
territory thus ceded, the right of opting for British nationality by
means of a declaration to be made by themselves, and, in the case of
children under age, by their parents or guardians, which mu>t l)e
sent in before the 1st of January 18J)2.
3. All persons, natives of the territory thus ceded, and their
children, born before the date of the signature of the present Agree-
ment, are free from the oblii^ation of service in the military and naval
forces of Germany.
APPENDIX VII I ,
319
4. Native laws and customs now existing will, as far as possible,
remain undisturbed.
5. The German GoYernment binds itself not to increase the
customs tariff at present in force in the territory thus ceded until
the 1st January 1910.
6. All rights to property which private persons or existing corpora-
tions have acquireil in Heligoland in connection with the British
Government are maintained ; obligations resulting from them are
transferred to his Majesty the Emperor of Grerniany. It is under-
stood that the above term, * rights to property,' includes the right of
signalling now enjoyed by Lloyd's.
7. The rights of British fishermen with regard to anchorage in all
weathers, to taking in provisions and water, to making repairs, to
transhipment of goods, to the sale of fish, and to the landing and
drying of nets, remain undisturbed.
(Signed)
Berlin, Jxdy 1, 1890.
Edward B. Malet.
H. Percy Anderson.
V. Caprivi.
K. Krauel.
APPENDIX No. 9
SETTLEMENT OF WITU
Terms of Peace, signed 2bth January 1891
Be it known that the people of Witu have sued for peace and
pardon from the great English Government for all the evil that th*j
have done, and the people of Witu promise to obey any future orders
whatever that the great English Government may issue with ^regard
to the territory and State of Witu, and they will not oppose any
measures whatever that the great English Government may consider
it advisable to adopt in this matter. And it is understood that
honoiirahle treatment and suhsisfttiCf' {vide Memo, attached) will be
accorded to Fumo Omari and his relatives. And when this paper
has been signed by Fumo Omari and the people all war ami fighting
shall cea-^e, and the people of Witu have |)ermission to go jvhere they
please and attend to their business. And every peiaon io Witu who
stole er seized tlie property of Europeans shall retam it forthwith.
But certain people who have done very bad things, and whose names
are given to the envoys, will not be pardoned and aite not included
in this general pardon.
MEMOKANDUM.
It is agreed that the amount of subsistence allowance tb be
accorded to Fumo Omari shall be fixed by the Imperial British East
Africa Company, and shall not exceed a maxhnum payment of
Rupees four thousand two hundred (Ks. 4,200) annually. Such pay-
ment being made conditional on his good behaviour, and for nominal
services to be rendered by him to the Company. The subsistence
allowance to be limited to th^ life of Fumo Ouuiri himself.
(Initd.) G. S. M.
APPENDIX IX. 321
- >
NoTicK proposed to be issued on taking over WiTU and which has
been approved by ^ C. EUan-Smith.
Notice is hereby given that under arrangement entered into
between Sir CI Euaj(-Smith, H.B.M. Consul-General, and Mr.
George S. Mackenzie, Director of the Imperial British East Africa
Company, dated , the said Imperial British East
Africa Company and their officers have from the date hereof assumed
the government and control of the territory hitherto known as the
Sultanate of Witu, as also the continuous coast-line from Kipini to
Kismayu, hitherto held under the protection of hb Imperial Majesty
the Emperor of Germany.
All the laws and regulations whicli are now in foroe in the Imperial
British East Africa Company's other towns and territories (lying
within the British sphere of influence) shall be recognised and made
equally applicable to all people resident within the above-mentioned
territory now acquired by the Imperial British East Africa Company.
To prevent all disputes arising between Europeans or foreigners of
any nationality and the natives such as led to the late lamentable
destruction of life and property, all parties are requested to lodge
particulars of outstanding claims with proofs in support of same in
order that the same may be investigated on the earliest possible date,
and further, all foreigners claiming lands, houses, or shambas are
required within the space of six months from the date hereof to notify
same to the representative of the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany resident in Lamu, and to accompany the notification with full
and true copies of the title-deeds appertaining to same in order that
they may be examined and registered in the books of the Company.
In order to remove all feelings of animosity which may exist in the
minds of disaffected natives against Europeans in consequence of the
late lamentable disturbances and the subsequent British Punitive
Exi)edition, all Euroi>eans of any nationality whatever are hereby
specially cautioned against attempting in cases of dispute to take the
law into their own hands and to possibly bring about a breach of the
peace. All complaints should be promptly lodged at the nearest
Agency of the Imperial British East Africa Company, who will
promptly institute a full and impartial inquiry into the case.
The Company require that all Europeans and foreigners when
leaving the coast to proceed inland should notify same to their prin-
cipal resident at Lamu, who will furnish them with a pass commend-
ing them to the care and protection of the local Governor and any
X
322 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
complaints arising out of the neglect of this rule may at the option of
the Company's representative prevent the complaint being recognised
or investigated.
AGREEMENT,
H,M. Agency and Consxdate-Genemly
Zanzibar ^ 6th March 1891.
Preamble.
It is hereby mutually a;:»reed between Colonel Sir Charles B. EuaD-
►Smith, K.C.B., C.S.I., her Majesty's Agent and Consul-Genend at
Zanzibar, acting on behalf of her Majesty's Government on the one
part, and between Mr. George Sutherland Mackenzie, Acting
Admin istrator-in-Chief of the Imperial British East Africa Company
on the other part — both having been duly empowered to make and
sign this agreement — that the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany shall take over and assume the charge and administration of the
State and Territory of Witu under the following conditions : —
Akticle I.
The Imperial British East Africa Company with the consent of
her Majesty's Government will assume direct charge of the Adminis-
tration of the territory of Witu under the terms of their Charter from
the earliest possible date not later than the 31st March 1891. The
sole responsibility regarding the administration and future proper
Government of the province will rest with the Imperial British East
Africa Company alone. The Imperial British East Africa Company
shall have power to raise revenue by the imposition of taxes and
custom duties, such revenue to be for the Imperial British East
Africa Company's sole use and disposal, but the said taxes and cus-
tom duties tu be subject if necessary to revisal by her Majesty's
Government. The judicial administration of the territory shall be in
accordance with the procedure and provisions of the Indian Civil and
Criminal Codes.
Article II.
The Imperial British East Africa Company bind themselves to
institute an efficient administration in the territory of Witu under
European control with the least possible delay and to maintain the
same.
APPENDIX IX, 323
Article III.
The Imperial British East Africa Company bind themselves loyally
to fulfil each and all of the conditions of pacification recently con-
cluded by Sir Charles B. Euan-Smith with the Witu leaders, of which
a copy is attached.
Article IV.
The Prohibition regarding the entry of Europeans into Witu
territory to be withdrawn simultaneously with the assumption of
Administration by the Imperial British East Africa Company, who
will exercise sole control in this respect.
Article V.
Martial law which was proclaimed and is now in force throughout
Witu territory to be abolished at the same time.
Article VI.
Her Majesty's Government reserve to themselves the right of
deciding at any future time as to what extent, if any, the Sultan of
Zanzibar shall be connected with Witu, and the adjoining territory.
The question of the ultimate sovereignty over Witu is also reserved
for their decision.
Article VII.
The Imperial British East Africa Company's flag may be flown
throughout Wiiu territory as soon as they are in a position to protect
the same.
(Signed) C. B. Euan-Smith, Colonel,
H.M. Agent and Consul-General.
(Signed) George S. Mackenzie,
Administrator-in-Chief, Imperial
British East Africa Company.
Witness : —
(Signed) Ernest J. L. Bkrkelev,
H.M. Vice-Consul.
5 3. 91.
324 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
WITU.
Notice is hereby given that under arrangement, dated Marcb
1891, entered into between Sir Charles Euan-Smith, H.£.M
Consul-General at Zanzibar, acting on behalf of H.B.M. Govem-
ment and Mr. George S. Mackenzie, Director of the Imperiftl
British East Africa Company, the said Company and their officers
have from the date hereof assumed the Government and control of
the territory hitherto known as the Sultanate of Witu, as also the
continuous coast-line from Kipini to Kismayu over which a Britiaii
Protectorate wiis dechired as published in the London Gazette of
Tuesday, 25th November 1890.
All the regulations which are now in force in the Imperial British
East Africa Company's other towns and territories (lying within the
British sphere of influence) shall be recognised and made equally
applicable to all people resident within the above-mentioned territory
now acquired by the said Company.
To prevent disputes arising between Europeans and foreigners of
any nationality, and the natives such as led to the late lamentable
destruction of life and property, all parties are requested to lodge
particulars of outsUinding claims with proofs in support of same in
order that the same may be investigated on the earliest pK>ssible date.
But claims arising out of the destruction of life and property during
the late troubles nmst be presented direct to the representatives at
Zanzibar of the several Governments interested. The Company will
take no cognizance of any claims for compensation or other than
ordinary mercantile debts which may have been incurred prior to the
dat€ hereof.
Further, all forcignei-s claiming lands, houses or shambas are
required within the space of six months from the date hereof to notify
same to the representative of the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany resident in Lamu, and to accompany such notification with full
and true copies of the title-deeds appertaining to same, in order that
they may be examined and registered in the books of the Company.
In order to remove all feelings of animosity which may exist in the
minds of disaffected natives against Europeans in consequence of the
late lamentable disturbances and the subsequent British Punitive
Expedition, all Euro])eaiis of any nationality whatever are hereby
specially cautioned against attempting in cases of dispute to take the
law into their own hands, and so possibly bring about a breach of the
peace. All complaints should be promptly lodged at the nearest
Agency of the Imperial British East Africa Company, whose repre-
APPENDIX IX, 325
sentative will promptly institute a full and impartial inquiry into the
case.
The said Company require that all Europeans and foreigners
when leaving the coast to proceed inland should notify same to the
Company's principal representative in Laniu, who will furnish them
with a pass commending them to the care and protection of the local
Governor or chief ; any complaints arising out of the neglect of this
rule may at the option of the Company's representative prevent com-
plaints being recognised or investigated.
Hereafter lands for which proper title-deeds have not been regis-
tered (other than shambas and lands uitder actual cultivation) cannot
be bought, sold, or transferred by a native to a foreigner until the
same has been duly notified to the representative of the Company
and the requisite sanction in writing be obtained from the principal
European District Officer. There will be no hindrance whatever to
the sale of shambas and lands actually under cultivation ; the pro-
prietors of them may deal with them as they please.
The Company will, in the exercise of their sovereign rights over
the entire coast-line, abolish the collection of double duties on produce
or imports and exports of any kind passing to and from the port of
Lamu and the mainland. No one other than the Company is entitled
to establish a custom-house or collect duties or taxes of any kind
within the territory or coast-line specified in this notification.
Kidnapping of any people or forcing them to work gratuitously
is also forbidden. No tribute of any kind in produce or otherwise is
to be collected from any of the people resident within the sphere of
the Company's influence.
The catching and selling of slaves is also illegal, and persons
caught doing such will be severely punished.
All the inhabitants of the province of Witu are now under the
rule and protection of the British Grovernment, and all the runaway
slaves from other parts of the coast will on the date of the Company
assuming charge, found in Witu, be reckoned free people ; but
domestic slaves — the lawful property of subjects of H.H. the Sultan of
Zanzibar — flying to Witu after this date will not be harboured there.
The judicial administration of the territory shall be in accordance
with the procedure and provisions of the Indian Civil and Criminal
Codes which shall be applicable to all parties holding lands and pro-
perties within the territory herein referred to.
(Signed) George S. Mackenzie,
Director, Imperial British East
Africa Company.
Lamu, 20f^ March 1891. 1
326 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BETWEEN
(1). Mr. Ernest J. L. Berkeley, H.B.M. Vice-Consul at Zanzibar.
(2). Mr. George S. Mackenzie, Director, Imperial British East
Africa Company.
(3). The undersigned Representatives of the people of Witu ; at
Jongeni, in the territory of Witu, on March 18, 1891.
Article I.
Sheikh Fumo Amari, Bwana Avatulla, and the notables of Witu
having duly received and read the letter addressed to them by Sir
Charles Euan-Siuith, H.M. Agent and Consul-Greneral at Zanzibar,
dated March 4, 1891, and having discussed all the matters therein
referred to with Mr. Berkeley and Mr. Mackenzie aforesaid, do
hereby, on behalf of themselves and the people of Witu, fully, freely,
and loyally accept and recognise that the territory of Witu is hence-
forth under the control and administration of the Imperial British
East Africa Company, and they further pledge themselves faithfully
and loyally to serve and support and obey the said Company's
administration.
Article II.
The flag of the Imperial British East Africa Company, and no
other, shall be recognised throughout the territory of Witu.
Article III.
The Imperial British East Africa Company pledge themselves
faithfully to observe each and all of the conditions of the peace con-
cluded between the people of Witu and Sir Charles Euan-Smith,
H.M. Agent and Consul-General on the 23rd and 24th of January
1891.
Article IV.
The martial law which, on the 21st of October 1890, was proclaimed
throuf'hout the territorv of Witu bv Adminvl Fremantle is withdniwn
in accordance with the official notice to that effect ifigned on the 14th
March 1891 by Captain Hill, R.N., senior naval officer on the east
coast of Africa.
Article V.
Vice-Consul Berkeley, on behalf of her Majesty's Government,
hereby declares the province of Wiiu lo be duly and formally handed
APPENDIX IX, 327
over to the administration of the Imperial British East Africa Com-
pany aforesaid, under the terms of the Agreement entered into on
the 5th of March 1891 between Sir Cliarles Euan-Smith, H.M.
Agent and Consul- General at Zanzibar, and Mr. G. S. Mackenzie,
Director, Imperial British East Africa Company.
Article VI.
The notables and people of Witu, being aware of and desirous to
support the efforts that have continuously been made by her Majesty's
Government and by the British Company to suppress the slave-trade
and slavery in East Africa, do hereby freely and solenmly pledge
themselves henceforth to have no dealings of any kind or description
with the slave-trade, and to use their best endeavours to suppress
and obstruct it. They further engage and declare that from this
day forth all the inhabitants of Witu are free, and that in the province
of Witu the status of slavery is abolished and shall no longer be
recognised, but all the aforesaid inhabitants of Witu are now British
protected persons and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges ap-
pertaining to such persons. And the Imperial British East Africa
Company will use their best endeavours to ensure that while this
provision regarding the freedom of all Witu subjects is put into full
and legitimate execution, it shall not in any way injuriously affect
the lawful rights of the subjects of his Highness the Sultan of
Zanzibar resident in Lamu and the territories adjoining the province
of Witu.
But regarding the general emancipation of slaves above referred
to, it is agreed, with a view to prevent an immediate and heavy loss
to the owners of plantations, shambas, etc., at present worked solely
by slave labour, to defer the actual process of liberating hoiui fide
slaves thus employed for a period of five years : the slaves neverthe-
less retaining the usual right to purchase their freedom by mutual
consent at any time. The total abolition of slavery throughout the
province of Witu is fixed to take place finally and absolutely on the
24th of May 1896.
Articlk VII.
In consideration of the provisions of Article VI. the Imperial
British East Africa Company pledge themselves to use their best
endeavours, should it be requisite, to obtain and encourage the
importation into Witu territory of coolie labour for agricultural and
other legitiuuile purposes.
328
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Done in triplicate in English and Swabili^ at Jongeni, on tlie
18th day of March 1891.
(Signed) Ernest J. L. Berkeley, H.B.M. Vice-Conaul.
George S. Mackenzie, Director, Imperial British
East Africa Company.
Witness to the Signatures, F. J. Jacksox.
What is written above is true ; FuMO Amari bin
Sultan Achmed, with his own hand.
What is written above is true: Avatolla Bin Hero
Somali, with his own hand.
Witness to above signatures, Said Bin Hahidi
Hiadi, with his own hand.
(Swahili Translation.)
«*
APPENDIX No. 10
TREATY WITH MWANGA
(Dated March 30th, 1892)
I, MwANOA 'Kabaka' of Uganda, do hereby make the following
treaty (in supersession of all former treaties whatsoever, with whom-
soever concluded) with Captain F. D. Luoard, D.S.O., an officer of
the army of her Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of England, etc.,
acting solely on behalf of the Imperial British East Apriga
Company (incorporated by Royal Charter) : the aforesaid Captain F.
D. Lugard, D.S.O., having full powers to conclude and ratify the
same on behalf of the said Company. And to this treaty the princi-
pal officers and chiefs of my country do sign their names as eyidence
of their consent and approval : —
Clause I.
The Imperial British East Africa Company (hereinafter called ' the
Company *) agree on their part to afford protection to the kingdom of
Uganda, and by all means in their power to secure to it the blessings
of peace and prosperity ; to promote its civilisation and commerce ;
and to introduce a system of administration and organisation by
which these results shall be obtained.
Clause II.
1, Mwanga, Kabaka of Uganda, in the name of my chiefs, people,
and kingdom, do acknowledge the suzerainty of the Company, and
that my kingdom is under the British sphere of influence, as agreed
between the European powers. And in recognition hereof I under-
take to fly the flag of the Company, and no other, at my capital and
throughout my kingdom ; and to make no treaties with, grant no
kind of concessions to, nor allow to settle in my kingdom and acquire
lands or hold offices of State, any Europeans of whatever nationality
without the knowledge and consent of the Company's representative
in Uganda (hereinafter called * the Resident '). •
330 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Clause III.
The Resident, as arbitrator, shall decide all disputes and all
diffecences between Europeans in Uganda. All lands acquired bj
Europeans in Uganda shall be subject to his consent and approTil
and shall be registered in his office. All arms in possession of
Europeans and their followers shall be marked and registered by th«
Resident. His decision in all matters connected with Europetns
shall be final, and subject only to appeal to the higher authorities of
the Company. All employees of the Company shall be solely under
the order of the Resident.
Clause IV.
The consent of the Resident shall be obtained, and his counsel
taken by the king, before any war is undertaken, and in all griTe
and serious affairs and mutters of the State, such as the appointment
of chiefs to the higher offices, the assessment of taxes, etc.
Clause V.
Missionaries — viz., those solely engaged in preaching the Gospel
and in teaching the arts and industries of civilisation, shall be free to
settle in the country, of whatever creed they may be, and their
religious rights and liberties shall be respected. There shall be
perfect freedom of worship. No one shall be compelled to follow
any religion against his will.
Clause VL
The property of the Company and its employees, and all servants
of the Company, shall be free from the incidence of all taxes.
Clause VII.
The revenues of the country shall defray, as may be found feasible,
the money expended purely on the development and organisation of
the country, the expenses of its giirrisons, etc. For such objects the
king shall supply labour and give every facility.
Clause Vlll.
All arms in the country shall be registered, and a licence given
for them. Unregistered arms shall be liable to confiscation. The
importation of anus and munitions is prohibited.
Clause IX.
Traders of all nations shall be free to come to Uganda, provided
they do not import or otfer for sale goods prohibited by international
agreement.
APPENDIX X, 331
Clause X.
Slave trading or slave raiding, or the exportation or importation
of people for sale or exchange as slaves, is prohibited.
Clause XL
The Company will uphold the power and honour of the king, and
the display of this court shall be maintained.
Clause XII.
This treaty shall be binding in perpetuity, or until cancelled or
altered by the consent and mutual agreement of both parties to it.
Dated Kampala, this 30th day of March 1892.
(Signed) F. D. Lugard, Captain 9th Regiment, Offtg.
Resident in Uganda, Imperial British East
Africa Company.
„ MwANOA, X (his mark) Eabaka of Uganda.
Witness. — I certify that the signature of Mwanga was made in my
presence, and was of his own free will.
(Signed) W. H. Williams, Captain Royal Artillery.
Uth April, 1892.
(Signed) K atiki ro Apollo K aowa, Katikiro of Uganda.
KiMBuowE Kago, Mugema. (* Kimbugwe' is
Sebwatu, late Pokino, now Sekibobo, tem-
porarily acting Kimbugwe.)
X Mark of Seboa, Pokino (R. C.)
X Mark of Setatimba, late Kago (R. C.)
S. S. Bagge, witness to signatures.
(Swahili.)
(Signed) F. D. Lugard, Captain 9th Regiment,
Commanding Uganda for I. B. E. A. Co.
Mwanga, x (his mark).
)»
»>
I certify that the signature of Mwanga above was made in my
presence and was of his own free will.
(Signed) W. H. Williams, Captain Royal Artillery.
nth April 1892.
X Mark of Seboa, Pokino (R. C), present rank, late Sekibobo.
X Mark of Sematimba, late Kago (R. C.)
330 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Clause III.
The Resident, as arbitrator, shall decide all disputes and all
diffexences between Europeans in Uganda. All lands acquired b?
Europeans in Uganda shall be subject to his consent and approval
and shall be registered in his office. All arms in possession of
Europeans and their followers shall be marked and registered bj tke
Resident. His decision in all matters connected with Europeans
shall be final, and subject only to appeal to the higher authorities of
the Company. All employees of the Company shall be solely under
the order of the Resident.
Clause IV.
The consent of the Resident shall be obtained, and his coumel
taken by the king, before any war is undertaken, and in all grare
and serious affairs and mutters of the State, such as the appointment
of chiefs to the higher offices, the assessment of taxes, etc.
Clause V.
Missionaries — viz., those solely engaged in preaching the Gospel
and in teaching the arts and industries of civilisation, shall be free to
settle in the country, of whatever creed they may be, and their
religious rights and liberties shall be respected. There shall be
perfect freedom of worship. No one shall be compelled to follow
any religion against his will.
Clause VI.
The property of the Company and its employees, and all servants
of the Company, shall be free from the incidence of all taxes.
Clause VII.
The revenues of the country shall defray, as may be found feasible,
the money expended purely on the development and organisation of
the country, the expenses of its g<irrisons, etc. For such objects the
king shiUl supply labour and give every facility.
ClAI 8E VIII.
All arms in the country shall be registered, and a licence given
for them. Unrci'istered arms shall be liable to confiscation. The
importation of arms and munitions is prohibited.
Clause IX.
Traders of all nations shall be free to come to Uganda, provided
they do not import or ofler iov sale goods prohibited by international
agreemeut.
APPENDIX X,
331
Clause X.
Slave trading or slave raiding, or the exportation or importation
of people for sale or exchange as slaves, is prohibited.
Clause XL
The Company will uphold the power and honour of the king, and
the display of this court shall be maintained.
Clause XII.
This treaty shall be binding in perpetuity, or until cancelled or
altered by the consent and mutual agreement of both parties to it.
Dated Kampala, this 30th day of March 1892.
(Signed) F. D. Luoard, Captain 9th Regiment, Offtg.
Resident in Uganda, Imperial British East
Africa Company.
„ MwANGA, X (his mark) Kabaka of Uganda.
Witness. — I certify that the signature of Mwanga was made in my
presence, and was of his own free will.
(Signed) W. H. Williams, Captain Royal Artillery.
Wth AprU, 1892.
(Signed) Katikiro Apollo E aowa, Eatikiro of Uganda.
„ KiMBUGWE Kago, Mugema. (* Kimbugwe' is
Sebwatu, late Pokino, now Sekibobo, tem-
porarily acting Kimbugwe.)
X Mark of Seboa, Pokino (R. C.)
X Mark of Setatimba, late Kago (R. C.)
„ S. S. Bagge, witness to signatures.
(SwahilL)
(Signed) F. D. Lugard, Captain 9th Regiment,
Commanding Uganda for I. B. E. A. Co.
Mwanga, x (his mark).
I certify that the signature of Mwanga above was made in my
presence and was of his own free will.
(Signed) W. H. Williams, Captain Royal Artillery.
nth April 1892.
X Mark of Seboa, Pokino (R. C), present rank, lute Sekibobo.
X Mark of Sematimba, late Kago (R. C.)
332
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
I certify that the above marks were made in my presence this the
7th day of May 1892, of their own free will.
(Signed) S. S. Bagge.
Mark of Duwalira, Kaugao.
Name of Abdallah, Pokino.
Mark of Lutaiah, Mutasa.
Mark of Wamala, Sekibobo.
Mark of Kago, Asmani.
Mark of Muepi, MnjasL
Mark of Sekiru, Mugeina.
Name of Abdal, Aziz.
Mark of Kamia, Kimbugwe.
I certify that these signatures or marks have been made in my
presence by the principal Mohammedan chiefs— each by the man
noted against it — of their own free will, and without compulsion.
The titles shown against each are those held by them among the
Mohammedans prior to their return to Uganda. The treaty was also
read in their presence in the vernacular before the king in public
burza.
(Signed) F. D. Lugard, Captain.
Dated Kampala, this 3rd day of June 1892.
APPENDIX No, 11
CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO COMPANY'S WITH-
DRAWAL FROM UGANDA
Imperial British East Africa Company to Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East, London,
August 20th, 1891.
Sir, — With reference to the verbal communication already made to
Sir Percy Anderson by Lord Lome, Sir William Mackinnon, and Sir
John Kirk, as to the necessity, for financial reasons, of the Company's
temporarily withdrawing from Uganda, I am instructed to confirm that
communication, and in doing so to hand you herewith copy of the
Minute of the Court of Directors, at which the resolution was taken.
I am to add that the grounds upon which this resolution was taken
will presently be communicated to you in detail. — I am, etc.
For Secretary (Signed) P. L. M*Dermott.
Copy of Resolution of Court of Directors on 16Tn July 1891.
Resolvedy — That to give effect to a policy of retrenchment rendered
necessary by the financial position of the Qompany, all the Company's
establishments at Uganda shall temporarily be withdrawn.
That for the present Dagoreti shall be the extreme point of the
Company's occupation in the interior.
Foreign Office to Imperial British East Africa Company.
(Extract.) Foreign Office, August 25, 1891.
I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, confirming the verbal com-
munication made by certain of your Directors to Sir P. Anderson on
the 3l8t ultimo, as to the necessity, for financial reasons, of the Com-
pany's temporarily withdrawing from Uganda.
Lord Salisbury has learnt with regret the reasons which have
induced the Company to come to this decision.
336 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Imperial British East Africa CoMPANr to Captain Lugabd.
(Extract). London, May 16, 1892.
Past experience of tbe risks and delays of communication with the
interior renders it indispensable that timely notice should be con-
veyed to you of the decision of the Board of Directors to t^rmioat^
at the close of the present year the Company's occupation of U^nda
and the lake districts, a measure which, as you know, had been
deferred in virtue of an engagement entered into with the Church
Missionary Society and other friends who agreed to provide the
funds for prolonging the occupation till end of 1892.
The following is a copy of the Eesolution to this effect that was
taken by tlie Court of Directors at its last meeting on the 5th
May : —
* That the Foreign Office be informed that, in view of the length of
time required for communication witli Captain Lugard, the Company
intends to at once forward instructions to him to make the neceseary
arrangements for retiring, and to retire to the coast from Uganda at
the close of the present year.'
The latest accounts coming from Uganda of your expedition are
contained in a letter from Captiiin Williams, of the 6th October,
which was received at this office on the 22nd February. Since that
date no official reports whatever have reached my Directors. Mean-
time, continuous rumours, derived from missionary and'other sources
more or less authentic, lead us to think that a revolution has occurred
in the country, that conflicts have taken place between the two
Christian factions, and that Mwanga has fled from Mengo, firstly to
Buddu, and eventually to German territory, where he is supposed to
have taken refuge.
The inferences to be drawn from these rumours by the light of
your reported experiences, taken in conjunction with the antagonism
of the rival parties and the susceptible and impulsive character of the
native leaders, seem to justify my Directors in the belief that, how-
ever originating, these troubles have supervened in spite of what
they believed to have been the im])artial attitude and watchful pre-
cautions observed by yourself and Captain Williams in order to
anticipate their occurrence and to hold the balance fairly between
the parties.
Under these circumstances, the Directors desire to assure vou of
their confidence, satisfied as they are that, whatever the issue, it will
be found to rtflect no discredit on the national honour, or upon any
one concerned.
APPENDIX XL 337
It is not the place here to recall the circumstances under which
the Company was impelled, by the pressure of its energetic neigh-
bours, and by national and imperial considerations recognised by her
Majesty's Government, to advance into Ugnnda. How far it was
justified in thus extending its operations, and how far the responsi-
bility for the result rests upon the Company, are questions which
may remain for the judgment of her Majesty's Government and the
nation.
My Directors are not the less apprehensive that the issue of the
present troubles may be to enhance your liabilities and to enlarge
your obligations to an extent immeiisunibly beyond the scope of the
Company's enterprise, as it would altogether be beyond the reach of
their available resources. I i is not, therefore, without a full sense of
the gravity of the situation, or without a full appreciation of conse-
quences (which, should their worst fears be realised, none more than
they would deplore, but which it is absolutely out of their power to
avert), that the Court of Directors are compelled, solely by financial
reasons, to instruct you that their Resolution to evacuate Uganda
and the lake districts is imperative, and leaves you no discretionary
power as to the time of giving complete effect to it.
Her Majesty's Government and the Church Missionary Society
have been, duly advised of the instructions now furnished to you, and
if nothing is done to protect national and missionary interests in the
lake districts after your retirement, neither you nor the Company can
be held responsible for the consequences.
You will, therefore, at the time, and in the way you think best,
intimate to all Europeans resident in Uganda, and the native
Christians and others who have placed themselves under or who may
seek your protection, that your intention is to withdraw with all the
Company's employees on the 1st January 1893 (that is, immediately
aft^r the date on which the Company's agreement with the Church
Missionary Society and other friends expires). You will furnish
every possible support to those desirous of accompanying you, irre-
spective of creed or party.
You will withdraw your entire force from Uganda, and place them
meantime in the Company's station at Dagoreti. On arrival there
you will hand over charge to Captain Williams, and return youraclf
with all despatch to London, that the Directors may have the benefit
of a personal conference before deciding as to the final disposal of the
present force under your command.
The Administrator has been directed to send you up along with
these instructions the largest possible amount of ammunition and a
Y
338 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
supporting body of men to enable you to effect the evacuation in tbe
manner hereinbefore indicated.
You will understand that you are at liberty to hand over any
surplus arms and ammunition which may not be necessary for the
requirements of your force on marching to Dagoreti to the chiefs and
natives remaining behind in Uganda who have given you their loyal
support.
FoRp:iGy Office to Imperial British East Africa Compaxt.
Foreign Office, May 26, 1892.
Sir, — I urn directed by tlie Marquis of Salisbury to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of 17th instant, containing a copy of tie
instructions which have been issued to Captain Lugard, directing
him to withdraw the Company's forces from Uganda on the 3Ul
December next.
. His Lordship observes that in the last paragraph of the instruc-
tions Captain Lugard is authorised to hand over any surplus arms
and ammunition to the chiefs and natives remaining behind in
L^gjuida wlio have given him their loyal support.
This authority would appear to be contrary to the spirit of the
provisions of the Brussels Act, which deal with the placing of arois
of precision in the hands of natives, and it would be difficult, if it
became known, to find substantial grounds on which it could be
justified.
He would be gl:id, therefore, to hear that telegraphic instructions
have been sent to Mombasa to cancel the paragraph in question.—
I am, etc. (Signed) T. V. Lister.
Impkrtal British East Africa Company to Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East, London,
Maxi 28, 1892.
Sir, — 1 have to acknowledge the receipt of Sir Philip Currie's
(K'spatch of May 2(Jt]i acknowledging copy of instructions issued to
(^aptain Lugard directing him to withdraw the Company's forces
from Uganda on the 31st December next, and to state for the infor-
mation of the Marquis of Salisbury that telegraphic instructions will
be sent in accordance with the opinion expressed in the despatch
under reply cancelling the last paragraph of the instructions in which
Captain fAi^^ard is authorised to hand over any surplus arms and
annnunilion to the ( hiefs an<l natives remaining behind in UgJinda
who have given their loyal support to the Company's officers. I am
APPENDIX XI. 339
desired to state in explanation that the Directors in issuing these
instructions conceived they were fully justified in doing so by the
spirit and letter of the Brussels Act, the district being within the
Britisb sphere, and those chiefs being the de facto representatives of
the Company ; it appeared, therefore, to the Directors that such an act
would fall under the ^ arming of the public force and the organisation
of their defence/ No doubt on the retirement of the Company from
Uganda the party hostile to the British will try to expel the British
missionaries and their followers in order to gain political ends, and it
was in order to guard against such a contingency the Directors were
desirous to leave the necessaries of defence in the hands of our
countrymen. — I have, etc., (Signed) Ernest L. Bentley,
Acting Secretary,
Imperial British East Africa Company to Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East, London,
August 10, 1892.
Sib, — I am instructed to transmit to you the enclosed instructions
to be transmitted by the mail of the 12th instant to Major A. E.
Smith. — I have, etc., (Signed) Ernest L. Bentley,
Acting Secretary.
Imperial British East Africa Company to Major Smith
(Mombasa).
2 Pall Mall East, London,
Augmt 12, 1892.
Sir, — I am directed by the Board to acknowledge the self-denial
with which you have anticipated the difficulties experienced by the
Directors in respect to your employment at Uganda, in association
with officers your juniors in army rank, whose claims to their con-
sideration you have thus handsomely appreciated.
The coming retirement of Captains Lugard and Williams, as
antecedently arranged, while in no degree detracting from the recog-
nition of your motives, enables the Directors to utilise your services
in furtherance of the policy inaugurated by those officers.
The enclosed correspondence will complete the knowledge you
already possess of the position of the Company, and of the progress
of events up to date ; these comprise the circumstances under which
the Company undertook the occupation of Uganda and the national
340 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
interests involyed ; the commercial and political advantages acqtuRi
by the expenditure of the Company's capital, and the meam rf
preserving those advantages unimpaired without imposing a boTdes
on the Company to which its resources are wholly inadequate.
Briefly stated, as early as July 1891, the Directors realised, uxidci
stress of financial consideiations, the imperative duty of retiring frcii
Uganda, but in notifying their resolution to this effect to Captain
Lugard on the 10th August 1891, they were so f»*r induced to giie
this measure a temporary character that they apprehended the cob-
sec^uences of a definitive withdrawal in the probable encroachmentB
of neighbouring States (not parties to the Agreement defining spheres
of influence), by way of establishing claims to sovereign and adminis-
trative ri^'hts in a field which Great Britain should be held to have
abandoned.
Inasmuch, however, as the project of a State railway from Momhin
to Lake Victoria had now been so far accepted in principle by her
Majesty's Government that a preliminary survey to determine the
feasibility of the undertaking had been assented to, subject to
Parliamentary Siinction, a special motive was provided for maintain-
ing in a more tangible form a hold upon the terminus of the proposed
line ; this being the issue which alone, it was argued, could sustain
the public recognition of the importance of the dominion.
The accompanying Blue Book supplies all particulars relating to
railway construction with which the continued occupation of Uganda
is so inseparably connected.
How far Captain Lugard has had it in his power, in spite of
obstructive environments, to realise the earnest aspirations of the
Directors that the king should be induced to execute his trestv
obligations fur the maintenance of administration in his kingdom,
and as far as possible make the revenue of the country suffice for the
future support of the Company's forces, is, of course, unknown ; but
the situation was clearly explained to Captain Lugard as being
governed by this condition, and the decision was accordingly enforced
that, failing adequate relief in the manner indicated, the occupation
of I'gMnda by the Company must terminate at the end of this year.
The l)i rectors are fullv sensible of the obstacles encountered hv
(\iptain Luj^arcl, and of his judgment, fortitude, and tactful resource
in overcoming tht ni ; but the present unaided resources of the
Company make it quite impossible to reap the fruits of his labours
in the direct and consecutive manner they would desire unless the
foreiroinir condition be realised.
Extraneous aid, while it encouraged the I>irectors to postpone for
AVrENDlX XL 341
a season their resolution to quit Uganda, has operated, nevertheless,
to enhance their pec miary obligations, and has, in fact, resulted in
replacing them, with even diminished means, in the position which
they held in July 1891. The unavoidable consequences have been
communicated to Captain Lugard in ray letter of the 16th May last,
which finally instructs him to withdraw his entire force from the lake
districts and locate them in the meantime at Dagoreti, under the
command of Captain Williams, returning himself to London, as he
had desired, for a personal conference with the Court of Directors.
The heavy caravan now under equipment by Mr. Martin would, of
course, proceed to Uganda under your command ; but, referring to
the necessity of your remaining at Mombasa pending the receipt of
these instructions, our telegram of the 5th instant required that it
should be despatched in advance, under Martin, to Dagoreti, there
to await your coming, and it is hoped that Zerhani's escort, to be
provided by Mbaruk, who is, as you are aware, in the regular pay of
the Company, will enable you to overtake him without occasioning
material loss of time to the expedition.
No alternative will be left you but to retire with Captain Lugard
to Dagoreti, where, in the absence of Captain Williams, who we
understand is returning to £ngland, you would assume command of
the Company's forces and station on the departure of Captain Lugard.
The hold of that station is not to be regarded as committing the
Company to a forward policy, which the responsibility of the Directors
to its shareholders would no longer justify, nor to commit the
Company to pecuniary liabilities on account of the Egyptian refugees.
As was to be expected, the Directors have had no opportunity of
ascertaining the views and opinions of the new ministers of her
Majesty, with whom must now rest the decision of the pending
questions respecting East Africa. You might, nevertheless, if
possible, carry on with you to their destination the presents for
Mwanga and Wakoli, which were lefc by Captain Macdonald at
Machakos.
We learn that the Church Missionary Society are largely augment-
ing their Uganda staff, but as you are now, and must continually be,
in communication with Bishop Tucker and the Missionary establish-
ments of his diocese, I need not further advert to this subject.
In conclusion, I have only to enclose the instructions now going
to Captain Lugard as supplementing the wishes of the Directors
which are expressed to yourself^ and to be, sir, yours faithfully,
(Signed) Ernest L. Bentlky,
Acting Secretary,
342 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Foreign Office to Imperial British East Africa Compaxt.
Foreign Office, September 30, 1891
Sir, — The final determination of your Directors to evacuate Ugandi
on the 31st Decemher next, which was notified to the late Goreni-
nient, and accepted by them in May last, has engaged the earnest
attention of her Majesty's Government, and I am now directed by
the Earl of Rosebery to convey to you, for the information of the
President and the Directors, the decision which her Majesty's
Government have taken in view of the situation thus created.
It being evident that the resources of the Company are unequal to
their continued occupation of Uganda, which has likewise been |
declared by the late Government to be arduous, if not impossible, in
the present state of communication, her Majesty's Government
adhere to the acceptance by their predecessors of the principle of
that evacuation.
It having been, however, pressed upon them by various communi-
cations, especially in a recent telegram from Sir G. Portal, that
dangers may arise from immediate evacuation at the appointed time,
which might be obviated by some further delay that would give time
for preparation calculated to facilitate evacuation with greater safety,
her Majesty's Government are prepared to assist the Company by
pecuniary contribution towards the cost of prolongation of the occu-
pation for three months up to the 31st March, on a scale not exceeding
that of the present expenditure. It must, however, be distinctly
understood that this measure is taken solely with a view to facilitate
the safe evacuation by the Company, which is rendered necessary by
their tinancial position ; that the responsibility for the measures to
bo taken in carrying out the evacuation wUl rest with the Company
alone ; that the Government do not intend by this step to take upon
themselves any of the liabilities incurred by the Company or their
a^^^ents in rospect of Uganda or the surrounding territories, and that
the Government reserve to themselves absolute freedom of action in
regard to any future measures consequent upon the evacuation.
{Should it 'oe tlie opinion of your Directors that no additional
security would be obtained by delaying, the evacuation must take
place as originally proposed ; otherwise I am to request that instruc-
tions may be at once des;patclied by telegraph to the Company's
a^eut at Mombasa to give effect to the decision of her Majesty's
Government. I am, etc., (Signed) P. Currie.
APPENDIX XL 343
Imperial British East Africa Company to Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East, London,
(Mohtr 3, 1892.
Sir,— I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the
30th ultimo, and to state, for the information of Lord Rosebery, that
nlth.ough steps were at once taken to invite the attendance of a
quorum of Directors to consider its subject-matter, it was found
impracticable before to-day to convene a Board meeting for this pur-
pose. I am to explain accordingly that I was unavoidably prevented
from acquainting you with the views of the Court respecting the
proposals of her Majesty's Government prior to the pu])lication of
your letter under acknowledgment through the medium of the public
press.
After due deliberation, and viewing the importance of the national
interests concerned, the Board have resolved to accept the proposals
of her Majesty's Government in respect to postponing the impending
evacuation of Uganda on the terms and for the period prescribed.
Instructions have accordingly been wired to this effect to the Com-
pany's Administrator at Mombasa for communication to Captain
Williams, now in charge at Uganda.
The Board's resolution to continue the occupation of the lake
district in the manner proposed has been actuated by the hope that
the provisional arrangement to which it refers may in the issue bear
fruit conducive to the cause of humanity and to the public advantage.
I have, etc., For the Court of Directors,
(Signed) A. B. K em ball.
Imperial British East Africa Company tu Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East, London,
(Extract). OdoUr 31, 1892. •
Adverting to the Board's letter of the 3rd instant accepting the
proposals of her Majesty's Government for postponing the evacuation
of Uganda by this Company for a period of three months, and to my
letter of the same date submitting transcript of the telegram which
was in consequence wired to the Company's Administrator at Mom-
basa, I am directed to enclose herewith, for the information of the
Earl of Rosebery, copy of the detailed instructions which will be
despatched by mail of the 4th proximo to that officer for communica-
tion to Captain Williams.
As it is estimated that Captain Williams would not be able to
344 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
concentrate liis forces and complete the other arrangements for the
march to the coast under a period of two months, that officer hu
been enjoined to lose no time in making all peedful preparations in
order to quit Kampala on the 31st March next. TiHiely measures
will likewise be taken by the Administrator to store provisions for
the retiring force at Dagoreti and the intermediate stations en twlU
as were adopted in the case of the survey expedition.
Imperial British East Africa Companv to Mr. Berkelet.
(Extract.) Ociohtr 31, 1892.
You are already apprised by telegraph of the reaolution of the
Board to prolong their tenure of Uganda for a period of three months,
and you have learnt from our communications with the Foreign OflBce
the grounds upon which this resolution w^as taken. Its effect will
have been to cause Captain Williams to suspend the concentration of
the Company's forces and employees and the completion of the other
arrangements preparatory to the evacuation of the country in the
terms of the original instructions.
Owing to the wide distribution of the Company's forces, and to the
peculiar character of the relations which now exist between the rival
factions on the spot, it is estimated by Captain Lugard that these
preliminary arrangements could not be effectively carried out under
a period of two months. In these circumstances it is incurabeiA
upon Captain Williams to give timely notice in February to his sub-
ordinates and to all outlying posts for their concentration upon
Kampala, in order that the withdrawal may be delibenxtely carried
out at the appointed time in an orderly manner. Every possible pre-
caution is to be taken for the etteetive provisioning of the men on the
march.
The Directors assume that you are fully informed of the details of
the Uganda garrison and followers, and they count upon your taking
all necessary measures to victual Dagoreti and other stations on the
road (as in the case of the survey expedition), in the fullest assurance
that (^^aptain Williams will ijuit Kampala on the 31st March.
You arc requested to forward a copy of these instructions to
(.^iptain Williams by the iir.^t post leaving for Uganda, and to send
duplicates and triplicates l>y succeeding mails, and for this purpose
also to make use of the German route if you should deem it advisable
to do so.
APPENDIX XI.
The Earl of Rosebery to Sir G. Portal."
^45
Foreign Office, December 10, 1892.
Sir, — The Imperial British East Africa Company have decided to
complete the evacuation of Uganda by the Slst March. With that
evacuation her Majesty's Government have determined not further to
interfere.
2. They have, however, resolved to despatch you, in your capacity
as Commissioner for the British sphere of influence in East Africa, to
Uganda, there, after investigation on the spot, to frame a report, as
expeditiously as may be, on the best means of dealing with the
country, whether through Zanzibar or otherwise.
3. The Company have offered to make over to her Majesty's
Government their establishments and stores in Uganda. It will be
for you to judge how far it may be necessary or expedient to avail
yourself of this proposal.
4. It will of course be your first duty to establish friendly relations
with King Mwanga. It may be necessary for this purpose to give
him presents, and even, for the moment, to subsidise him, but you will
make no definite or permanent arrangement for subsidy without
reference to me.
You will impress upon the king that in following the advice which
you may give him he will best be proving the sincerity of the assur-
ances given by him and his chiefs in their letter to the Queen of the
17th June, and that your mission cannot fail to satisfy him of the
interest which is taken by the British Government in the country.
6. The other points on which you should dwell in your communi-
cations with the king and chiefs are the prevention of broils stirred
up under the name of religion, the promotion of peace, the encourage-
ment of commerce, the security of missionary enterprise, and the
suppression of the slave-trade.
7. One considerable difficulty is inherent in the situation. The Com-
pany has of late concluded a great number of treaties with native
chiefs, including one of perpetual friendship with Mwanga, which
last, however, has not been ratified by the Secretary of State.
There are many others (eijjhty- three in all) which have been so
approved. Whether an approval of this kind can be held in any way,
directly or indirectly, to bind her Majesty's Government is a moot
point. There is no doubt of the liability of the Company, and of the
fact that the Company, having concluded these treaties, finds itself
compelled to evacuate the country without making any endeavour to
implement them. It is to be feared that this proceeding may have a
346 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
prejudicial effect on the British good name in those regions, and I
shall be anxious to iiave your report on this point with as little delaj
as possible, as well as on the course to adopt with reference to these
engagements.
8. A mission to Central Africa cannot, of course, be conducted
according to ordinary precedent ; the infrequency and difficulty of
communication may require a latitude beyond what is usual, and in
intrusting to you these important duties her Majesty's Government
reckon with full confidence on your meeting with firmness and caution
every occasion that may arise.
9. Her Majesty's Government desire that your expedition shall be
fully officered and equipped. There will therefore be attached to you
Mr. Ernest James Lennox Berkeley, Colonel Rhodes, Major Owen,
Captain Portal, and Lieutenant Arthur. You will also take the
interpreters and guides that you may deem necessary, and an adequate
force of armed natives.
10. It will be your duty to sign a Commission appointing one of
the above officials to act on your behalf in case of your being incapaci-
tated. You will use your own discretion as to which it shall be.
11. During your absence on this mission it will be necessary to
supply your place as Consul-General at Zanzibar. Her Majesty^s
Government will lose no time in sending there a suitable official to
act in this capacity. Should, however, any interval elapse between
your departure and his arrival, you will instruct Mr. C. S. Smith to
represent the Agency. — I am, et<j.,
(Signed) Rosebery.
Sir G. Portal to the Earl of Rosebery.
(Telegraphic.) Zanzibar, December 24, 1892.
Does any understanding exist with the Company, or has any pledge
been given by them, that, after the evacuation of Uganda, they will
maintain their station in the district of Kikuyu ?
The Earl of Rosebeky to Sir G. Portal.
(Telegraphic.) Foreign Office, December 25, 1892.
With reference to your telegram of yesterday's date, the Company,
it is understood, still maintain their original intention of withdraw-
ing as far as Dagoreti, and, in accordance with the instructions given
to Major Smith on the 12th August, of holding that station as their
advanced post.
APPENDIX No. 12
ARTICLE IX. OF THE GERMAN COMPANY'S CONCESSION
His Highness grants to the Association the regie or lease of the
customs of all the ports throughout that part of his Highnesses terri-
tories above defined for an equal period of time to the other con-
cessions upon the following terms, namely : —
At the beginning of their administration the Association pays to
his Highness an advance of 50,000 rupees in cash, which is to be
refunded in equal monthly quotations within the first six months.
For the first year the Association hand over to his Highness at the
end of every month according to the European reckoning the whole
amount of the customs duties levied from the import and export
trade in his Highnesses {erritories above defined, after deduction of a
certain sum for the expenses incurred by collecting the duties.
These expenses are not allowed to exceed the sum of Rs. 170,0C0 in
the first year, and if the Association are not able to prove by their
books that, in fact, they expended the above-mentioned sum, they
have to pay to his Highness also the difference between their real
expenses and the said amount of 170,000 rupees.
The only profit the Association shall have in the first year is a
commission of 5 per cent from the net revenues paid to bis
Highness. After the first year's experience the annual average of
the sum to be paid to his Highness by the Association shall be fixed.
The Association, however, shall have the right at the end of every
third year, according to the results of the previous three years as
shown by their books, to enter into fresh negotiations with his
Highness in order to fix a revised average. His Highness shall be
authorised to appoint an officer who can control the revenues made
in the custom-houses of all ports included in this concession.
Further, it is understood that his Highness shall not claim the
duty of any part of the trade twice over, and that the Association,
therefore, shall be entitled to control the customs officers of bis
Highness at Zanzibar to this effect, and to claim a drawback for the
348
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
amount of any duties which may hereinafter be paid direct to his
Highness on any imports to or exports from the ports included in
this concession. The Association further guarantee to pay to his
Highness 50 per cent, of the additional net revenue which shall
come to them from the customs duties of the ports included in this
concession, and his Highness grants to the Association all rights
over the territorial waters in or appertaining to his dominions within
the limits of these concessions, particularly the right to supervise
and control the conveyance, transit, landing, and shipment of mer-
chandise and produce within the said waters by means of a coast-
guard service both on land and water.
APPENDIX No. 13
DECREES, Etc., RELATING TO SLAVERY AND THE
SLAVE-TRADE
Treaty between her Majesty and the Sultan of Zanzibar for
the suppression of the Slave-Trade.
Signed at Zanzibar, June 5, 1873.
In the name of the Most High God.
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, and His Highness the Seyyid £arghash-bin-Said, Sultan
of Zanzibar, being desirous to give more complete effect to the
engagements entered into by the Sultan and his predecessors for the
perpetual abolition of the slave-trade, they have appointed as their
representatives to conclude a new treaty for this purpose, which
shall be binding upon themselves, their heirs, and successors, that is
to say, her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland has
appointed to that end John Kirk, the Agent of the English Govern-
ment at Zanzibar ; and his Highness the Seyyid Barghash, the
Sultan of Zanzibar, has appointed to that end Nasir-bin-Said ; and
the two aforenamed, after having communicated to each other their
respective full powers, have agreed upon and concluded the following
articles : —
Article I.
The provisions of the existing treaties having proved ineffectual for
preventing the export of slaves from the territories of the Sultan of
Zanzibar in Africa, her Majesty the Queen and his Highness the
Sultan above-named agree that from this date the export of slaves
from the coast of the mainland of Africa, whether destined for
350 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
transport from one part of the Sultan's dominions to another or for
conveyance to foreign parts, shall entirely cease. And his Highness
the Sultan binds himself, to the best of his ability, to make an
effectual arrangement throughout his dominions to prevent and
abolish the same. And any vessel engaged in the transport or con-
veyance of slaves after this date shall be liable to seizure and con-
deumation by all such naval or other officers or agents and such
courts as may be authorised for that purpose on the part of her
Majesty.
Article II.
His Highness the Sultan engages that all public markets in his
dominions for the buying and selling of imported slaves shall be
entirely closed.
Article III.
His Highness the Sultan above-named engages to protect, to the
utmost of his ability, all liberated slaves, and to punish severely any
attempt to molest them or to reduce them again to slavery.
Article IV.
Her Britannic Majesty engages that natives of Indian States under
British protection shall be prohibited from possessing slaves, and
from acquiring any fresh slaves in the meantime, from this date.
Article V.
The present treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be
exchanged, at Zanzibar, as soon as possible, but in any case in the
course of the 9th of Rabiu-el-Akhir (5th of June 1873) of the months
of the date hereof.^
In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed
the same, and have affixed their seals to this treaty, made the 5th of
June 1873, corresponding to the 9th of the month Rabia-el-Akhir
1290.
1 nie Sultan of Zanzibar's Ratification was attached to the original Treaty.
Tliat of her Majrsty was delivered to the Siiltau in September 1872.
APPENDIX XIIL 351
Supplementary Slave-Trade Treaty, dated 14th July 1875.
Article I.
The presence on board of a vessel of domestic slaves in attendance
on or in discharge of the legitimate business of their masters, or of
slaves bona fide employed in the navigation of the vessel, shall in no
case of itself justify the seizure and condemnation of the vessel, pro-
vided that such slaves are not detained on board against their will.
If such slaves are detained on board against their will they shall be
freed, but the vessel shall, nevertheless, not on that account alone be
condemned.
Article II.
All vessels found conveying slaves (other than domestic slaves in
attendance on or in discharge of the legitimate business of their
masters, or slaves 6o7ia^({<; employed in the navigation of the vessels)
to or from any part of his Highnesses dominions, or of any foreign
country, whether such slaves be destined for sale or not, shall be
deemed guilty of carrying on the slave-trade, and may be seized by
any of her Majesty's ships of war and condemned by any British
Coiui; exercising Admiralty jurisdiction.
Proclamation abolishing Slavery in Kismayu Brava (Merka)
and mogdishu.
(Translation.)
In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate.
Seal of
From Barghash-binSaid. Barghash.
To all who may see this of our friends the inhabitants of Kismayu,
Brava (Merka), Mogdishu and its dependencies, be it known, God
having brought about the departure of the Egyptians from our
dominions in Kisinayo, that on re-establishing our Government and
Kingdom we have decreed the abolition of slavery throughout our
dominions in the Benadir and the district of Kismayu, and we have
commanded our Governors to see that this order is enforced, and
that slaves are nut pennitted to pass through the territory above-
named.
Written by Zjihr with his hand this 17 day of El Haj 1292
(15th January 1876). This is from me written with his own hand.
(Signed) BARon^vsH-niN-SAiD.
«
352 • . BRITISH EAST AFklcAh
Copt of Letter, dated 12th February 1890, from the Adkinistra-
TOR-iy-CniEF to the Consul-General explanatory of tbe
arraogement come to regarding the Fulladoyo Slav]
I have the honour to inform you that a few days ago a representa-
tive deputation of the runaway slaves who have settled in the
district of Fulladoyo, which lies midway between Takaangu and
Mombasa, and inland about thirty miles from the coast^ waited upon
me to solicit my intervention with their owners for the purchase of
their freedom by themselves.
These people, although practically free, feel the hardship of the
estrictions under which they live iu being unable to come into or
trade at the coast towns where their owners reside, and so also find
themselves debarred from participating in the regular wages offered
in the numerous works of the Company.
Having promised them my support, they undertook to be bound
by any arrangement I might make on their behalf.
I at once opened negotiations on the subject with some of the prin-
cipal Mombasa Arabs, owners of these runaways, and I am pleased
to inform you that after considerable negotiations they have consented
to allow them to redeem themselves for the verv moderate sum of
16 dols., equivalent to £2, 10s. ])er head.
Those now in Fulladoyo, I am informed, number about 1000, and
iu the surrounding districts probably not less than 3000 souls.
Mr. Binns, of the Church Missionary Society, is at present travel-
ling through the Giriama districts, and 1 have asked him to send me
at once a list of all the Fnlladi»yo runaways from Mombasa who
have settled there. When I have definitely secured their freedom, I
anticipate little or no difficulty in settling similarly with the owners
of the slaves who have run awav from other coast towns in the
British sphere.
My proposal is to raise by private subscription at home a sum of
£3000 ; this will enable nie to deal at once with 1000 to 1201) run-
aways, each of whom being willing to work and making the request
will himself be advanced the 16 dols. (free of interest) requisite to
purchase his or her freedom. This sum to be repaid by the slaves in
easy instalments of 2 dol<. per month, or a lesser sum in cases where
maintenance of families has to be provided for. In cases of caravan
porters hiring themselves to the Company, the usual three months'
advance would make them free men at the end of four months' work.
AfPEND/X XTtL * ^ %i
53
As these adTancea Ive repaid further redemptions can be effects.
In thif way % fund of ;Q000 will, I estimate, enable about 2700
tlares annually to purchase their own redemption, and so provide a
working body of freed slaves ready to supply the labour demand
whenever the time arrives for dealing with the question of universal
redemption, which I venture to think is not far distant
Like many desirable schemes objections may be raised to this one ;
it is, I admit, capable of being rendered liable to abuse by the
unscrupulous. As a preventive, therefore, I would suj^gest that
only the chief representative of the Company should be permitted to
employ slave labour on such terms, that a return of all slaves so
engaged by him should at once be notified to your office, and that
a duplicate of the certificate of freedom should also be sent to you :
this I think would thoroughly enable you to check abuses.
It is, of course, understood that all contracts entered into with
slaves thur; employed by the Company shall be direct with the slave
himself and not through the medium of the owner.
I trust her Majesty's (Government may see fit to approve and
support the scheme as a trial measure at all events. It certainly
presents two great benefits : first, in accustoming the Arab slave-
owner's mind to the idea of the slaves working out their own
redemption ; and, second, the very moderate figure at which the
price of redemption (£2, 10s. per head) has been fixed, placing it
within the reach of every worthy and industrious slave to work out
redemption within a very limited period.
SLAVEEY.
PROCLAMATION.
It has been rei>orted to me that the Wanika and Giriama tribes
are now making war upon each other and selling their captives into
slavery. These tribes are free people who have made treaties with
and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of this Company.
Notice is therefore hereby given, that the following tribes, the
Wanika, the Wa-Giriama, the Wa-Duruma, the Wa-Kauma, the
Wa-Gala, the Wa-Kamba, the Wa-Gibania, the "NVa-Senia, the Wa-
Kambi, the Wa-Ribi, the Shiniba, the "NVa-Digo, theWa-Teita, and
Z
354 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Wa-Pokomo are all under the protection of this Company. No man,
woman, or child belonging to any of these tribes can be held as a
slave, and any so held will, on appealing to the Company, be at once
liberated, and no compensation whatever can be claimed or will be
paid to the holder of such a person.
In making this proclamation it must be understood that it only
applies to the members of the free tribes above named, who ue
under the jurisdiction of the Company. It is not intended to apply
to or affect the ordinary domestic slaves who are as heretofore recog-
nised to be the property of their masters according to old custom and
the law of the Sultan of Zanzibar. With such slaves the Company
has no intention to interfere ; they will be dealt with according to
the Sheria. (Signed) Georqe S. Mackenzie.
Mombasa, l«f May 1890.
The above proclamation was read in the public Baraza on 11th
Ramathan 1307, before the Wazai and all the people of the town, and
they unanimously approve of and agree to be bound by the terms of
it. (Signed) Salim Bin Khalfan,
Lewali of Mombasa.
Copy of Letter from Mr. George S. Mackenzie to the Consul-
general, dated 2nd May 1890, explanatory of the Friendly
Tribes Slave Proclamation.
I have the honour to bring under your notice copy of a proclama-
tion which I have issued here, and which has an important bearing on
the slave question at the coast ports under the jurisdiction of this
Company.
You are aware many of the members of the tribes named are kid-
napped by passing caravans, and, especially in times of famine, great
numbers of them are sold into slavery by their own relatives for a
mere nominal supply of food. The above tribes cover territory
extending for 250 to 300 miles into the interior. The proclamation
will therefore not only materially restrict the field from which slaves
can be drawn, but it will facilitate their redemption when captured.
The principle once accepted can hereafter be extended to all the
tribes inhabiting the territory right up to and surrounding the lake
without offending the feelings or susceptibilities of the coast Arabs.
APPENDIX XJJL 355
The proclamation was read and explained by me in person at the
public Baraza, when it was fiilly discussed and approved by the
elders and the people. You will observe I have had it indorsed by
the Lewali on behalf of the community.
Copt of Letter from Mr. George S. Mackenzie to Colonel Euan-
Smith, dated 15th May 1890, explanatory of the Slave Pro-
clamation.
In reply to your No. 151 of 9th inst., I have the honour to inform
you that the question of making the action of the proclamation issued
on 1st inst retrospective was not raised or discussed at the time.
The matter was left purposely open, as the people themselves were so
ready to admit the justice of the proclamation, that I am inclined to
think that should a slave belonging to any of the tribes named now
present himself for freedom I could without difficulty fix the retro-
spective action of the proclamation, but I do not think it is politic
needlessly to raise the point. The question must be settled by my
successor as occasion presents itself. There is no doubt that it is
most desirable it should be made retrospective.
Copy of Letter dated 22nd May 1890, from the Administr.\tor-in
Chief to the Consul-General, explanatory of the arrnngements
made regarding slaves harboured at Mission Sttitions, etc.
With reference to our conversation on the recent debate in Parlia-
ment on Slave Regulation in the I. B. E. A. Co.'s territory, and my
recent proclamation, I beg to infonu you three distinct arrangements
have been made by me for the freedom of slaves.
1st. The runaways harboured at the Misnon Society's Stations.
Composed of two classes : —
(a) Slai'f^ owned by coast Arabs beimiging to any African
tribe. These were redeemed by payment down to their
masters of 25 dollars (twenty-five dollars, or say .£3, 198. C<1.)
per head. These slaves are registered, and on receipt of
payment the masters signed the register acknowledging
the redemption, and the slaves thereupon received a
* freedom certificate.' They were, at the time the arrange-
ment was made, living at and under the protection of the
358 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
customary for parents to sell their children to obtain food for them-
selves.
The proclamation prevents this being done, and any one purchas-
ing such a slave would, on discovery, have him confiscated without
receiving indemnification.
No inquiry as to how the owner became possessed of him is neces-
sary ; the fact of his being a member of any one of the tribes
specified entitles him to freedom.
The proclamation purposely does not state whether the action is to
be retrospective, but by judicious action when the first case for
settlement presents itself, I anticipate no difficulty in having such a
construction put upon it, and it would certainly have retrospective
effect in case of those harboured at the Mission, as already pointed
out, thus removing a difficulty which it might have been inconvenient
to settle without resort to compensation.
I cannot conceive that when these measures are properly under-
stood, their action Ciin be questioned even by the most querulous.
They procure the liberation of from 5000 to 6000 slaves, taking a
moderate estimate of the numbers affected. The eflfect is, and will
be in every way, beneficial and far-reaching, and has been brought
about by the hearty concurrence and goodwill of the slave-masters
themselves, who recognise the benefits thereby conferred upon the
general community ; and, further, they are absolutely free from all
suspicion of being a coercive measure on the slave for the benefit of
this Company.
COPY OF SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR'S SLAVERY
PROCLAMATION.
Dated 15th day of El Hej 1307, at Zanzibar (1st August 1890).
In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate, the following
Decree is published by us, Seyyid Ali Bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar,
and is to be made known to, and to be obeyed by, all our subjects
within our dominions from this date.
Decree.
1. We hereby confirm all former decrees and ordinances made by
our predecessors against slavery and the slave-trade, and declare
that, whether such decrees have hitherto been put in force or not,
they shall for the future be binding on ourselves and on our subjects.
2. We declare that, subject to the conditions stated below, all
APPENDIX XIIL 359
slaves lawfully possessed on this date by our subjects shall remain
with their owners as at present. Their status shall be unchanged.
3. We absolutely prohibit, from this date, all exchange, sale, or
purchase of slaves, domestic or otherwise. There shall be no more
traffic whatever in slaves of any description. Any houses heretofore
kept for traffic in domestic slaves by slave-brokers shall be for ever
closed, and any person found acting as a broker for the exchange or
sale of slaves shall be liable, under our orders, to severe punishment
and to be deported from our dominions. Any Arab or other of our
subjects hereafter found exchanging, purchasing, obtaining, or selling
domestic or other slaves, shall be liable, under our orders, to severe
punishment, to deportation, and the forfeiture of all his slaves. Any
house in which traffic of any kind in any description of slave may
take place shall be forfeited.
4. Slaves may be inherited at the death of their owner only by
the lawful children of the deceased. If the owner leaves no such
children, his slaves shall vpzo facto become free on the death of their
owner.
5. Any Arab, or other of our subjects, who shall habitually ill-
treat his slaves, or shall be found in the possession of raw slaves,
shall be liable, under our orders, to severe punishment, and, in
flagrant cases of cruelty, to the forfeiture of all his slaves.
6. Such of our subjects as may marry persons subject to British
jurisdiction, as well as the issue of all such marriages, are hereby
disabled from holding slaves, and all slaves of such of our subjects
as are already so married are now declared to be free.
7. All our subjects who, once slaves, have been freed by British
authority, or who have long since been freed by persons subject to
British jurisdiction, are hereby disabled from holding slaves, and all
slaves of such persons are now declared to be free.
All slaves who, after the date of this decree, may lawfully obtain
their freedom, are for ever disqualified from holding slaves, under
pain of severe punishment.
8. Every slave shall be entitled, as a right, at any time henceforth,
to purchase his freedom at a just and reasonable tariff to be fixed by
ourselves and our Arab subjects. The purchase-money on our order
shall be paid by the slave to his owner before a kadi, who shall at
once furnish the slave with a paper of freedom, and such freed slaves
shall receive our special protection against ill-treatment. This pro-
tection shall also be specially extended to all slaves who may gain
their freedom under any of the provisions of this decree.
9. From the date of this decree every slave shall have the same
358 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
customary for parents to sell their children to obtain food for them-
selves.
The proclamation prevents this being done, and any one purchas-
ing such a slave would, on discovery, have him confiscated without
receiving indemnification.
No inquiry as to how the owner became possessed of him is neces-
sary ; the fact of his being a member of any one of the tribes
specified entitles him to freedom.
The proclamation purposely does not state whether the action is to
1)6 retrospective, but by judicious action when the first case for
settlement presents itself, I anticipate no difficulty in having such a
construction put upon it, and it would certainly have retrospective
effect in case of those harboured at the Mission, as already pointed
out, thus removing a difficulty which it might have been inconvenient
to settle without resort to compensation.
I cannot conceive that when these measures are properly under-
stood, their action can be questioned even by the most querulous.
Tliey procure the liberation of from 5000 to 6000 slaves, taking a
moderate estimate of the numbers affected. The effect is, and will
be in every way, beneficial and far-reaching, and has been brought
about by the hearty concurrence and goodwill of the slave-masters
themselves, who recognise the benefits thereby conferred upon the
general community ; and, further, they are absolutely free from all
suspicion of being a coercive measure on the slave for the benefit of
this Company.
COPY OF SULTAN OF ZANZIBAR'S SLAVERY
PROCLAMATION.
Dated 15th day of El Hej 1307, at Zanzibar (1st August 1890).
In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate, the following
Decree is published by us, Seyyid Ali Bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar,
and is to be made known to, and to be obeyed by, all our subjects
within our dominions from this date.
Decree.
1 . We hereby confirm all former decrees and ordinances made by
our predecessors against slavery and the slave-trade, and declare
that, whether such decrees have hitherto been put in force or not,
they shall for the future be binding on ourselves and on our subjects,
2. We deckre ihat, subject to the conditions stated below, all
APPENDIX XIIL 359
slaves lawfully possessed on this date by our subjects shall remain
with their owners as at present. Their status shall be unchanged.
3. We absolutely prohibit, from this date, all exchange, sale, or
purchase of slaves, domestic or otherwise. There shall be no more
traffic whatever in slaves of any description. Any houses heretofore
kept for traffic in domestic slaves by slave-brokers shall be for ever
closed, and any person found acting as a broker for the exchange or
sale of slaves shall be liable, under our orders, to severe punishment
and to be deported from our dominions. Any Arab or other of our
subjects hereafter found exchanging, purchasing, obtaining, or selling
domestic or other slaves, shall be liable, under our orders, to severe
punishment, to deportation, and the forfeiture of all his slaves. Any
house in which traffic of any kind in any description of slave may
take place shall be forfeited.
4. Slaves may be inherited at the death of their owner only by
the lawful children of the deceased. If the owner leaves no such
children, his slaves shall ipzo facto become free on the death of their
owner.
5. Any Arab, or other of our subjects, who shall habitually ill-
treat his slaves, or shall be found in the possession of raw slaves,
shall be liable, under our orders, to severe punishment, and, in
flagrant cases of cruelty, to the forfeiture of all his slaves.
6. Such of our subjects as may marry persons subject to British
jurisdiction, as well as the issue of all such marriages, are hereby
disabled from holding slaves, and all slaves of such of our subjects
as are already so married are now declared to be free.
7. All our subjects who, once slaves, have been freed by British
authority, or who have long since been freed by persons subject to
British jurisdiction, are hereby disabled from holding slaves, and all
slaves of such persons are now declared to be free.
All slaves who, after the date of this decree, may lawfully obtain
their freedom, are for ever disqualified from holding slaves, under
pain of severe punishment.
8. Every slave shall be entitled, as a right, at any time henceforth,
to purchase his freedom at a just and reasonable tariff to be fixed by
ourselves and our Arab subjects. The purchase-money on our order
shall be paid by the slave to his owner before a kadi, who shall at
once furnish the slave with a paper of freedom, and such freed slaves
shall receive our special protection against ill-treatment. This pro-
tection shall also be specially extended to all slaves who may gain
their freedom under any of the provisions of this decree.
9. From the date of this decree every slave shall have the same
36o BRITISH EA St AFRICA
rights as any of our other subjects who are not sluyes, to bring and
prosecute any complaints or cUiims before our kadis.
Given under our hand and seal thit 15th day of £1 Haj 1307, at
Zanzibar (August 1st, 1890). (Signed) Ali Bin Said,
(Seal) Sultan of Zanzibar.
[Article 8 was cancelled by a decree made on the 20th August
1890, declaring that, ' If any slave brings money to the kadi
to purchase his freedom, his master shall not be forced to take
the money.']
With reference to the question of the application of the Indian
Act of 1843 to the slavery problem in the Zanzibar Protectorate, the
following extract from a letter of Mr. George S. Ma^enzie, in the
Scotsman of 6th December 1892, possesses special interest on account
of the practical knowledge of the conditions existing in East Africa,
and of the slavery question in particular, possessed by the writer : —
* Slavery in Mohammedan countries does not exist by virtue of
any Act of the existing Government. It is a state of things recog-
nised by the Mohammedan law, which cannot be annulled by decree
or convention, although the authority may be restricted in giving
effect to its provisions. Under this law a slave cannot marry or
inherit property without the consent of the master ; if a slave dies
the master inherits all his property to the exclusion of the wife or
relations. The children of a female slave are the slaves of her
master ; the father has no right in them. There can be no doubt
that the most eflfectual remedy which could be applied to attain the
object of slave abolition would be the passing of an enactment
similar to Act V. of 1843 of the Indian Legislature. In this way a
fatal blow would be struck at the institution of slavery in British
East Africa, as was done in India half a century ago, and has been
done only the other day in our West African possessions. The pro-
visions of that simple and effective Act are : —
Act No. V. of 1843.
' ** An Act for declaring and amending the law regarding the condi-
tion of slavery witliin the territories of the East India Company.
* *' I. It is hereby enacted and declared, that no public officer shaU,
in execution of any decree or order of Court, or for the enforcement of
any demand of rent or revenue, sell, or cause to be sold, any person,
or the right to the compulsory labour or services of any person, on the
ground that such person is in a state of slavery.
■ -I
APPENDIX XIII. 361
' '* II. And it is hereby declared and enacted, that no rights arising
out of alleged property in the person and services of another as a
slave shall be enforced by any civil or criminal court or magistrate
within the territories of the East India Company.
* ^* III. And it is hereby declared and enacted, that no person who
may have acquired property by his own industry or by the exercise of
any art, calling, or profession, or by inheritance, assignment, gift, or
bequest shall be dispossessed of such property or prevented from
taking possession thereof on the ground that such person or that the
person from whom the property may have been derived was a slave.
* ** IV. And it is hereby enacted, that any act which would be a
penal offence if done to a free man shall be equally an offence if done
to any person on the pretext of his being in a condition of slavery.''
* There can be no doubt that the whole institution of slavery has
been greatly shaken within the last few years. A large number of
slaves have been freed under existing rules, and the owners feel that
their tenure over those who still remain is insecure. Another im-
portant consideration which is doing much to undermine slavery is
that many Arab slave-holders are beginning to understand, as the
Indians in Zanzibar did long ago, that free labour is better, more
reliable, cheaper, and far less troublesome than slave labour. Many
Mohammedans, so far from wishing to maintain slaves, consider
those which they possess a burden, and would be glad to get rid of
them if they could obtain free labour.
* The difficulty hitherto felt in dealing with the question of slave
liberation in East Africa is the dread expressed by the masters that
their plantations on which they depend will become valueless on
being denuded of slave labour, and the fear of the slaves themselves
that if without a protector and master they may not find the means
of getting a livelihood. This is especially felt in ciises of female
slaves now attached to Arab masters, who would in many cases be
plunged into a life of misery, if not of vice, if suddenly cast adrift.
* Whatever we do, we must, if we are to effectively act at all, be
ready to overcome the dread and difficulties of the labour question
which must follow any effective action against slavery. The Indian
Emigration Act should be extended to the British Protectorate both
in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and in the territories of the
coast under the I. B. E. A. Company. Indian coolies should be per-
mitted to contract for service at all districts now under direct
British jurisdiction and supervision, whether of her Majesty's Commis-
sioner or the Company. At present they are prohibited from doing
so. There can be no doubt that the example of the Indian labourers
362
BRITISH EAST AFRICA
would prove of immense advantage to the liberated slayes, and teach
them the advantages of honest labour.
* The climate and soil of East Africa are admirably adapted for the
requirements of the Indian agriculturist, and he will there find the
trade of the coast already monopolised by his fellow-countrjrmen and
co-religionists, both Hindoo and Mohammedans, who will be ready to
welcome and forward his interests.
' If, simultaneously with such a movement, the construction of the
railway from the coast to the Lake Victoria be taken in hand, a
means would be afforded of which I am certain many slaves would
readily avail themselves to work out their freedom, and thus the line
would prove a public work for the benefit of the slaves, enabling
them to earn wages in a manner conducive to create a feeling of self-
respect and without injury or loss to the master.'
APPENDIX No. U
CORRESPONDENCE relating to the placing op the Com-
pany's Concession Territory within the Free Zone under
the Berlin Act
The Foreign Office to the Company.
Mr. Trench, No. 28. ForHign Office, 6tli May 1892.
Sir, — I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to transmit
herewith copy of a despatch from her Majesty's Charg^* d'Aifaires at
Berlin, reporting the wish of the German Government to receive
further information in regard to the application of the Free Zone
tariff of the Congo Act to the territory under the administration of
the Company.
His Lordship would be glad to receive any observations which
the Directors may wish to offer as to the reply to be returned to this
request.
I am to observe that the object of the question is evidently to
enable the German Government to judge of the precise fiscal position
of the mainland territories of the Sultan when they shall be placed
within the Free Zone. T. V. Lister,
The Secretary, I. B. E, A. Co.
No. 5.
Mr. Trench to the Marquis of Salisbury.
No. 28, Africa. Berlin, April 23, 1892.
My Lord, — With reference to your Lordship's despatch. No. 41,
Africa, of the 9th instant, and to Sir Edward Malet's No. 23 of the
15th, 1 have the honour to enclose translation of a note which I have
received from the Imperial Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
asking for further information with regard to the application of the
Free Zone tariff of the Congo Act to the territory under the adminis-
tration of the British East Africa Company. — I have, &c.,
P. Le Poer Trench.
364 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Enclosure in No. 5.
Baron von Marschall to Sir E. Malet.
Foreign Office, Berlin,
(Translation.) April 21, 1892.
M. l'Ambassadeur, — I beg to thank your Excellency for the
communication of the 15th instant, on the intentions of the British
Government with regard to the introduction of the system of free
trade, in the sense of the Congo Act, into the territory of the
Sultanate of Zanzibar.
In order to be better able to judge of the proposed measure, it
would be of interest to me to receive a further communication
respecting the duties to be levied in the territory under the adminis-
tration of the British East Africa Company, with reference to the
agreement concluded with regard to the tariff for the eastern zone
of the basin of the Congo, as defined by the Act. — I avail, &c.,
IVIarschall.
The Company to the Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East,
May 12^^, 1882.
Sir, — I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of 6th May, transmitting copy of a despatch from her Majesty's
Charge d'Affaires at Berlin, reporting the wish of the German
Government to receive further information in regard to the applica-
tion of the Free Zone tariff of the Congo Act to the territory under
the administration of this Company, and requesting any observations
which my Directors may wish to offer in reply.
As you observe that the object of the question is evidently to
enable the German Government to judge of the precise fiscal position
of the mainland territories of the sultiin when they shall be placed
within the free zone, I am directed to state that the territories of
this Company, although all included in the Conventional Basin of
the Congo as defined in the Berlin Act, are situated partly within
and partly without the operation of the free trade system as there
defined.
In giving his adherence to the Congo Act the Sultan of Zanzibar
reserved his fijscal independence, which remains limited only by
treaty agreement with certain Powers, and therefore the position of
the Imperial British East Africa Company as regards territories
administered under the Sultan's concession, is now as it was in the
APPENDIX XIV, 365
islands of Zanzibar and Pemba prior to the abolition of import
daties.
Outside the ten-mile limit the Company holds the right without
reference to other Powers, of imposing taxes and duties, those on
imports alone being restricted by a limit of five per cent, ad valoremy
modified as regards arms and spirits — goods declared as in transit
beiDg free provided they are made to conform to any rules and
regulations in force.
In the event of .the ten-mile coast zone being assimilated to the
rest of the territory inland and placed under the joint action of the
Berlin and Brussels Acts, it would be understood by the Company
that the five per cent, duty on imports now levied under treaty would
be replaced by a similar duty under the Declaration of the Brussels
Act, that the special tariff in the British and German treaties would
disappear and the Company would be free to deal with produce and
exports, as also to impose personal and property taxes, as it now can
(with the approval of her Majesty's Government) outside the ten-mile
zone. On the other hand, the inland frontier where the ten-mile zone
now touches the free-trade territory would disappear, and with it any
rights the Company now possesses at that frontier. The northern
and southern inland frontiers also of the ten-mile zone, where that
zone adjoins Italian and German territory, would in such case be
regulated by the provisions of the Brussels Act, and the Company
would lose the right it now holds of levying any import duty it
pleases at these frontiers — the treaties which restrict the Sultan's
power in respect of import dues having reference to the seaboard and
coast ports of his dominions alone.
There is, however, one point of some importance to which my
Directors would respectfully invite the attention of the Marquis of
Salisbury. Under Article 7, clause 2, of the German Commercial
Treaty with Zanzibar, it is provided that the import duty must be
collected at the port in the Sultan's dominions where the goods are
first landed. If, therefore, a German merchant tender payment of
the five per cent, duty at Zanzibar and this payment is there refused on
the ground that the harbour of Zanzibar is now a free port, the
German merchant will have a plausible argument in his favour if he
insists on taking these goods to Mombasa duty free. No case of the
kind so far as is known has yet arisen, but the possibility is so
obvious that my Directors trust it will not be allowed to escape
consideration when the fiscal system comes to be thoroughly revised.
(Signed) Ernest L. Bentley,
To ihe Under Secretary of State^ Acting Secretary.
Foreign Office.
366 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
The Foreign Office to the Company.
Foreign Office, Junt 25, 1892.
Sir, — I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to enclose copy of
a notification which has been sent to the Powers Signatories of the
Berlin Act infonning them that from the 1st of July the dominions
of the Sultan of Zanzibar will be placed within the Free Zone, that
no import duties, except on certain specified articles, will be levied
in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and that in. the territory under
the administration of the Company the import tariff will be five per
cent. (Signed) P. W. Currie.
To the Secretary, L B, E. A. Co,
(Circular) Foreign Office, June 22, 1892,
I have to request you to notify to the Government to which you
are accredited that it has been decided to place the British Protec-
torate of Zanzibar, from the 1st July next, under the free zone provi-
sions of Article I. of the Act of Berlin.
The conditions under which the finances of Zanzibar were adminis-
tered at the date of the passage of the Act were not consistent with
the adoption of the fiscal system of the free zone, but under the Pro-
tectorate of Great Britain a complete change has been effected. The
finances have been placed under European control, reforms have been
introduced in every branch of the administration, and sufficient
progress has been made to justify her Majesty's Government in
notifying the acceptance of the invitation tendered by the Powers in
1885 to the Governments established on the African Littoral of the
Indian Ocean.
The whole of the Sultan's dominions, including the islands of
Zanzibar and Pemba and the mainland territory under the adminis-
tration of the Imperial British East Africa Company, will, from the
above-named date, be placed permanently in the same financial
position as that in which the Congo Free State was placed by the
provisions of the Berlin Act, afterwards modified by the Declaration
annexed to the Brussels Act. The existing system under which the
tariffs and duties are regulated by commercial treaties with indi-
vidual Powers will be extinguished by the substitution for it of the
system framed for the free zone by the assembled Powers in 1885.
In making the above notification, your Excellency should explain
that although the stipulations of the Declaration annexed to the Act
APPENDIX XIV. 367
of Brussels vill be applicable to the entire Protectorate, it is not
proposed that the Sultan should avail himself at present^ as regards
the port of Zanzibar, of the right of levying import duties conferred
by that Declaration. It has been decided that, until further notice,
no such duties will be imposed in that port except upon spirituous
liquors, arms, ammunition, and explosives.
In all the other ports of Zanzibar, including those under the admin-
istration of the Imperial British East Africa Company and the Benadir
ports, the five per cent, duty on imports now levied under treaty will
be replaced by a similar duty under the Declaration annexed to the
Brussels Act. This will be in accordance with the terms of the
Agreement respecting the tariff of the eastern zone of the Conven-
tional Basin of the Congo, signed at Brussels on the 22nd December
1890, by the delegates of Great Britain, Germany, and Italy. The
tariff will '^be subject to the modifications as regards arms and
ammunition, spirits, and certain specified articles, in accordance with
the terms of the Agreement.
The Company to the Foreign Oftice.
2 Pall Mall East,
Aug, 5, 1892.
Sir, — I have the honour to receive your letter, dated 25th June,
* enclosing copy of the notification which has been sent to the Powers
Signatories of the Berlin Act, informing them that from the Ist of
July the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar will be placed within
the Free Zone, and that no import duties, except on certain specified
articles, will be levied in the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and
that in the territory under the administration of the Company the
import tariff will be five per cent.
With reference to the effect of the change so notified, my Directors
understand that it does not modify the conditions of the Sultan's
concession, or affect the disposal of the import dues leviable under
the new system on the mainland territory of his Highness's adminis-
tered by the Company, which remain to be dealt with as heretofore
by the Administrator. This reservation is submitted in respect to
the provisions of the Declaration annexed to the Brussels Act as
interpreted by Protocol xxxii.
(Signed) Ernest L. Bentlkt,
To the Under Secretary of State, Actin<j Secretary.
• Foreign Office.
368 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Thk Foreign Office to thM Compant.
^. ..Foreign Office, August 23, 1892.
Sir, — I am directed by xhe Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge
receipt of your letter of the 5th instant relating to the effect on the
territories under the administration of the Imperial British Ea^t
Africa Company of the placing of the dominions of the Sultan of
Zanzibar within the Free Zone of the Berlin Act.
I am to state in reply that her Majesty's GoYemment consider
that the Company is free to levy the five per cent, import duty under
the condition that it scrupulously fulfils the obligation imposed by
the Brussels Act in the territory under its administration.
(Signed) P. W. Currie.
To the Scci-cUry, I. B. E,A. Co.
The Company to the Foreign Office.
8 Pall Mall East,
Sept. 9, 1892.
Sir, — In acknowledging receipt of your letter of August 23rd I am
directed to observe for the consideration of Lord Rosebery that while
the Company is prepared scrupulously to fulfil the obligations imposed
by the Brussels Act in the territory under its administration this nuist in
no way l)e interpreted to afiect the Company's right to appropriate the
proceeds of the five per cent, import duty to the purposes contemplated
by the provisions of the concession of prior date based upon the
commercial treaties which were then in force. It might otherwise
be held that the Brussels Act requires all sums collected under the
Declaration to be expended in carrying out the objects of the Act,
whereas the duties referred to in the concession were granted to the
Company in order to enable them, inter dlia^ to meet the annual rent
payable to the Sultan of Zanzibar.
My Directors consider it necessary to point out this distinctive
condition, in order to anticipate any misunderstanding hereafter
between the Sultan's Government and themselves in the matter.
(Signed) Ernwt L. Bentley,
To the Under Secretary of StatCj Acting Secretary.
Forcvjn Office.
Thk Foreign Office to the Company.
Foreign Office, 1 November 1892.
Sill, — I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge
receipt of your letter of the 9th ultimo relative to the right of the
APPENDIX XIV, 369
Imperial British East Africa Company to appropriate the proceeds of
the five per cent import duty, leviable itfider the Deckration attached
to tiie Brussels Act in the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar under
their administration, to the purposes contemplate<l by the provisions
of the concession of prior date granted to them by the Sidtan.
I am to state in reply that tiie terms of the Brussels Declaration
are clear, and that they govern the situation.
The Company being bound by the obligations of the Brussels Act,
is permitted to increase. its general revenue by the imposition of an
import duty. There is no stipulation in the Declaration that the
proceeds of the duty are to l)e kept separate, and accounted for
separately as applied in a particular manner. Consequently the
Company must pay the Sultan's rent out of its general revenue,
supplied, among other sources, by the import duty authorised by the
Declaration and the subse([uent agreement of 22nd December 1890.
(Signed) P. W. Cl'rrie.
To the Secretary^ I, B. E, A. Co,
The Compaky to tue FoREiax Office.
2 Pall Mall East,
Ath Nov, 1892.
Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 1st instant, in which you acknowledge the receipt of my letter
to you of the 9th ultimo, which should be 9th September. I am
instructed to point out to you that my letter of the 9th September
was not in any way relative to the right of my Comjxiny to appropriate
the proceeds of any duty leviable under the Declaration attached to
the Bnissels Act, but solely related to the preservation of my Com-
pany's rights to appropriate the proceeds of the existing 5 per cent,
import duty levied under the powers conceded to the Imperial British
East Africa Company by the Sultan of Zanzibar, and sanctioned and
confirmed by her Majesty's Government in the Charter they granted.
When I had the honour of addressing you on the 5th August last,
and acknowledging the receipt of a copy notification which her
Majesty's Government had addressed to the signatory powers of the
Berlin Act, informing them that from the 1st July tlie dominions of
the Sultan of Zanzibar would be placed within the free zone, I pointed
out that such intimation could not modify the conditions of an exist-
ing contract between the Sultan of Zanzi]:)ar and my Company
already recognised and confirmed l)y her Majesty's Government.
One of the grounds on wliich such contention was based is that the
2 A
370 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
consent of all the parties to such existing contract had not been ob-
tained to the intimated changes therein. The purport of my letter
to you of the 9th September was to confirm this contention, yhilst at
the same time to assure her Majesty's Government that the Imperial
British East Africa Company would scrupulously fulfil the obligations
imposed on them by the Brussels Act.
I am also desired to point out to you that this Company's rights of
increasing its general revenues by the imposition of an import duty
is derived under the concessions granted them by the Sultan of
Zanzibar, and not by virtue of anything contained in the Brussels
Act.
I am moreover instructed to add that should the course notified in
the enclosure contained in your letter to me of the 25th June last, in
any way derogate from, or prejudicially afiect, the rights conferred on
this Company by the agreements of concession from the Sultan of
Zanzibar and by her Majesty's Charter, my Directors will seek to
recover compensation from those responsible for any damage this
Company may thereby sustain.
(Signed) Ernest L. Bentley,
Acting Secretary,
To tlu Under Secretary of StatCy
Foreign Office.
|The Foreign Office to the Comtant.
Foreign Office, December 8, 1892.
Sir, — I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 4th ultimo, in which you state that your
letter of September 9th did not relate to the Company's right U)
appropriate the proceeds of any duty leviable under the Declaration
attached to the Brussels Act, but solely to the preservation of the
Company's rights to appropriate the proceeds of the existing five per
cent, import duty levied under the powers conceded to the Company
by the Sultan's concession, and confirmed by their Charter.
I am to observe that this contention is entirely inconsistent with
the terms of the letter. The Company asked for an explanation as to
whether the five i>er cent, import duty, now levied under the Free
Zone system, wiis more limited than the duty of similar amount
which they were previously empowered to levy, that is, to quote the
words of the inquiry, whether the declaration could be * interpreted
to affect the Company's right to appropriate the proceeds of the five
A P FEND IX XIV, 37 1
per cent import duty, to the purjwses contemplated by the provisions
of the concession of prior date.' Nothing could be clearer than this.
It was asked whether the five per cent, duty leviable under the new
arrangement could be used for the same purposes as the five per cent,
duty leviable under the old arrangement.
In my reply of the 1st instant your Directors were assured that
there was no diiference as to the appropriation of the duty.
As regards the substitution of the Free Zone system for the
previous Fiscal system existing by trciity agreements, I am to point
out that there is, in his Lordship's opinion, no ground for the claim
for compensation to which you refer in the last paragraph of your
letter.
You speak of derogation from, or prejudicial effects to, the rights
conferred on the (Jomixiny by the Agreements of Concession from the
Sultan of Zanzibar and by her Majesty's Charter, arising from the
course notified in the enclosure contained in my letter of the 25th of
June. That enclosure was the notification of the intention of the
Sultiin of Zanzibar to adopt the Free Zone fiscal system from the 1st
of July.
I am to observe that the reference to the Charter is ditficult to
comprehend, as all the territories attected by the Charter, except
Witu, so long as it was a German Protectorate, were included in the
Free Zone from the date of the signature of the Act of Berlin, and
none of them were touched by the Sultan's act.
As regards the Sultim's territories the explanation of the supposed
claim appears to be given by a preceding paragraph, in which it is
stated that the consent of all the parties to the existing contract had
not been obtained to the intimated change. I am to point out that,
if it is intended to convey that the Comixiny's concurrence had not
been shown to the entry of Zanzibar into the Free Zone, the state-
ment is entirely erroneous. The Act, and the annexed Declaration,
came into force on the 2nd of April last ; on the 29th of the same
month the Directors, of their own initiative, forwarded for the
approval of the Man^uis of Salisbury the draft of a decree which
they pro^wsed to issue, authorising the levy of import dues in
accordance with the Declaration. On the 11th of May they were
cautioned by his Lordship that the decree was premature, as the
Sultan had not yet placed his territories under the Free Zone system.
On the following day a letter was written by the Directors giving, in
reply to an inquiry from the German Government, a clear explanation
of the operation of the new fiscal system in the Sultan's territories
under their administration. In this correspondence there is abundant
372 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
proof that the Directors not only were aware of the Siiltan's intention,
but that they approved it, wished to anticipate its opemtion, and
thoroughly understood its effect.
Under these circumstances they cannot expect that her Majesty's
Government will admit that the change effected by the Sultan can
form the basis in any way for a claim to compensation on behalf of
the Company. (Signed) P. W. Currie.
The Secretary to the I. B. K A, Co.
The Company to the Foreign Office.
2 Pall Mall East,
leth Dec, 1892.
.Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 18th inst., in reply to my letter to you of the 4th inst
When the Brussels Act and its annexed Declaration came into
force on the 2nd April last, my Directors, anxious to facilitate the
operation thereof, and ready to avail themselves of the help offered
by the modirtcation then introduced in the Free Zone system of the
Berlin Act where this applied to territories under their control, for-
warded, iis you correctly state of their own initiative, a draft decree,
founded upon a similar ordinance already issued by the Congo State,
and of whicli they asked the approval of her Majesty's Government.
It is, however, sutticiently clear that the sanction thus solicited had
reference only to those frontiers of the Company's administration
then subject to the free trade system of the Berlin Act, along the
German, Italian, and Congo State limits, and that the Sultan's
dominions could not be referred to. The draft itself affords internal
evidence of this, seeing that in the third clause from the end pro-
vision is there made for exemption from the new duty in favour of
goods that had already paid the Treaty Duty at the coast ports held
by the Imperial British East Africa Company imder the Sultan.
The contention advanced in your letter under reply that the
Directors, in suljmittiug the draft Decree which accompanied my
letter of the 29th April, expressed a de^jire that the coast territory
witliin the ten-mile zone included in the Sultan's concession, should
be placed imder the Free Zone system, is therefore untenable, as no
such wish was implied or expressed.
On the Gth May, her Majesty's Government, in transmitting copy
of the despatch from her ^lajesty's Charge d'Affaires at Berlin,
expressed a wish to receive any observations which the Directors
APPENDIX XTV. 373
might have to offer as to the reply to be returned to the request of
the Gennan Government for further information in regard to the
application of the Free Zone tariff of the C-ongo Act to the territory
under the administration of the company, and more particularly to
enable the German Government to judge the precise fiscal position
of the mainland territories of the Sultan when they shall be placed
under the Free Zone.
Here, for the first time, mention was made to the Company that
the idea of placing the Sultan's dominions under an altered fiscal
system had been thought of ; as, however, the Directors were not in
possession of the diplomatic correspondence that had passed on the
subject between the Foreign Office and her Majesty's Embassy at
Berlin as far back as the 9th and 21st April, and therefore before my
letter of the 29th was written, to which reference was incidentally
made in the enclosures, they were unable to follow why such an
inquiry had been made, or to understand what the German Govern-
ment had exactly in view. All they could be sure of was that the
inquiry had no reference to the request contiiined in my letter of 29th
April, which had not been considered by my Directors at the time
the inquiries were made.
In replying, however, as I did, to this inquiry in my letter of 1 2th
May, I communicated to you a full statement in which, so far from
giving support to the view expressed in your letter, I reminded her
Majesty's Government that his Highness the Sultan, in giving ad-
herence to the Congo Act, reserved his fiscal independence then
limited only by existing treaty agreement with certain Powers, and
by the Company's concession, and I said that ' in the event of the
ten-mile coast zone })eing assimilated to the rest of the territory
inland, and placed under the joint action of the Berlin and Brussels
Acts, it would be understood by the Company that the five per cent,
duty on imports now levied imder treaty would be replaced by a
similar duty under the Declaration of the Brussels Act, that the
special tariff in the British and German treaties should disappear,
and the Company would be free to deal with produce and exports,
as also to impose jiersonal and property taxes as it now can (with the
approval of her Majfsty's Government) outside the t<?n-mile zone.'
This letter I venture to state defined clearly the Company's position
both within and without the ten-mile zone, and expressed clearly the
conditions on which this Company were then willing to waive their
rights to levy and apply import and tariff export duties within that
zone under the then existing condition of affairs, and to allow the
Free Zone system to be therein extended, including of course the
374 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
substitution for the five per cent, import duty under the treaties, the
equivalent duty as settled in accordance with the Declaration attached
to the Brussels Act.
To that letter my Directors received no reply, but on the 25th June
you forwarded me a copy of the notification sent to the Powers
Signatories of the Berlin Act, informing them that the dominions of
his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar would be placed, as was actually
done on the 8th of that month, by public notice issued at Zi»nzibar,
within the Free Zone ; and that the existing system * under which
the tariffs and duties are regulated by commercial treaties with
individual Powers will be extinguished by the substitution for it of
the system framed for the Free Zone by the assembled Powers in
1885.'
In acknowledging that communication on the 5th August, I again
drew the attention of her Majesty's Government to the reservation
previously imposed by my Directors, and pointed out that they
understood that the notification did not modify the conditions of
the Sultan's concession, or affect the disposal of the import duties
leviable under the new system on the mainland territory of the
Sultan, administered by this Company, which would remain to be
dealt with as heretofore.
On the 23rd August you acknowledged my letter of 5th idem, and
informed me in reply that her Majesty's Government considered the
Company free to levy the five per cent, import duty referred to in
the Government notification of 22nd instant, but only provided it
scrupulously fulfilled the conditions of the Brussels Act. You did
not however deal in that letter with the conditions expressed in my
letter to you of 12th May, on which alone my Directors were willing
to forego their rights of levying duties under their concession.
I accordingly addressed a further communication to you on 9th
September, dealing exclusively with the point referred to by you, and
pointing out that my Directors wished to have it clearly understoi d
that in levying the import duties which they had a right to do under
their Concession, their appropriation was not to be affected by the
operations of the Brussels Act, bec4\use if the duties were to be treated
as being levied under the Brussels Act, then (unless subject to the
conditions previously imposed by my Directors, and which her
Majesty's Government had never expressly accepted) the Company
would have to apply such duties strictly in accordance with the
Bnissels Act, and to no purpose outside it, the Declaration formally
recorded in the Protocols on the demand of the British plenipoten-
tiaries being on this point clear and conclusive.
APPENDIX XIV, 375
I regret that you would seem not thoroughly to have appreciated
the full meaning my letters were intended to convey ; but even
accepting the construction you placed upon it, I would now respect-
fully point out to you that in your reply dated 1st November you
have not dealt with the condition that the five per cent, duty levied
should be applied as before to the purix)ses of the Brussels Act. I
am, moreover, unable to find the assurance in that letter to which
you refer in your 8ubse<|uent communication of 8th inst., * that there
was no difference as to the appropriation of the duty.'
In your letter of the 8th inst. you observe that my Company had
asked for an explanation 'as to whether the five per cent, imjwrt
duty now leviable under the Free Zone system was more limited than
the duty of similar amount which they were previously empowered
to levy, that is, to quote the words of the incpiiry, whether the
declaration could be interpreted to affect the Company's right to
appropriate the proceeds of the five per cent, import duty to the
purposes contemplated by the provisions of the concession of prior
date.' I am desired to remind you that in my letter of the 9th
September the Company placed on record, in the words you quote*
the manner in which they regarded their rights, in order, as I dis-
tinctly stated, to anticipate any misunderstanding therexifter between
the Sultan and themselves in the matter.
My Directors contend that the Brussels Act Declaration was never
intended to create new powers of levj-ing duties in substitution for
existing rights to do so, but that the powers conferred by that
Declaration were (as represented in the Declaration) solely to provide
new resources to meet the obligations imposed by the Brussels Act
on some of the Powers having possessions or Protectorates in the
Conventional Basin of the Congo, and which presumably hjid not
otherwise the necessary means of doing so — as in the case of the
Congo Free State, British Nyassa-land, and certiiin parts of German
and Italian East Africa, The conditions made by the Company for
acquiescing in the extension of the Free Zone fiscal system to the
ten-mile co*ast zone not having been accepted, my Directors find them-
selves comi)elled respectfuUy to withdraw their proposals in order to
preserve this Company's full rights ; but I am instructed to add that
my Directors are prepared to consider the question in such a manner
as may be agreeable to her Majesty's Government, relying upon their
support to preser\'e to the Company the full benefits of all their
rights. (Signed) E. L. Bextley,
Acting Secretary.
The Under Secretary of State^ ?
Foreign Office.
376 BRITISH EAST AFRICA
Thu Foreign Office to the Compaxt.
Foreign Office, February 24, 1893.
Sir, — I am (lirect<}d by the Earl of Rosebery to inform you in
reply to your letter of the 1 f)th December, that my letters of the
1 st of November and the 8th of December, to which you take excep-
tion, were written after consultation, in each cage, with the Law
Officers of the Crown, and that, in the opinion of her Majesty's
Government, they correctly define the position of the Company in
re<?ard to the Sultan's declaration of adhesion to the Free Zone
system of the Act of Berlin.
The question of the previous knowledge of that declaration by tiie
Company was discussed only in reference to the sugjo^estion that a
claim for com]>ensation might be founded upon the allegation of
ignorance. Her Majesty's CTOvernment do not find in your recent
letter any reason for changing their opinion that the Directors were
aware of the Sultan's intention. They do not admit the correctnen
of the limited scope which it is now proposed to give to the draft
ordinance ; and they adhere to the view that the subsequent corre-
spondence is conclusive on the point
While convevin^r to vou this intimation, I am to stat-e that the
fre^h contention advanced in vour letter of the lOth Decemlier, that
the Sultan's acceptance of the invitation of the Powers is incomplete
without the acquiescence of the Company, is absolutely untenable.
His Highness in delegating to the Comi>any the administration of a
portion of his dominions, retained his sovereignty. In the exercise
of his sovereign powers he adhered to the Berlin Act-, and subse-
quently conq)lered his acceptance of its provisions by placing his
dominions within the Free Zone. The Company, which has no voice
in his council, is bound to the same extent as otlicers a(bninistering
otluT ]>nrtioTis of his dominions, to accept the ruler's action, and to
adniinistor in accor<]ance Avith it.
Sliould it decline to do so, it would be questionable whether its
concession would not therebv bo invalidated.
It would be iulvisa])le, tlierefore, for the Directors to reconsider the
intimation given in the final paragraph of your letter, if it is correctly
interi)roted, as moaning that they intend to treat the Zanzibar coast
under their admini-^tration a§ not included in the Free Zone.
(Signed) R W. CuRRir«
The Hm'ttnrv, I. B. E. A. Co.
>
INDEX
Abms and Ammunition — Quan-
tities imported on East Coast in
1888, 19 ; Stoppage of an object
of blockade, 18, 19.
Bklesoni Canal. — Origin and
situation, 45, 46 ; Custom-house
established by Sultan of Witu,
46 ; Sultan of Zanzibar afraid
to protect his rights, 47 ; Repre-
sentations to Foreign Office by
Company, 48 ; Lord Salisbury's
reply authorising Company to
protect its riglits, 48 ; Gerpian
Government refuses to interfere,
48 ; Inconsistency of German
action, 49 ; Commander PuUen's
survey, 50 ; Company decides
to act, 51 ; Company's ulti-
matum to Witu, 52 ; German
Consul-Gencral orders Sultan of
Witu to evacuate, 53.
Berlin Act. — Sultan's reservation
under, 225 ; Free Zone system
applied to Company's territory,
237 ; Memorandum by Sir J.
Kirk, 252.
Blockade. — Joint blockade agreed
on by Great Britain and Ger-
many, 17 ; Representation to
Lord Salisbury against, 20,
21 ; Proclamation issued, 21 ;
Memorandum issued by Consul-
General, 22 ; Report by Colonel
Euan-Smith on effects of, 22.
Boundaries, Delimitation of. —
Agreement of 1886, 6 ; Corre-
spondence of July 1887, 11 ; Sir
W. Mackinnon urges further
delimitation west of Victoria
Nyanza, 13, 14, 137 ; Services
of Company in extending British
sphere, 139, etc. ; Anglo-German
agreement, July 1890, 141-145.
Brussels Conference. — Originated
by British Government, 170 ;
Recommendations of, 171 ;
Government responsibility
under, 173 ; Representation to
Government by Company, 173;
Government rail wjiy policy, 179;
General act, operation of, 237.
Burdett-Coutts, Mr. — Speech in
House of Commons, 247.
Canning, Lord.— Award of, 1861,
2.
Charter granted to Company, 12.
Commutation. See * Concession. '
Concession. — Offered by Sultan
Barghash to Sir W. Mackinnon
in 1877, 3; Why declined, 3;
Granted in 1887 by Sultan
Barghash, 8 ; to German Com-
pany, 9 ; Conditions of, 9, 10 ;
Concession of 1888 by Sultan
378
INDEX
Khalifa, 16 ; Further conces-
sions promised to British Com-
pany by Sultan, 31 ; of Lamu
refused to Germans, 35 ; granted
to British, 43 ; Fiscal conditions
of, 224 ; Sources of revenue,
225 ; Settlement of Sultan's
rent, 226, 231 ; Commutation
question, 232; Right to com-
mute barred by Government,
233 ; Right acknowledged by
Sultan Khalifa, 234 ; Concession
in perpetuity, 232 ; Free Zone,
237 ; Position of Company under
new order, 238, etc. ; View of
Foreign OflSce, 241 ; Lord Salis-
bury's definition of Company's
relations to Sultan's govern-
ment, 243.
Craufurd, Mr. Cliflford, in com-
mand of Belesoni expedition, 53.
Deniiardt, Mr. Clemens. — Agent
of Sultan of Witu, 47 ; Places
custom-houses at Kau, 47 ; Dis-
placed by Herr Toeppen, 51.
Development of Territory. — Ex-
plorations, 208, etc. ; Cost of
caravans, 210 ; Coast - works,
210 ; Steamers, 211 ; Transport,
212 ; Railway, 213 ; Telegraph,
210; Agriculture, 217; Labour
question, 217.
De Winton, Sir Francis. — Ap-
pointed administrator, 151 ; To
command Uganda expedition,
151 ; Retained at coast, 155.
Emin Pasha. — Stanley expedition
for relief of, 11 ; Proposed
German expedition, 13 ; Wiss-
mann and Peters to be leaders
of, 84 ; Real objects of expedi-
tion, 84, 85 ; Dr. Peters to have
sole command, 86 ; ETt\\<id\tiou
not to pass through German
sphere, 86 ; Not countenanced
by German Government, 87 ;
Progress of Peters' expedition,
87-93 ; Enters German serx'ice,
112 ; Expedition to Victoria
Nyanza, 1 12 ; Marches towards
Uganda with Peters* treaty,
135.
Frkmantle, Admiral Sir R—
Cordial support to Company
given by, 17, 88.
Gedge, Mr. E. — Left in Uganda,
134 ; Communications with Emin
Pasha, 135 ; Agreement relating
to trade in arms and gunpowder,
157.
German East African Com|>any.
— Concession granted to, 9 ;
Designs west of Victoria Nyanza,
12, 13 ; Takes charge of conces-
sion, 16 ; Rising against, 16.
Germans (Germany). — First ap-
pearance on East Coast, 3 ;
Charter granted to German
Colonisation Society, 4 ; Lord
(jranville's action, 4; Conces-
sion to, 9 ; Aims in interior, 12,
13 ; Emin Pasha Expedition, 9;
Reported abandonment of, 15;
Stop Zanzibar expedition to
Witu, 33 ; Protectorate of Witu,
33 ; German Witu Company
formed, 34 ; Designs in Lamu,
35 ; Demand for concession
refused, 35 ; Threaten Sultan,
37 ; Claim referred to arbitra-
tion, 37, 38; Decision, 41, 43;
Continued hostility of, 43 ;
Witu Company offers to sell out,
44 ; Refuse to interfere with
Witu usurpation at Belesoni
Canal, 48 ; Inconsistency of their
INDEX
379
action, 49 ; Order Sultan of Witu
to evacuate Belesoni Canal, 53 ;
Support Witu claims to Manda
and Patta, 55 ; Declaration of
Northern Protectorate, 61 ; Note
Verhcde on Witu claims to Manda
and Patta, 66 ; Company's con-
tention against, 68 ; Compel
Sultan to suspend concession,
74 ; Dispute Company*s rights
to Wanga, 78, etc. ; The boun-
dary defined in their own pro-
clamation, 78, 70; Emin Pasha
expedition, 83.
HARBonts. — Admiralty reports
on, 25().
Imperial Intereists. — Declared
by Foreign Office to be para-
mount, 65, 82.
Italian C4overnment. — Negotia-
tions with Company regarding
ports (See * Northern Ports ') ;
Boundary agreement with Great
Britain, 99, 100.
Jackson, Mr. F. J. See 'Uganda.'
Johnston, Mr. H. H. — Treaties at
Taveta, 5.
Kait.— Belesoni Canal, 46.
Kenia, Mount.— Visited by Cap-
tain Dundas's expedition, 211.
Kcnia sternwheel steamer. — Ex-
ploration of Tana and Juba,
211.
Kirk, Sir John. — Decrees against
slave trade, 219; Memorandum
on Berlin Act, 252.
Lamu. — Concession promised to
British Company, 31 ; Import-
ance of, to Witu, 35 ; German
deHJgiis on, 35 ; Demand conces-
sion, 35 ; Refused, 35 ; Sultan
agrees to give it to British
Company, 36 ; Threatened by
Gennans, 37 ; British and
German claims referred to arbi-
tration, 37, 38 ; Evidence sub-
mitted, 39, 40 ; Arbitration
decision, 41, 43 ; Concession to
British Company signed by
Sultan, 43.
Lugard, Captain F. D. See
* Uganda. '
Mackenzie, Mr. Georoe S. —
Arrival in Zanzibar, 16 ; Action
in regard to runaway slaves at
mission stations, 23-30 ; Testi-
mony of Consul-General, 26;
Circular to mission stations, 27 ;
Steps taken to abolish slavery,
219, 222; Views on abolition
of slavery, 360.
Mackinnon, Sir W. — Offered in
1 877 a concession, 3 ; Declines
from want of support by Govern-
ment, 3 ; Accepts in 1887, 8 ;
Urges further delimitation of
boundaries, 13, 14 ; Represen-
tations against blockade, 20, 21 ;
Agreement with Italian Govern-
ment, 96 ; Remonstrance re
Soudanese recruiting, 152 ;
Brussels Act, 173.
Manda and Patta. — Sultan of
Witu's wish to obtain, 64 ; Witu
pretensions supported by Ger-
many, 55 ; Zanzibar sovereignty
already acknowledged by Ger-
many, 55 ; British Company's
representation to Foreign Office,
57 ; Company notifies intention
to occupy, 58 ; German Note
Vtrhale supporting Witu claims,
66 ; Action of her Majesty's
Government regarding, 69 ; Com-
pany ordered to withdraw from.
38o im
71 ; Great Britain nbaodona
Sultan'i title, 71 ! ConoeMion
gUBpended, 74.
Missionary Stations. — EBtabliahed
near Mombasa at snggeition of
lier Majesty's Govemmant, 24 ;
Arab liostility against, for liar-
boDTiag runaways, 24 ; Mr,
Mackenzie's circular to miB-
BiDns,-27; Colonel Euan -Smith's
opinion of, 28, 29 ; ConBul-
General's circular to miBsions
regarding runaway slaves, 29.
Northern Pobts. — Concession
promised to Company, 31 ;
Granted by Sultan, 43, 95 ;
Italian protectorate, 9S ; Agree-
ment between Company and
Italian Government, 96; Deed
of transfer, 97 ; Anglo-Italian
boundary agreement, 99, 100 ;
(Jom^iany released from alt obli-
gations relating to ports, 101 :
Notification to Sultan, lOL*,
Osi River.— Navigable, 46 ; Bele-
soni Canal made, 46.
Pbtkks, Dr. Cahl,— Leader under
Wissmann of Emin Pasha Ex-
pedition, 84 : Sole leader, fiS ;
Departure from Berlin, 86 ; Pro-
testbyCompany, 86; Disavowed <
by German Government, 87 ; j
Anival at Zanzibar anil siibse- .
queut proceedings, 87-93 ; Pro- I
gress up Tana as related by
followers, 93, 94; Subsequent
proceedings, 128; in Uganda,
132, la^ ,- Makes treaty with
Mwnnga, 13;1 ; Gives it to Emin
Pai
136.
Portal, Sir Gerald.— Negotiates
Lamu Concession, 43 ; Com.
miaeiooer to Uganda, 206.
Pullen, Commander, E.N-— Sur-
I vey of Belesoni Canal, 50.
I
Railway. — Recommended by
Brussels Conference, 172;Polic]'
adopted by Government, 179 ;
Proposals of Treaaury, 181 ;
I Opinions of Engineers, IM ;
Lord Salisbury's speech »t
I Glasgow, 185 ; Survey Vote
decided upon, IfiU ; Conditions
of, 189; Opposed by Sir \Y.
Harcourt. 190 ; Arrangement
I with Treasury, 191 ; Dis-
j appointment of Company, 192.
I
I Slaver v.— Slave Traiie assiRned
as cause of Blockade, 17 i En-
I couragod b; German ofEcials,
88 ; Rnnaway slaves at Babai,
22, 23 ; Action of Mr. Mac-
kenzie regarding, 23-30; Cd.
Euan-Smith's report, 26 ; Atti-
tude of Mission Stations, 27,
28, 29 ; Brussek Conference,
171, etc. ; Railway policy, 179;
Company's policy, 218; Condi-
tions at coast, 218; Mr. Mac-
kenzie's action, 219; Sir John
Kirk's decrees, 219 ; Impending
abolition of, 220, etc.
Soudanese. ^Difficulty of recruit-
ing in Egypt tor Company, 152:
Remonstrance of Sir \i. Mac-
kinnon, 153, 153: Permission
granted to enlist, 209; 153 of
Einin Paaha'a late province, en-
listed by Capt. Lugard, 160.
Stanley, Mr. H. M. — Apprehen-
sions of German Company re-
garding expedition of, 11.
Stokes, Mr. C— Caravan with
INDEX
381
gunpowder, etc., expected in
Uganda, 154.
Tana River. — Not navigable at
mouth, 45 ; Commerce carried
to sea through Osi, 46 ; Mr.
Pigott's expedition, 209; Navi-
gation by Capt. Dundas, 211.
Tana and Juba, territory between.
— Government requested to de-
clare a Protectorate over, 63 ;
German claims, 64.
Toeppen, Herr. — Succeeds Den-
hardt as agent to Witu Sultan,
51 ; Brings gunpowder and guns
to Witu, 52.
Treaties made by Company with
tribes, 10.
UiJANDA. — Value in connection
with hinterland doctrine, 103 ;
Importance of position, 106 ;
Special interest of Great Britain
in, 106 ; Why Company under-
took to secure for Great Britain,
107, 108 ; Steps taken by British
Consul-Gcneral to open friendly
relations, 109 ; Revolution in,
110 ; Overthrow of Arab power,
110; Public interest aroused,
110; Concurrent movements of
Dr. Peters and Emin Pasha to-
wards, 112, 113; Company ex-
pected to safeguard national
interests, 113; Why unwilling
to undertake the work, 114;
Pressure applied to Company,
115; By the Timts, 115, 119;
By British Consul-General, 120;
By Foreign Office, 120, 121;
By Mr. H. M. Stanley, 121 ;
Public opinion excited, 121 ;
Capt. Lugard ordered to pro-
ceed, 122 ; Mr. A. M. Mackay's
opinion, 122 ; Mr. Jackson's
caravan. 111, 114, ti »tq. ;
Jackson's negotiations with
Mwanga, 124, 125, etc. ; In-
fluence of French priests, 126 ;
Cardinal Lavigerie's action in
Europe, 127 ; Jackson refuses
to enter Uganda, 127 ; Arrival
of Peters in Kavirondo, and his
proceedings, 128 ; His treaty
with Mwanga, 134 ; Emin
Pasha's designs, 135 ; Jackson
marches for Uganda, 133 ;
Attitude of French priests,
134 ; Envoys sent to coast,
134 ; Mr. Gedge and Emin
Pasha, 135 ; Agreement with
Emin Pasha relating to arms
and gunpowder, 157 ; Com-
pany's preparation to establish
British authority in, 151, etc. ;
Soudanese for, 152, 153 ;
Mwanga's envoys at coast, 154 ;
Stokes' caravan of gunpowder,
etc., 154 ; Consul-General hopes
Lugard's expedition may be
hastened, 155 ; Lugard's de-
parture, 155 ; Enters Uganda,
155; Treaty signed, 156;
Attitude of rival parties, 158;
Return of envoys, 159 ; Expe-
dition against Mohammedan
party, 159 ; Lugard's proceed-
ings in the west, 159-161 ; Re-
turn to Uganda, 161 ; Outbreak
in January 1892, 163 ; Causes
of, 164 ; Settlement with Roman
Catholics, 166 ; Settlement with
Mohammedans, 167 ; New
Treaty with Mwanga, 167 ;
Company's occupation con-
tinued on account of Govern-
ment railway policy, 181 ; Re-
solution to withdraw, 193 ;
382
INDEX
Letter to Foreign Office, 194 ;
Effect on country, 197 ; T»m^.t
on, 199; Orders to Capt. Lugard,
202 ; Subscription made, 203 ;
Withdrawal postponed for one
year, 203 ; Action of new
Government, 204 ; Reply of.
Directors, 205; Sir G. Portal
sent as Commissioner, 206.
VVan(}A Boundary. — Contested by
Germans, 78, etc. ; Boundary as
defined by treaty of 188G, 77 ;
As defined in German proclama-
tions, etc. , 78, 79 ; Commission
appointed to settle, 80 ; Inquiry
completed 9th Nov., 81 ; Com-
pany compelled to quit Wanga,
and Report of Commission sup-
pressed, 81-83.
Wissmann, Lieut. — To lead Emin
Pasha expedition, 84; Appointed
Imperial Commissioner in East
Africa, 86.
Witu.— Coast limits defined, 7 ;
Extent and cliaracter of, 32 ;
Vice-Consul Haggard's report
on, 32 ; Zanzibar expedition
stopped, 33 ; German protecto-
rate, 33; German Witu Com-
pany formed, 34 ; Commercial
dependence on Lamu, 34 ; De-
signs on Lamu, 35 ; German
AVitu Company offer to with-
draw, 44 ; Usurpation on Bele-
soni Canal, 46 ; C. Denhardt
displaced by Herr Toeppcu, ifl ;
Germany refuses to interfere
with Witu, 48 ; Toeppen im-
ports gunpowder and guns, 52 ;
Company's ultimatum, 52 ;
German Consul-General orders
Sultan of Witu to evacuate
Belesoni, 53 ; Sultan's over-
tures of friendship to British
Company, 53 ; Asks for Manila
and Patta, 54 ; Resentment
against Germans, 54 ; Preten-
sions to Mancla and Patta sup-
ported by Germany, ^ ; (ier-
man Nott VerbalCy 66 ; Transfer
to Great Britain, 148 ; Murder
of German subjects, 147 ; Feel-
ing against Germans, 14$ ;
Punitive expedition against,
149 ; Administration undertaken
by Company, 150.
Z AN ziBAK.— Separation from Mus-
cat, 1, 2 ; Extent of dominion
under Seyyid Said, 1 ; Mail
steamers establislied, 3 ; Death
of Sultan Majeed and accession
of Barghash, 3 ; German de-
signs apprehended, Lord Gran-
ville's action, 4 ; Delimitation
of boundaries suggested by Lord
Granville, 5 ; Boundaries de-
fined in 1886, 7; Deatli of
Sultan Barghasli, 15 ; Khalifa
grants new concession, 10;
Further concession promiseil,
31 ; Expedition to Witu stop^x-d
by Germany, 33 ; British pro-
tecorate, 144 ; Declared a free
port, 234 ; British administra-
tion instituted, 236 ; Placed
within Free Zone, 237 ; Posi-
tion of Company, 238 ; View of
Foreign Oliice, 241 ; Lord Salis-
bury's definition of Company's
relations to Sultan's Govern-
ment, 243 ; Anomalous rela-
tions between Company and,
under new regime, 245 ; Re-
absorption scheme, 245.
Priuted by T. and A. C«)NdTABLR, IVintiTS to Her MoJeHty,
at the Edinburgh Univcntity Press.
HOOVa INSTITUTION
OCT 31
"•-••7»-»»4l*
3 bios 070 550 IH?
HOOVBt INSTITUTION
To aiToid fine, tlilf book fhould be letumed
or bofoto the dale last stmq^ below
OCT 16 1993
0€T03]995
OCT 3 1 1996
IS
m 3 (I
2mo
a blDS D7D SSD ^<47
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11