ABSTRACT
Such being the Commissioner s instructions, we are, I presume, fully justified in concluding that her Majesty's Government have no intention whatever of abandoning East Africa, the question being solely limited to the method of administration best suited to it. This I shall discuss more fully in the two next chapters. I will here merely indicate to my reader some of the considerations which have been present to her Majesty's Ministers in dealing with this question. Before enumerating these considerations, it will be of interest to examine briefly on what conditions the tenure of our sphere of influence is based as regards other European nations, and what are its limits. Throughout the whole of the southern limitation our frontier marches parallel with German East Africa, as far as its extreme western limit, on the borders of the Congo State. On the north, as far west as E. long. 35°, our frontier extends to N. lat. 6°, and is coincident with that of the Italian sphere. These delimitations, as shown on the map, were fixed by the treaties with Germany of July 1st, 1890,1 and Italy, March 24th, 1891,2 respectively, and there is therefore no question whatever regarding them. On the west, the Congo State declared its eastern boundary in this region to be the 30th parallel of long, as far north as N. lat. 4°.3 This intimation has been accepted by France and Germany, and Great
Britain has made no protest, nor yet has she accepted it formally. Our right to an exclusive sphere up to the frontier of the Congo State has been allowed by Germany and Italy, but not by France. North of N. lat. 4° France claims a free hand in the west, until these districts are occupied by some other Power. She has no defined eastern boundary towards the Nile valley.
