SOUTH AFRICA IN 1883.SOUTH AFRICA IN 1883.Showing the Transcontinental belt with which Germany hoped to shut in Cape Colony and prevent northern expansion.
Tongaland and a portion of the Zululand coast, including St Lucia Bay, was under the subjection of Dinizulu, who had succeeded Cetywayo as King of Zululand, and with him negotiations were entered into, the ultimate end of which was to be the cession to Germany (or the Transvaal) of a portion of the sea-board.
The British Government can hardly really be blamed for not pursuing in 1883 a vigorous policy of annexation in Southern Africa, for in 1879 there had been general native disturbances—including a costly war with the Zulus, with its memorable disaster to the British arms at Isandhlwana and the deplorable death of Prince Victor Napoleon. In 1881 we were defeated by the Boers at Laings Nek and Majuba, the little war ending with a retirement quite the reverse of graceful; in 1882 Egypt was in a foment, and although Sir Garnet Wolseley destroyed Ahmed Arabi at Tel-el-Kebir, the Sudan was still overrun by frenzied fanatics.
The dilatoriness of the Imperial Government, however, is inexcusable in view of the importance of the issue at stake, which was the overthrow of British supremacy in South Africa in favour of Germany.
Fortunately for us, there were at the Cape imperially minded statesmen who were fully alive to the danger threatening Great Britain: Sir BartleFrere, Cecil Rhodes, Sir Thomas Upington, and John X. Merriman; and these continually pressed their views upon the Home Government, while Rhodes, who had formulated his own ideas as to the destiny of the sub-continent, set himself to employ his bounteous talents of mental and physical energy to the due accomplishment of a purpose which he made his life's aim.
Fortunately he had at his private command the financial resources indispensable to the consummation of his ideals; for if he had had to rely upon the Home Government for that support, his ambition stood little hope of realisation.
The German hope of obtaining sway over Bechuanaland through the Boers was frustrated by vigorous action on the part of the Cape statesmen. Their protests, and especially the individual efforts of Rhodes, stirred the Home Government into saving for the Empire the territory which the freebooters from the Transvaal had seized upon in the name of their Republic.
Rhodes personally, on behalf of the Cape Government, conducted negotiations with the Boers, but it was not until 1885 that a successful issue was arrived at after a show of force by the Home Government in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren.
The danger of the Cape Colony being cut off from the north through Bechuanaland was obviated, but a large field for German enterprise still lay open.
Their attempts to acquire a footing in Matabeleland were frustrated, and the delegates who set out from the Transvaal in search of a concession from Lo Bengula were unsuccessful in their mission to secure for Germany sway over the countries that now comprise Rhodesia.
For decades British private enterprise had been busy on the coast of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland; in fact in 1863 a British firm (De Pass, Spence & Co.) had purchased from the native chiefs a large tract round about Angra Pequena, and worked the huge deposits of guano on the Ichaboe group of islands, some of which are less than a mile off the mainland.
Disputes were constant up to 1884 between British and German traders; continuous appeals were made for British annexation of the territory from the Orange River to the Portuguese border, but the Government could not be induced to do anything more towards acceding to Sir Bartle Frere's urgent representations than to declare Walfisch Bay, with some fifteen miles around it, to be British territory.
In 1882 a German, Herr Luderitz, the representative in South Africa of the Hamburg and Bremen merchants who pulled the strings of the Government through the German Colonisation Society, established a trading station at Angra Pequena and commenced, in accordance with the preconceived plan of "conquest," to extend the operations ofhis business inland by founding trade stations at suitable centres.
The British traders soon began to make representations to the Cape Government owing to Luderitz exercising rights of proprietorship over a large portion of territory which he claimed to own by purchase, and to his levying import duty charges upon goods landed by other traders.
Another cause of complaint was that Luderitz was importing large quantities of arms and ammunition and supplying them to the natives by way of barter.
The German wedge having been insidiously inserted into South West Africa, the propitious moment seemed to have arrived in 1884 for Germany to acquire territorial possession of South West Africa. Representations were accordingly made by the German to the British Government, pointing out that German subjects had substantial interests in and about Angra Pequena in need of protection, and inquiring whether the British were prepared to extend protection to the German industries and subjects north of the Orange River, which British statesmen seemed to have stubbornly determined should remain the boundary of the Cape Colony.
The Governor of the Cape had, indeed, been clearly and distinctly given to understand that, except as regards Walfisch Bay, the Home Government would lend no encouragement to the establishmentof British jurisdiction in Great Namaqualand and Damaraland north of the Orange River.
Bismarck's application to Lord Granville, therefore, placed the latter in an awkward predicament, inasmuch as he intimated that if Great Britain were not agreeable to providing protection for the lives and properties of German subjects, the German Government would do its best to extend to it the same measure of protection which they gave to their subjects in other remote places.
Bismarck took care, however, to impress upon the British Foreign Office that in any action the German Government might take there was no underlying design to establish a territorial footing in South Africa. He disclaimed any intention other than to obtain protection for the property of German subjects; and this assurance was complacently accepted as a complete reply to the representations of the Cape statesmen.
The Home Government seem, at the same time, to have understood at the beginning of 1884 that the choice lay before them of formally annexing South West Africa from the Orange River north to the Portuguese border, or acquiescing in a German annexation.
With almost criminal procrastination, however, they deferred replying to the German inquiry, deeming it necessary to communicate with the Government of the Cape Colony and invite that Government, in the event of South West Africabeing declared to be under British jurisdiction, to undertake the responsibility and cost of the administration of the territory.
Lord Granville, moreover, temporised by informing Bismarck that the Cape Colonial Government had certain establishments along the south-western coasts, and that he would obtain a report from the Cape, as it was not possible without more precise information to form any opinion as to whether the British authorities would have it in their power to give the protection asked for in case of need.
This answer Bismarck probably expected and welcomed, as it left him free to proceed with his own arrangements, while the British Foreign Office pigeonholed the subject until the matter might be reopened.
In the beginning of 1883, owing to representations from British firms interested in South West Africa as to German activity in that part, the British Foreign Office obtained a report from their Chargé d'Affaires in Berlin, and were again lulled into complaisant inactivity by being assured that the amount of "protection" intended to be afforded by the German Government to Luderitz's "commercial Colony" was precisely what would be granted to any other subject of the Empire who had settled abroad and acquired property.
It would be a mistake, the Foreign Office was notified, to suppose that the German Government had any intention of establishing crown Coloniesor of assuming a Protectorate over a territory acquired by a traveller or explorer.
In September the German inquiries of the Foreign Office assumed a more pertinent nature, and to the uncultured mind would carry an alarming significance.
The British Foreign Office was asked "quite unofficially" and for the private information of the German Government, whether Great Britain claimed suzerainty rights over Angra Pequena and the adjacent territory; and if so, to explain upon what grounds the claim was based.
This necessitated another reference to the Cape of Good Hope; but in the meantime a party of English traders, disgusted at the delay at home in annexing the south-west coast, resolved to take action on their own account, and set off for Angra Pequena with the fixed determination—of which they gave the Government due notice—of expelling the Germans.
Instructions were immediately sent out for a gunboat to proceed to the spot to prevent a collision between the British and Germans, as the whole question of jurisdiction was still the "subject of inquiry."
H.M.S.Boadiceaproceeded on instructions to Angra Pequena, and her Commander was able to report, on her return to Simon's Bay on the Cape station, that no collision had taken place.
In November, 1883, the British Foreign Officeintimated to the German Government that a report on South West Africa was in course of preparation, but that while British sovereignty had not been proclaimed excepting over Walfisch Bay and the islands, the Government considered that any claim to sovereignty or jurisdiction by a foreign Power between the Portuguese border and the frontier of the Cape Colony (the Orange River) would infringe Great Britain's legitimate rights.
Early in 1884 the German Government, in a dispatch to the British Foreign Office, pointed out that the fact that British sovereignty had not been proclaimed over South West Africa permitted of doubt as to the legal claim of the British Government, as well as to the practical application of the same; the German Government having clearly in mind the avowal of a fixed intention on the part of the British Government not to extend jurisdiction over the coast territory excepting in so far as Walfisch Bay and the islands were concerned.
The dispatch argued that events had shown that the British Government did not claim sovereignty in the territory, but as a matter of fact the Government had emphatically declined to assume that responsibility.
The German dispatch concluded by asking our Government for a statement of the title upon which any claim for sovereignty over the territory was based, and what provision existed for securing legal protection for German subjects in their commercialenterprises and property, in order that the German Government might be relieved of the duty of providing direct protection for its subjects in that territory.
Here, again, was a deprecation on the part of Germany of any other ambition than to secure protection for life and property of German subjects.
Lord Derby, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was aware of the possibility of Germany assuming jurisdiction over Angra Pequena in the absence of an assurance that the British Government was prepared to undertake the protection of German subjects; but the British Government shrank from the idea of annexing the territory, and endeavoured to saddle the Cape Government with the responsibility of giving the undertaking asked for by Germany.
The Cape Government was in no position to assume such a responsibility, though they did not hesitate to offer to do so as soon as a cabinet meeting could be called to decide on the matter—but when it was too late.
On the 30th January, 1884, the Cape Government, in a minute signed by John X. Merriman, recommended the annexation to the British Empire of the whole of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland from the Orange River to the Portuguese border, the interests of the Cape Colony being chiefly in the arming of natives by gun-running through the port at Angra Pequena.
Official and private notifications were sent to the British Foreign Offices of the intention of Germany to take over the suzerainty of South West Africa in defiance of Great Britain's claims; but our Government, fondly embracing the idea that Germany had no intention of acquiring the territory but was only solicitous for legal protection of private property, still declined to act until the Cape Government expressed their readiness to accept the responsibility and cost.
On the 24th April, 1884, the day which has recently been described in German publications as "the Birthday of the German Colonial Empire," Bismarck telegraphed to the German Consul at Cape Town as follows:
"According to statements of Mr Luderitz, Colonial authorities doubt as to his acquisitions north of Orange River being entitled to German protection. You will declare officially that he and his establishments are under protection of the Empire."
"According to statements of Mr Luderitz, Colonial authorities doubt as to his acquisitions north of Orange River being entitled to German protection. You will declare officially that he and his establishments are under protection of the Empire."
This meant the annexation to Germany of the whole territory; but communications continued between the Home and the Cape Colonial Governments.
In the Reichstag on the 23rd June, 1884, Bismarck showed his hand for the first time; and on the point of infringement of Great Britain's "legitimaterights," stated that no such infringement could be pleaded inasmuch as in English official documents the Orange River had repeatedly been declared to be the north-western border of the Cape Colony.
Bismarck further announced that it was the intention of the Government to afford the Empire's protection to any "settlements" similar to that of Luderitz which might be established by Germans. He added in his address to the Reichstag that "if the question were asked what means the Empire had to afford effective protection to German enterprises in distant parts, the first consideration would be the influence of the Empire and the wish and interests of other Powers to remain in friendly relations with it."
There was nothing left but for our Government to bow at the triumph of superior diplomacy, and the position was accepted with a good grace—Lord Granville declaring that in view of the definitions which had been publicly given by the British Government of the limits of Cape Colony, the claim of the German Government could not be contested, and that the British Government was therefore prepared to recognise the rights of the Germans.
There were some very violent expressions of opinion on the part of Britishers who had vested interests in this, the first of Germany's Colonies, for there were many private rights concerned, and it was decided that an Anglo-German Commissionshould be appointed to inquire into and settle all conflicting claims; but it is not of record that, excepting in regard to the islands, the decisions of the Commission were in favour of the British traders who had for many years been established along the coast of South West Africa.
The result of Luderitz's enterprise, supported by Prussian diplomacy, was, therefore, that the German flag waved over the whole extent of South West Africa from the Orange River to the border of Portuguese Angola, and Angra Pequena assumed the responsibility of the name "Luderitzbucht."
In the meantime Herr Luderitz had established his trading stations at St Lucia Bay on the coast of Zululand, and proceeded to repeat the stratagem he had followed in Angra Pequena by founding trade stations at points inland while he opened negotiations with Dinizulu.
The annexation of South West Africa had, however, caused the British Government to throw off some of their lethargy, and a British warship was dispatched to St Lucia Bay, over which, by virtue of a treaty made with the Zulu King Panda some forty years previously, the British flag was hoisted on the 18th December, 1884.
Danger of the Cape being cut off from the north was, however, still extant in Bechuanaland, where the Boers had annexed the territories known as Stellaland, Goshen, and Rooigrond; but thiswas eventually saved to Great Britain by vigorous individual action on the part of Cecil Rhodes, who had himself appointed a Commissioner to visit Bechuanaland, where he strenuously opposed the claims of the Transvaal Republic.
These claims were, however, only withdrawn in the following year after an expedition under Sir Charles Warren had proceeded to the disputed areas and persuaded the Boers that Great Britain was this time in real and eager earnest.
Bechuanaland became a British "Protectorate," and the well-laid scheme for a German transcontinental Empire was frustrated.
The boundaries of the territory brought under German sway in South West Africa were defined by what is known as the Caprivi Treaty of the 1st July, 1890, between Germany and Great Britain, and by an agreement between Germany and Portugal. Under the terms of the latter the northern boundary of German South West Africa, between that Colony and Portuguese Angola, was fixed at the Cunene River; while under the Caprivi Treaty the boundary between the Cape Colony and German South West Africa was declared to be the Orange River.
Great Britain retained Walfisch Bay, which became a "district" of the Cape Colony and was placed under the Colonial administration in 1884, and also kept the territory round Lake 'Ngami in northern Bechuanaland.
The lake district was neglected, however, until Cecil Rhodes, fearing the loss of more territory unless it was beneficially occupied, sent, at his own expense, an expedition of Boer trekkers to settle on the land.
Article III of the Caprivi Treaty was an important one, for thereunder it was provided that Germany should "have free access from her Protectorate (South West Africa) to the Zambezi River by a strip which shall at no point be less than twenty English miles in width."
The acquisition by Germany of South West Africa was of great strategical importance, enabling them to establish in time a system of communication by wireless telegraphy which covered the whole continent.
In Togoland on the west coast the most powerful wireless apparatus in the world was installed, and this was in touch both by wireless and cable with Berlin.
The Togoland station was also in touch with the wireless installation at Windhoek, the capital of German South West Africa, and with Dar-es-Salaam, the German port on the east coast opposite Zanzibar.
It is a matter for congratulation, but not on the statesmanship displayed by British ministers, that the fruit of the German essay at the establishment of a "new Empire" in Southern Africa was no more than the annexation of South West Africa, for it is by no means unthinkable that there was a possibility that in addition to the south-west the Germans might have drawn a wide belt right across the continent from west to east, taking in Bechuanaland, the Transvaal, Tongaland, and that portion of Zululand giving the Transvaal an outlet to the east coast at St Lucia Bay.
ILLUSTRATING GERMANY'S WIRELESS SYSTEM EMBRACING AFRICA.ILLUSTRATING GERMANY'S WIRELESS SYSTEM EMBRACING AFRICA.
The territory hitherto known as German South West Africa covers an area of nearly 323,000 square miles, and has a coastline of 930 miles from the mouth of the Orange River, which separates it from the Cape Colony in the south, to the mouth of the Cunene River, which divides the territory from Portuguese Angola in the north. The southern boundary runs along the Orange River into the interior for some 300 miles.
The German population is stated to be about 15,000, and the natives are estimated at 200,000; but this latter is probably a high calculation, in view of the number who have fled into Bechuanaland and Cape Colony to escape from German tyranny.
One of the first acts of the German Government after their annexation of Damaraland and Great Namaqualand was to declare the claims of British concessionaires invalid.
The "rights" of Herr Luderitz were taken over by a chartered company, incorporated by the Government, which set itself to investigate the resources of the country.
The islands off the coast remained British, and there the huge deposits of guano have been worked for years.
A form of military government was established, who proceeded to impress the natives with the might of Germany; but the Hereros who occupied Damaraland never acknowledged even a German suzerainty, and in 1904 a "rebellion" broke out.
Utterly unaccustomed as they were to warfare of the description they were now called upon to undertake, the Germans found great difficulty in dealing with the "Hottentots," as the natives were termed; and the German effort to destroy the whole tribe involved the employment of 9,000 regular troops and an expenditure of £ 20,000,000.
The Herero War was carried on for nearly three years, and in 1907 was brought to an end by Major Elliott of the Cape Police; for the principal Herero chiefs crossed the borders of the Cape Colony, where they were routed by Major Elliott's force of police and their leaders captured. They were detained for a time by the Cape Government, and finally handed over to the German authorities, by whom they were executed.
Major Elliott was thanked and duly decorated by the Kaiser.
The Germans did not find tribes of natives on whose industry they could batten, and the inhabitants of Great Namaqualand and Damaraland were really unpromising material for such a purpose, notbeing pure-bred distinctive tribes, but bastard races with a strong admixture of half-castes.
For decades the territory had been the refuge of criminals and cattle thieves, who had fled from the Cape Colony, after raiding the Bechuana cattle kraals.
A great deal of the coast and part of the southern portion of the Colony is little else than an arid, waterless waste; in fact the rainfall in parts has been known to be half an inch in two years.
Even at Walfisch Bay there is no fresh water to speak of, and for years water for all purposes was brought up the coast by steamers. It is a condition prevailing all along the coast, for even at Port Nolloth in Lesser Namaqualand, south of the Orange River, the inhabitants depend upon water condensed by the sea fogs and dripped from the roofs into tanks, which are by the way kept locked to prevent theft of the precious liquid.
Powerful condensers have, however, for some time been used at various points on the coast to provide fresh water, and this is retailed at a high price.
The Kalahari Desert stretches over the border of the Cape Colony and into Bechuanaland, and contains no surface water; although good results have been obtained by drilling to comparatively shallow depths, and the sandy soil proved highly productive on irrigation.
The desert itself was occupied by nomad bushmenarmed with bows and arrows poisoned by being laid in putrid human flesh, and who kept secret the places where they obtained water. Many of these are pools hidden beneath the earth's surface and from which the water can only be drawn up through a narrow channel by suction through a bamboo reed.
A good substitute for water is found in the wild melons which grow in patches in the driest parts of the Kalahari, and on these police patrols in Bechuanaland have often to rely for water for themselves and animals.
The arid zone is limited, however, and towards the north-east the land gradually rises to an elevated tableland, possessing a dry and one of the most perfect climates in the world.
Approaching Angola again farther north the country becomes almost tropical.
The majority of the veld is of the karoo type, covered with the remarkable karoo bush on the leafless twigs of which sheep thrive and fatten. The salt bush, similar to that valued in Australia for sheep, is found in abundance, but towards the north and coming under the influence of a rainfall the land, while there is no marked geological difference, produces grass instead of the salt bush, and there are belts of rich grass country as fine as any to be found in Southern Africa.
Damaraland is in reality one of the finest cattle countries in Africa, while nearly the whole countryis suitable for sheep and goats. With energetic development there is a big future for it as a producer of hides, wool, and mohair.
Horses do well in many parts of South West Africa; in fact in Namaqualand, along the Orange River, a breed of hardy ponies exists in a semi-wild state. In the drier parts camels are extensively used both by British and German patrols.
The most waterless area near the coast produces a shrub known by the Boers asmelk bosch(milk-bush), which carries a plentiful supply of a milky sap which has been manufactured into a fair quality of rubber; but the difficulty of its collection militates against the prospects of its development into a prosperous industry.
The number of head of cattle, the property of the natives but transferred to the Germans by conquest, was, in 1913, estimated at 240,000, wool-bearing sheep 660,000, and other sheep, including Persians, at over 500,000. There were approximately the same number of goats, 20,000 horses, and 3000 ostriches.
In the northerly portion, suitable for agriculture, this was carried on by natives; but their land was confiscated by the Germans, and, as Dr Bönn stated in a reading upon the Colony, "the framework of society is European; very little land is in the hands of natives."
The land was parcelled out into farms and allocatedto companies and Boer settlers, the average size of a farm being about 28,000 acres.
Ostriches are found in many parts in a wild state, and a great number have been domesticated; but the German traders preferred as a rule to rely for their supply of feathers upon the plumes of wild birds killed by the bushmen of the Kalahari.
Of other industries mention might be made of the collection, besides guano, of penguin eggs and seal skins on the islands off the coast, while a few degrees north whalers, operating from Port Alexander, last year accounted for some 3000 whales.
As at the Cape of Good Hope, the whales met with are of the less valuable "hump-backed" variety, but an occasional "right" or sperm whale is captured.
Of ordinary trade there was practically none, as the natives had little or nothing to give in exchange for imported goods; and as for the Boer settler, beyond a little coffee and sugar, he has learned to rely only upon the resources of his farm for his requirement. The natives' only asset of value to the German, his labour, he was not disposed to trade in.
Investigation has revealed the existence of mountains of marble, varied in colour and of a quality equal to Carara; while enormous deposits of gypsum exist.
The whole country is highly mineralised. Silverfirst attracted the attention of prospectors but has never been found in payable quantities, although large veins of galena have been traced.
The development of the mineral resources is almost entirely British, and Johannesburg financiers have opened up copper and gold mines.
Enormous deposits of haematite iron and asbestos are known to exist, but so far have not been worked.
Copper, gold, silver, tin, and lead have been worked profitably; but the principal mining industry is diamond washing, and this is mainly in Government hands.
No mine or pipe has been discovered, but the diamonds are found in the loose sand on the foreshore under conditions similar to those prevailing at Diamantina in Brazil.
The diamonds are "dolleyed," and picked out by natives under supervision; but there are a few individual diggers upon whose net production the Government levied a tax.
The output of diamonds in 1913 was valued at £3,000,000, the stones being disposed of under State agency, who occupy the same relative position to the industry as the De Beers Diamond Buying Syndicate to the Kimberley mines.
Diamonds and their concomitants such as olivine, rubies, garnets, etc., have also been discovered on the islands, and in 1906 the discovery of a true pipe was reported on Plum Pudding Island.
A syndicate was formed in England, and anexpedition, fitted out with great secrecy, was sent out in the S.S.Xema; but on arriving at Plum Pudding Island they not only discovered that a tug, dispatched by a Cape Town firm, had visited the island and claimed discoverers' rights, but that by order of the Cape Government no landing was permitted for fear of disturbing the sea-birds, on whom the guano industry depended.
The capital of South West Africa was established at Windhoek, 235 miles inland, and here a large five-tower wireless station was built, which could under the most favourable conditions communicate direct with Berlin, but was otherwise in touch via Togoland.
Windhoek is connected by a railway line with the coast at Swakopmund at the mouth of the Swakop River close to Walfisch Bay, and 1318 miles of railways have been built.
The Administration has laid down a network of roads and telephones, which presents a contrast to some of our Colonies where the means of communication are extremely difficult, but points at the same time to expensive administration.
Signposts are placed everywhere in the country, indicating the direction of water or villages.
While Luderitzbucht is a fine harbour, the lack of fresh water made the Germans select Swakopmund as the principal point on the coast, although it possesses an open roadstead and a heavy sandy bar.
From Swakopmund the principal railway through Windhoek links up with the line from Luderitzbucht at Keetmanshoop, and the lines, as in other German Colonies, strike significantly towards British borders.
The Caprivi strip, running into northern Rhodesia, and presented to Germany under the agreement of 1890—which the newspaperSouth Africatermed "a most iniquitous one"—was of great importance to Germany's aspirations in the interior, inasmuch as Germany aimed at the construction of a German line over German territory to connect with the Rhodesian Trans-African line near the Zambezi. The strip indeed abuts for about 100 miles on the Zambezi.
No effort has been made to develop it, and under a heavy penalty no one was allowed to enter the strip.
A line such as that under contemplation by the Germans is, however, now in course of construction from Lobito Bay (Benguella) in Portuguese territory.
The only real settlers in South West Africa are Boers who trekked from the Transvaal and Cape Colony. It has been said that where you find Boers you may be sure to find the pick of the farming land, and the Boer farms are widely scattered over Damaraland.
The German system, however, was not likely to appeal to such spirits of independence as the Boers,especially when the Germans meted out to those Boers whom they employed as transport-riders during the Herero campaign, the same treatment as to the natives, and in some cases had Boers tied up to wagon wheels and flogged for minor offences.
Taken in all, the Colony is one the development of which has been carried on on strategical rather than commercial lines; but it is a territory of vast possibilities as a pastoral land, and as there is at present all over the world a shortage of meat, likely to intensify, the holder of a vast extent of country suitable for raising cattle possesses a most valuable asset.
There cannot be the least doubt that in common with the rest of Germany, South West Africa had for some time been preparing for the anticipated inevitable war with Great Britain, and a much larger number of German troops were held in the Colony than any fear of a possible native disturbance warranted.
The German forces were estimated at no less than 15,000, with at least 30 batteries of guns.
A plan had, as events have subsequently revealed, been laid for the invasion of the South African Union, which was to be overrun with the assistance of the Boers—on whose co-operation the Germans were fatuous enough to imagine they could count.
Holding their own Colonies by terrorism, theyheld an utterly false conception of the relation of our Colonies to the mother country.
The Germans in South West Africa, at the outbreak of the war, had succeeded in bribing and corrupting an ex-Boer General, Maritz, and issued a circular to the Boer farmers on the border, calling upon them "to free themselves from English dominion so long and unwillingly borne," and to exchange the British "yoke" for the German shackles. They forgot that the weight of the "yoke" was never felt.
On the declaration of war, a section of the Boers preached neutrality on the part of the Union, but the Boer leaders themselves denounced this doctrine as craven and pitiful.
While "a systematic German propaganda deliberately attempted to poison the integrity of a section of the people," to quote Mr John X. Merriman, the Germans found in the Union Premier, General Louis Botha, that, to the German mind, incomprehensible being, a man imbued with the sense of the very highest integrity and honour, in whose nature it was impossible to contemplate a breach of faith or to regard a treaty bearing his signature as a "scrap of paper."
The Germans found to their intense surprise Briton and Boer united, while the Union was swept by a wave of intense patriotism, revealed in the promise and offer of loyal support to General Botha by every section of the varied comities.
From natives, Cape "Boys," and Malays alike came assurances of their intense loyalty, with offers of help; while the native contributions in cattle swelled the relief funds.
Prior to the knowledge of Maritz's defection, General Botha had only mobilised a few thousand men for defence purposes; but on his assurance that the Union was able to undertake its own defence, the Imperial Government was enabled to remove the garrisons of regulars for service on the continent.
This was possibly regarded by the Germans as a ruse on General Botha's part to get rid of the British garrisons; and a few days after when a state of war existed between Great Britain and Germany, the Germans on the Orange River assumed the offensive.
At Nakob a garrison of five South African Mounted Rifles was attacked by 250 Germans with three maxims, but nevertheless gave a good account of themselves.
The traitor Maritz held an important command under the Union on the Orange River, and on 1st October, doubtless through his treachery, two squadrons of the South African Mounted Rifles and a section of the Transvaal Horse Artillery were led into a trap at Sandfontein, where they were attacked by 2000 Germans with ten guns—and overwhelmed.
The place was a veritable death-trap, being oneof the waterholes surrounded by kopjes; and the Germans adopted the method employed against themselves by the Hereros, who waited until their enemies had encamped at a waterhole and then attacked from the kopjes.
On the 13th October Maritz threw off his mask and broke into open rebellion. He was, however, easily dealt with by his late comrades, and fled across the border.
Operations in this theatre are of course extremely difficult, owing to the lack of water and the impossibility of moving large bodies of men across waterless tracks in order to attack an enemy who is ensconced about the only available source of water.
The principal advance, therefore, against the Germans in South West Africa was by way of Luderitzbucht and Swakopmund.
The rebellion of Maritz was followed later by the defection of two distinguished ex-Boer Generals: Beyers in the Transvaal and de Wet in the Orange Free State. But they seem to have been actuated in prostituting their otherwise unsullied careers by jealousy and petty spite against General Botha personally, and not animated by any anxiety to come under German dominion—though de Wet's principal grievance against the British Government appeared to be that an English magistrate had fined him five shillings for assaulting a native, and that instead of admonishing the native themagistrate had "looked at him as if he wanted to kiss him."
Upon the outbreak of ex-Generals de Wet and Beyers, supported by the rag-tag and bobtail of the more ignorant Boers, General Botha ordered a further mobilisation in the Union, and decided to take the field in person, being the first Premier of a British dominion to do so at the head of his own troops.
He immediately proceeded against Beyers, and the latter was defeated and fled, subsequently meeting his death by drowning in the Vaal River.
General Botha then turned his attention to de Wet, who with a partially armed force had commenced blowing up railway lines and destroying bridges, and after a prolonged chase de Wet was captured and the pitiful rebellion ended.
The Union troops, under the command of Colonel Beves, arrived off Luderitzbucht on 19th September, and were landed by tugs without opposition.
A party of the South African Railway Engineers took charge of the electric power station, telephone and condensing plant. The town was searched for arms, and a large quantity unearthed; but there was not the slightest injury to any person or property.
A special party was landed under a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the town; and having returned with the principal German officials ashostages, the official entry was made by Colonel Beves, and the Union Jack was hoisted over the town hall.
The Germans had retired to the capital at Windhoek, where they were said to have three years' provisions and stores, and had removed from Luderitzbucht all railway rolling stock, but had damaged no property.
Colonel Beves issued a proclamation formally annexing the town, and providing for the security of life and property.
Prisoners of war and non-combatants were sent off to Cape Town. The latter included a number of Cape "Boys" who had been paid their wages in Germangoodfors; and these expressed their delight at the British occupation. Thegoodforswere cashed by Cape Town merchants for the "Boys," and were passed on in payment of amounts claimed from them by German subjects.
The occupation was conducted in the most orderly manner, and the late German residents of Luderitzbucht were loud in their expressions of appreciation of the consideration with which they were treated.
The Caprivi strip was entered by a force of police from Rhodesia, and within a few days Schuckmannsburg, near the Zambezi River, surrendered to them—and so a very unsightly intrusion into Rhodesian territory was wiped off the map.
In the early days of modern African history, when Portugal was at her zenith and her richly laden galleons were plying between the Cape of Good Hope, Goa, and Calicut, practically the whole of the trade of the east coast of Africa north of the Zambezi River was in the hands of Arab-descended "Sultans" and Portugal—who had extensive "settlements" along the coast.
A trade with India, which in the past has been theraison d'êtreof more strife and bitterness than any subject—excepting religious intolerance, for which nations have contended—had been established for centuries, and the glamour of the East pervaded the whole atmosphere of social and commercial relations.
When the European nations started competing for supremacy in the east coast trade, which had always been a valuable one, the Arabs made the Island of Zanzibar the centre of their activities.
The island was only chosen as the headquarters of the supreme Sultan of the east coast and hispalace built there at a comparatively late date, when the Powers had already begun to bring under their direct administration lands to whose native rulers they had hitherto only extended a "protection," a benefit which had not been sought with any spontaneity.
The selection of Zanzibar as the Sultan's headquarters was due to the fact that it afforded a much-needed secure place of retreat; but a trade between Zanzibar, India, and the African mainland was built up that rivalled that of the British East India Company.
The trading expeditions of the Arabs, moreover, took the form of devastating raids, and their territory on the coast was but precariously held.
The importance of Zanzibar grew apace, and more and more of the adjoining coast, sixteen miles distant, came under the sway of the Sultans, whose caravans pushed farther and farther into the interior, returning laden with ivory and accompanied by gangs of slaves, for which Zanzibar became the market of the world.
The slave trade indeed assumed enormous proportions, was almost entirely in Arab hands, and although an international movement for the suppression of the iniquitous traffic had been on foot from the beginning of the nineteenth century, the British Government alone took active measures in East Africa to apply their humanitarian principles of freedom.
With the wane of Portugal's power the influence of Great Britain in Zanzibar and its dependencies, the chief centres of which were the Island and Bay of Pemba and Witu, grew and intensified until Great Britain became, as was meet on account of her possession of India, supreme in the Zanzibari regions—a British Consul at Zanzibar being appointed as early as 1841.
Up to 1884, although there had been no definite annexation of territory, British influence was extending in every direction, as British explorers ventured farther and farther into the interior—adventurous spirits stirred by the reports of the Arabs of the great lakes existing in what was then unknown Africa.
Central Africa remained a no-man's-land, inhabited only by aborigines, and under no control whatsoever excepting that exercised by the Arab leaders of marauding and slave-trading expeditions, whose principal commercial object was ivory—white and black.
To mention but a few names, Burton, Speke, Grant, Baker, all added to the world's knowledge of the Dark Continent, and mapped out the region about Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and Albert Nyanza; Burton, indeed, penetrated far enough west to plant a British flag upon the majestic mountains of the Kamerun, above the Gulf of Guinea.
Their wanderings were inspired by the spirit ofadventure innate in the British, and undertaken with no sordid motive; while the results of their labours became the property of the civilised world.
In the course of their explorations the wanderers unfolded the mystery of the source of the Nile in Lake Victoria Nyanza, which had been the subject of conjecture for centuries.
Of explorers other than British, was the German Van der Decken, who had extensively explored the interior round about Kilima 'Njaro, and who had undoubtedly before him the attractive idea of a new German Empire, embracing a large portion of Central Africa; and who urged upon his countrymen the desirability of acquiring part, if not the whole of what was practically no-man's-land, from the east coast opposite the Island of Zanzibar to the mouth of the Congo in the west.
H. M. Stanley had explored Uganda, his report on which caused that country to become infested with missionaries whose subsequent squabbles about forms and dogmas gave rise to more serious disturbances amongst the Mazai and Waganda than the slave trade.
Stanley had also crossed the continent, and in the employ of Leopold, King of the Belgians, made that far-seeing monarch's private venture an enormously successful enterprise—embracing a huge area, taking in from the western shore of Lake Tanganyika (which it covered) the wholecountry across the continent to the mouth of the Congo.
The Congo Free State was born of King Leopold's venture, and remained his private concern until his death, when by his will he bequeathed the territory, over 800,000 square miles in extent, to Belgium.
It might be mentioned that the Belgian Congo shut off along Lake Tanganyika British Central Africa (Nyasaland) from British East Africa (Uganda).
A Frenchman, M. Labaudy, in 1904 endeavoured to emulate King Leopold, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Sahara; but his resources not being quite in proportion to his ambitions, the Sahara was not brought under his august rule.
While stamping out the slave trade, Great Britain was, in 1884, bringing under her sway the tribes on the east coast; and this was being accomplished without much difficulty, accompanied, as her dealings with natives were, by justice, which more than any virtue appeals to the native mind.
From the north Great Britain had advanced along the Nile, and to all intents and purposes taken under protection the Nile country up to Lake Albert Nyanza.
Round about Kilima 'Njaro Mr (now Sir) H. H. Johnston had obtained concessions of territory; but the necessity of actually and formally annexing was not apparent to the Government, whopreferred to rely upon a process of gradual absorption.
As early as 1874 German traders were establishing themselves in Zanzibar and the territories of the Sultan on the mainland, and "making a bid for a fair share of the trade"; while Germany, which had really only existed since 1871, made the affairs of the Sultan of Zanzibar her business, "because of Germany's interest in suppressing slavery," which, however, the Germans did not hesitate to practise extensively themselves as soon as they had territorially established themselves.
There was never a more disinterested act than the freedom of these human machines on the part of Great Britain; for while she was insisting upon the release of thousands and thousands of slaves, to whose "masters" she paid large sums as compensation, many industries in her Colonies were not only hampered but closed down altogether on account of the impossibility of procuring the native labour necessary for their continuance.
The idea of Colonies forming a new German Empire in Africa, which obsessed the minds of a few individuals and later on appealed to the cupidity of the German merchants, could not obtain the all-powerful Bismarck's support until their proved value as commercial propositions should justify him in extending to them the Imperial protection. At the opportune moment, however, he struck and struck hard with his weapons of blood and iron.
Unending warnings were conveyed to our Government as to the result of inaction in proclaiming sovereignty over their "spheres of influence" on the east coast, and in 1880 Sir Bartle Frere made strong representations to the Government as to Germany's growing influence; but the Government remained incredulous of German designs.
The events of 1884, however, proved prognostications to be correct, and the "scramble for Africa" entailed a division of the territories of the Zanzibari Sultan.
While Herr Luderitz was busy establishing trade stations at Angra Pequena and St Lucia Bay, and pushing inland to girdle Africa with a German belt, other and less open methods were employed on the east coast.
Dr Carl Peters was President of the new-formed German Colonisation Society which was at the back of the initiatory steps for acquiring oversea territory; and he, with two friends, set out for Zanzibar as a base of operations, being justifiably doubtful of Luderitz's success in operating from St Lucia Bay.
All Dr Peters's proceedings were enveloped in great secrecy.
In workmen's garb the three made their way across France and travelled as steerage passengers to Zanzibar, and thence, towards the end of 1884, proceeded up country and obtained, under the pretext of "autograph collecting," the signatures ofArab and native chiefs to treaties, with which they hurried back to Berlin early in 1885 and founded a company to exploit their "concessions"—the company being known as the German East Africa Society.
The territories covered by these concessions had, through the British Consul, been offered by the Sultan of Zanzibar to Great Britain, who, however, declined to assume the protection until a real necessity arose.
The necessity had now arisen, but Peters and his friends were guarded by treaties bearing the signatures of natives potentates, which according to the ethics of Germankulturwere worthy of respect.
In 1885 the Sultan of Zanzibar was acquainted by the British Consul of the annexation by Germany of a large portion of his territory on the mainland which had been proclaimed by Bismarck, and instead of supporting the Sultan in his righteous protest our statesmen, having been forestalled, determined to give Germany all assistance to establish herself as a neighbour; and the British Representative received instructions "to co-operate immediately with the German Consul-General in forwarding German interests."
Lord Granville, however, reproached Bismarck with not disclosing his real designs, which must have caused that statesman many a sleepless night.
On his part Lord Granville went out of his wayto inform Bismarck, in 1885, that British capitalists intended to build a railway from the east coast (the Nairobi Railway) to the Nile lakes, and that "the project would only receive the support of the Brittanic Government if the latter were assured that it would in no way interfere with German designs." This to Bismarck might very easily have appeared to be veiled sarcasm had he been dealing with a man of his own kidney.
A demonstration of force on the part of Germany was necessary to induce the Sultan of Zanzibar to adopt the same humble attitude as the British Government; and a formidable German squadron appeared before the Sultan's palace on the 7th August, 1885, and presented an ultimatum, on which the Sultan bowed to the inevitable and stoically watched himself depleted of his possessions on the mainland, though he retained a considerable portion of the coastline.
Zanzibar Island, indeed, itself fell under a German form of suzerainty from this date until 1890, when Germany resigned all claims over the island to Great Britain, in exchange for the cession of Heligoland.
The slopes of Kilima 'Njaro were the scene of the busiest activities of German agents prior to the appointment of a Commission for the delimitation of the respective British and German boundaries.
Although the concessions granted to Mr H. H. Johnston in this desirable region were considerablyearlier than any German grants, our Government agreed to allow all claims to remain in abeyance pending the deliberations and decision of the joint Boundary Commission.
Under the agreement come to by Great Britain and Germany as the result of the report of the Commission (1886), a strip of coastline 600 miles in length was left to the Sultan of Zanzibar in addition to his islands, while he gave up all claims to Kilima 'Njaro.
Under the agreement practically the whole of the magnificent Kilima 'Njaro region, with its fertile slopes and foothills, was, through an uncalled-for fit of generosity on the part of Great Britain, made over to Germany—a concession which was made, it was said, to humour a sentimental wish expressed by the Kaiser to possess the highest mountain in Africa.
The effect of this concession was, however, to place severe restrictions upon the development of British East Africa, and threatened to confine British enterprise to exceedingly narrow limits.
Meanwhile Portugal could not look on with equanimity at the partitioning out by Great Britain and the upstart Power, Germany, of territory the history of which was permeated by her traditions, and protested against being excluded from the deliberations of the Powers.
In view of the fact, however, that Portugal's claims were based upon ancient rights held only byhazy recollection, and that she had never exercised effective jurisdiction over the territory she claimed, she was treated with scant consideration by Great Britain, and no courtesy at all by Germany, who, however, emphatically demonstrated the hopelessness of the position by warning Portugal that any action on her part displeasing to Germany might result in the loss to her of any and all territory she then held in Africa.
Portugal could but raise a loud lament and stamp in impotent rage; but when, after the agreement of 1886, the Sultan of Zanzibar made coarse references to the status of Portugal, the latter found her limit of endurance, and developing a fit of naughty petulance, proceeded to bombard for three days several unprotected native villages on the Bay of Tungi, on the main coastline belonging to the Sultan, thereby by no means impressing the world with an appreciation of Portugal's might.
The Germans after the agreement of 1886 proceeded with energy and determination not only to test the resources of their new "Colony," but to extend their territorial sphere in every direction—a proceeding which evoked a British protest and necessitated a fresh delimitation of boundaries in 1890. This was effected by the Caprivi Treaty of 1st July, 1890, under which Germany received ridiculously favourable consideration in every demand.
In 1888 the whole of the remaining territory ofthe Sultan of Zanzibar on the mainland was placed under the administration of Germany by virtue of a lease from the Sultan. The new area included the magnificent harbour of Dar-es-Salaam, which became the principal port on that portion of the east coast.
Five days after taking possession of the newly leased territory, the Germans managed to organise an "insurrection" amongst the natives; and the assistance of the Imperial (German) Government was invoked by the German East Africa Society to repress the "rebellion" which they had deliberately incited.
Captain Hermann von Wissmann was at the beginning of 1889 accordingly sent out with full instructions to deal with the native revolt, and having enlisted a thousand or more ex-Britishaskaris(native soldiers) and Zulus, he proceeded to slay, burn, and destroy. A huge area was devastated and the "rebellion" was quelled, while the natives were thoroughly terrorised.
The principal sufferers, however, were British Indians, owners of plantations and trading stations, and these fled for protection to British territory or crossed to Zanzibar.
The German East Africa Company was severely censured in various quarters in connection with the "insurrection," but pleaded that it was a movement organised by the Arabs through jealousy at the success of German trading stations.
This was credulously accepted by Great Britain, who went to the length, when her co-operation was sought by Germany in her need, of dispatching a fleet which united with the German ships in establishing a blockade all along the coast in Zanzibari waters.
The Reichstag voted the sum of two million marks "for the suppression of the slave trade and the protection of German interests in East Africa," and this sum was used to meet the expenses of the "campaign."
So far from expending millions of marks on the cause of humanity, the Germans, on their own admission, were largely employing slave labour on their tobacco plantations.
The natives were not finally terrorised into submission until late into the year 1890; and the Germans, being firmly established, made their position unquestionably secure by purchasing from the Sultan, in the name of the German East Africa Society, the whole of his territory on the mainland for the sum of four million marks—only a part of which was, however, ever paid.
The fact that the whole venture had passed into the hands of the German Government was only manifested by the fact that the Reichstag voted ten and a half million marks partly for the purpose of paying the Sultan of Zanzibar and partly for use in the improvement and development of Germany's new "Colony."
The territory under the sway of Germany on the east coast of Africa was the largest of Germany's Colonies, comprising an area double the size of Germany itself, 387,000 square miles. On the north the Colony is bounded by British East Africa and on the south by the Portuguese Colony of Mozambique.
Situated between the 2° and 10° S. the climate is tropical, and in parts on the coast there are dense mangrove swamps, with the usual luxuriant tropical vegetation.
The country rises rapidly, however, towards the interior where the Tanganyika plateau forms a high and healthy tableland over 3,500 feet high.
Range after range of mountains and foothills divide the coast from the majestic peak of Kilima 'Njaro on the borders of British East Africa, and whose slopes offer splendid conditions for European settlement.
The white population numbers roughly 5,500, mainly German officials, traders, soldiers, and managers of plantations; for, as in the other German Colonies, there are no settlers in the true sense, although Professor Bönn has said that there are "even some close settlements reproducing German village life."
The civil population indeed is composed chiefly of Britishers or Greeks, while there are, as elsewhere along the coast, a great many Banyans orIndian traders, who are British subjects, nearly every German being a soldier or an official.
The native population numbers 9,000,000—the two principal tribes being the Urundi with 1,500,000 and the Ruandi with 2,000,000 respectively.
From the German point of view this was an ideal "Colony," for there were abundant natural resources and a dense native population whose industry might assure prosperity for their German masters.
In acquiring East Africa the Germans had made a bid for the dominant interest in Central Africa and had by no means lost hope of absorbing the Congo Free State, which by international agreement was open to Free Trade. They went so far indeed as to offer to take the Congo Free State under "protection" when the atrocities of the Congo rubber-collecting trade were the subject of European concern. The aim and end of such a "protection" may easily be surmised.
Having settled down to the exploitation of the territory Germany, with her trade methods, began to oust the once all-dominant trade of Zanzibar.
The latter depended on her trade with India and the mainland, and the Germans instituted a direct service of luxuriously appointed steamers to stop goods from going to Zanzibar and being handled twice. In the way German traders are able to cut prices, it is probable that the saving of onehandling of the goods constituted the profit on them.
A direct Indian service was also inaugurated which further cut into Zanzibar trade; while a line of steamers started to circumnavigate Africa, going down the west coast to Cape Town and returning up the east coast leisurely through the Suez Canal back to Hamburg.
It was not long before the Germans had practically the whole of the east coast trade in her hands, and the German description of Dar-es-Salaam as the metropolis of the whole of the East African coast began to have some foundation in fact.
After quelling the "insurrection" in 1889, Major von Wissmann set the corps he had formed to the building of Government offices and residences, and the imposing edifices round about the lagoon at Dar-es-Salaam are tribute to their skill.
A strong force of police was enrolled and consisted of 260 Europeans and 2,750 men, who, uniformed in khaki, were armed with the most modern guns and rifles. They constituted a formidable fighting force of sixteen companies, each of which had several machine guns.
The natives are in the main mild-mannered; and as long association with the Arabs made a condition of slavery quite a natural existence, they were readily terrorised, and the Germans found ideal ground for cultivation.
Energetically the administration set to work to open up the country by establishing centres of trade; the country was intersected in every direction by paths six feet wide formachela[F]travelling, and the natives were compelled to make these paths free of charge and maintain them in good order.
The administration, German like, was all by rule of thumb, and even the prices of food were everywhere fixed by tariff. German home methods were applied everywhere with a mixture, as in Zanzibar itself, of a shoddy imitation of Indian life.
The Port of Dar-es-Salaam (the "Haven of Peace") was made the capital, and from here the principal railway runs into the interior.
From the coast the town is hardly visible, the quiet lagoon on which it is built being so shut in by bluffs; while the entrance is between coral reefs, the passage through which is in some places not much over fifty yards. The harbour is small but is perfectly sheltered, and with its fringe of palms makes a striking picture.
The town is laid out on luxurious lines with wide well-paved streets, an extensive botanical garden, electric light, and a powerful wireless installation. The neighbouring native town is a striking contrast, being squalid in the extreme.
The railway system extends for nearly 1,000 miles, and a line from Dar-es-Salaam to Lake Tanganyika was being pushed on energetically. The territory is eminently suited for the cultivation of tropical agricultural products, and the export of these amounts to roughly £1,800,000 per annum—about equally divided between European and native.
The Germans have done no development themselves for the production of raw material, but the European plantations are huge farms in the lower-lying country; and though on the slopes of Kilima 'Njaro there are small holders, these are in the main Englishmen, Greeks, or British Indians.
The Germans did not grant a full title to land, and intending planters had to buy their land from natives and run the risk that their titles might not be recognised, as the natives' claim to land had not yet been adjudicated—which means, of course, that, as elsewhere, the land had been "confiscated"; though it did not suit German policy immediately to take it out of the hands of the natives.
The products grown on the European plantations by what has passed from actual to semi-slave labour, are principally coffee, rubber, cotton, and sisal hemp. The European products were heavily subsidised.
The natives contribute from the natural resources of the country grain, medicinal herbs, copal, beeswax,hides, wild coffee, wild rubber, palm-oil, copra, and dairy products. They have been encouraged in every way to increase their production of raw materials by brutality and terrorism, which almost depopulated the Ruanda country, and by instruction in the methods of growing and collecting.
A translation in the journal of the African Society quotes Hans Zache in "Dressig jahre Deutsch-Ost-Africa" (Thirty years of German East Africa): "It is a falsely reasoned and falsely proved humanitarianism which seeks to take no cognisance of the education of the nativefor manual work. Work is provided by the European planters so that the Colony may benefit by increased production, and not least also is it provided for the blessing of the negro."
The blessing is not altogether so apparent to the negro, regarded in conjunction with the fruit of his labour—usually dishonourable stripes.
The European plantations are in the hands of 758 planters, and cover an area of about 250,000 acres—of which 80,000 were planted with rubber, 50,000 with sisal, and 35,000 with cotton; while 1,000,000 cocoa-nut trees were also put in.
Ivory, which for years was the chief article of export, has given place to sisal; and in 1913 the value of sisal hemp exported approached £500,000, rubber taking second place with £325,000.
Sisal culture in East Africa is of recent origin,and was started in German East Africa with a few plants imported from Central America. The cultivation is difficult and the treatment of the leaves equally so, but millions of plants now exist in both German and British East Africa. The exportation of sisal plants was prohibited by the German Government. While sisal takes about seven years to mature in the West Indies, it takes only three in East Africa.
In contrast to the tropical Colonies on the west coast, the cotton-growing is chiefly in the hands of the whites—not solely in the natives. In 1912 it formed the principal crop, with an output of 1,882 tons.