Chapter VII: Africa (with Malta) (2)

I present to your Majesty an expression of my deepest gratitude
for the sentiments of friendship with which you have so kindly
honoured me, and for the valuable support which assures me of the
safety and integrity of the independence of Egypt. Conscious of
the responsibilities that I have just assumed, and determined to
devote myself entirely to the Protectorate, and to the progress and
welfare of my people, I am glad to be able to rely in this task
upon the goodwill of your Majesty, and upon the assistance of your
Government.

HUSSEIN KEMIL.

A Rome message stated that the proclamation of the deposition of the Khedive and the elevation of the Sultan on December 19 was made the occasion of an imposing military display. Cairo was tranquil. In a rescript addressed to the Prime Minister the Sultan said that he himself had aspired to repose after a life of service. But it was his duty in the particularly delicate situation events had created "to assume the weighty charge and, faithful to our past, to continue to place our energy at the service of the country. We owe it to Egypt and to our glorious ancestor Mehemet Ali, whose dynasty we desire to perpetuate." He outlined an internal policy of reform and progress, and on that subject and on representative institutions, paraphrased the language of the Foreign Office letter summarised above. Rushdy Pasha was asked to continue in office as Prime Minister and consented to do so.

Prince Hussein, the second son of Ismail Pasha, was born on December 20, 1853, and was educated in France, where he enjoyed the friendship of Napoleon III. and his family. He was Chamberlain to the Empress Eugenie at the opening of the Suez Canal. Returning finally to Egypt during the Franco-Prussian War, he became Inspector-General and held successive administrative offices. He accompanied his father to Naples on the latter's abdication in 1878, and was abroad for three years. Returning to Egypt after Arabi's rebellion he identified himself with Egyptian interests under the British regime and held various offices. He made a special study of the economic conditions of the peasantry and of Egyptian agriculture and thus earned the name of "the Father of the Fellah." He has a son, Kamel-el-Din, now in his thirtieth year. The new High Commissioner took up his duties late in December.

Events antecedent to the war need only a brief narration. In January the late Khedive opened the first session of the New Legislative Assembly (A.R., 1913, pp. 434, 435), amid great public interest. The inaugural speech expressed satisfaction that the representative institutions of Egypt had been brought into conformity with the needs of the country and now offered opportunities to men of ability. It emphasised the duty laid upon the new Legislature to prepare and suggest laws for economic development, and advised that this right of initiation be used with prudence. The Khedive counselled members to regard the welfare of all classes and especially that of the peasant cultivators, and declared that the exercise of their functions would determine the future of representative government.

The day was regarded as opening a new epoch in the history of Egypt. The session concluded in June and the Assembly was prorogued till November. Sixteen Bills were discussed, of which twelve were passed, dealing with matters of administrative reform and economic questions. Many interrogations to Ministers were made and answered. There were forty-five sittings. An Opposition was developed early in the session and showed aptitude for tactical obstruction. The Cairo correspondent of _The Times_, giving his impressions of the Assembly at the close of the session, observed that the debates had at times been conspicuous for a lack of dignity, an outspoken disrespect for Ministers and a general excitability. But it was premature, he admitted, to attempt to pass judgment. The majority of the delegates were new to public life and inexperienced in the arts of debate. If the Opposition would adopt a more reasonable attitude towards the Government and bring an unbiased mind to bear upon its labour, there was little doubt that the Assembly would realise the hopes of its founders, for it included many men who had in them the making of good legislators. The composition of the Assembly was: Landowners forty-nine, Lawyers eight, Merchants four, Ulemas and heads of religious sects three; and one Engineer.

The Budget showed receipts for 1913 of E. 17,703,898_l._ and expenditure E. 17,659,961_l._ The extraordinary expenditure, on remunerative work of public utility, was E. 2,776,032_l._ The keystone of financial policy had been the prosecution of such schemes and the remission of anomalous and oppressive taxation. Lord Kitchener claimed that the policy had been justified both by the increase of national wealth and the provision of security against a low Nile. He deprecated the undertaking of capital expenditure by means of loans, especially in a country entirely dependent on agriculture and to a large extent on a single crop. The Budget for 1914-15 estimated the expenditure at E. 18,162,000_l._ and the revenue at a like figure. The balance at Reserve on January 1, 1914, was E. 5,848,000_l._ and the outstanding capital of the Egyptian debt E. 94,202,540_l._, of which E. 88,742,620_l._ was in the hands of the public. The total annual charge was E. 3,552,000_l._ The Customs receipts for 1913 amounted to E. 3,939,885_l._ The value of the imports was E. 27,865,195_l._; exports showed a decrease of 8.89 per cent., the total being E. 31,662,200_l._ The share of the United Kingdom was 43.1 per cent. of the exports. The export of phosphates from the Red Sea mining area increases yearly. The Nile flood in 1913 was abnormally low and late--the lowest on record; and the report suggested that but for the irrigation works and organised distribution of the available supply economic disaster would have been caused. The Nile was again low in 1914. A dam is to be constructed on the White Nile about forty miles south of Khartoum. The probable cost is 1,000,000_l._ It will serve the double purpose of a storage reservoir and control of excessive floods; but it was intimated that resort would ultimately be made "to regulation on the Great Lakes as a final settlement of the problem of Egypt's summer water when all available areas are developed." The educational section of the Report is of an encouraging tenour. Note is taken of the fact that about 750 Egyptians were completing their education in Europe, chiefly in England and France. Concerning the Khedivial Library mention is made of the appointment as Director of Dr. Schaade, "a distinguished Orientalist, who has been for some years an editor of 'The Encyclopædia of Islam' and latterly a lecturer on Oriental languages at Breslau." Among the new acquisitions of the library was a series of works on Islam printed by order of the ex-Sultan of Morocco, Mulai Abd el Hafiz, and presented by His Majesty.

The Report again gives a disturbing account of the increase of crime, despite the new Arms Act. Lord Kitchener points out that the main responsibility for public security rests with the Mudirs and hints that if there is not a better discharge the system must be considered.

A strong light on the social condition of Egypt was thrown by the Report of the Judicial Adviser (Sir Malcolm McIlwraith) for the year 1913. Crimes and serious misdemeanours showed a continuous increase. Poverty was not the cause. Food and shelter were within reach of all. Cold was unknown. Habitual charity was such that the terrors of complete destitution were not to be found. But rapacity and greed were rife and had been stimulated by economic conditions and the rise in the standard of living. Emulation in extravagance was a cause of crime, thirst for revenge a still more potent cause. Murder on the spur of the moment was common in Egypt, especially in the south. A change in the temperament of the people, such as education might be expected to produce, could alone diminish the number of these murders. In past times communal responsibility was enforced, but with the advance of civilisation repression had to be confined within the law. Far from having a particular interest in the suppression of crime, the Fellah knew from experience that to volunteer evidence often entailed long absence from work and exposed him to the danger of retaliation by friends of the accused. He therefore showed strong disinclination to have anything to do with criminal law and administration.

Touching the creation at the close of 1913 of the Ministry of Waffs Lord Kitchener says that the Ministry is assisted by a Council which includes the Sheikh El Azhar and the Grand Mufti of Egypt, the highest dignitaries of the Mohammedan religion. The other members are Moslems. The new organisation was expected to result in an improved administration of the funds and properties of the religious trusts. The ill-effects of yet another low Nile caused some uneasiness as the year passed. The economic disaster of war was met for the time by a general moratorium. Since August 4 there has been a strict censorship in Egypt.

Lord Kitchener made a tour of the Sudan in January and his report was thus written with fresh knowledge. So far as is known there have since been no untoward developments, though in March Major Conry, in charge of an Arab battalion, lost his life in an encounter with a party of outlaws on the Atbara River. The Report speaks of 1913 as an uneventful year except for the Imperial guarantee of a loan of E. 3,000,000_l._ for the development of the Sudan as a cotton-growing country. The Nile flood was the lowest known in the Soudan for a hundred years. The area cultivated was 2,303 feddans as against 1,937,000 in 1912. There was a decrease in the area of cotton, due entirely to climatic reasons, "not to the indifference of the natives, among whom there is a marked revival of interest in all forms of agriculture." At the Tayiba demonstration station, which is now being managed by the Sudan Plantations Syndicate on a commercial basis, the cotton yield was good and the quality of a high order. The working of the Tokar cotton area "has more than justified the policy of the Government. A marked improvement in the cultivation of the land and in the handling of cotton has taken place and consequently higher average yields and better prices have been obtained. The sale of cotton by public auction, after estimation by Government classifiers, has ensured a fair market price to the cultivators." The revenue for 1913 was E. 1,644,000_l._ and there was a surplus over expenditure of E. 29,000_l._ The estimates for 1914 were for a revenue of E. 1,644,000_l._ also with expenditure of a like sum. There was E. 65,000_l._ in reserve on January 1, 1914. There are brief but instructive administrative reports. In the Sudan, as in Egypt, a considerable increase in serious crime is recorded. The slave traffic has been made "almost impossible." The population continues to increase, but there is excessive infant mortality. Health was "satisfactory," malaria being less frequent owing to the dryness of the year; but sleeping sickness was prevalent in the Yei River district and is now found over a large area in Western Mongalla and Western Bahr-el-Ghazal; it was also reported to be prevalent in the Congo to the west and south-west of Tembara. Cattle disease had been exceptionally prevalent. The opening of new districts had increased the territorial responsibility of the Army. The British garrison at Khartoum consisted at the time of the Report of six companies of infantry and a detachment of garrison artillery. A list is given of nine military operations in as many different districts for the suppression of raiding parties and tribal disturbances. A new general map of the Sudan on a scale of 1:5,000,000 is nearing completion. The condition of the south-eastern frontier is described as "not altogether satisfactory." An extensive trade in arms was carried on between Abyssinia and the Nuer country. Financial considerations precluded the Government from setting up an effective administration between the Khor Yabus and Lake Rudolph, and from occupying the Boma plateau. Something had been done by the construction of posts after the expedition to the Anuak country in 1912. These are at Khobo Bonjak and Nasser; "but the problem will never be satisfactorily solved until the whole country up to the frontier is effectively occupied. The political situation at Adis Ababa, and the apparent inability of the Abyssinian Government to put a stop to the smuggling of arms from the coast, also make for unrest in the outlying districts bordering on the Sudan, which do not appear to be under the full control of the central Government."

The war had had no apparent disturbing effect on the Sudan and the scanty news from Khartoum and beyond by the end of the year was reassuring as to the attitude of the inhabitants. Sir Reginald Wingate, the Governor-General and also Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, which was believed to be for the most part in the Sudan when war was declared, was in England on leave in August but returned immediately. After spending some time in Cairo he visited the Sudan and held receptions of Sheikhs and notables at various centres. The most important gathering was at Khartoum on November 8. The _Sudan Gazette_ of the previous day had contained a Proclamation announcing that, at the instigation of Germany, Turkey had violated the Egyptian frontier and that a state of war existed between Turkey and Great Britain, and calling upon the inhabitants of the Sudan to render to the British, Egyptian and Sudanese forces all the assistance that might be required of them. The private receptions prior to this proclamation had already made the Sheikhs and Notables cognisant of the situation as regards Turkey. The gathering of Sheikhs and Ulema at Khartoum was addressed by Sir Reginald Wingate. After announcing the state of war with Turkey, as from November 7, he told them that in order that they should fully understand the causes of this new war he would call upon the Grand Mufti to read an Address from him--Sir Reginald--to themselves and to other religious leaders in the Sudan. The Grand Mufti read the Address in Arabic. Addressing the company as men of intelligence and education, possessing a good influence over the people, the Governor-General appealed to their knowledge of the regenerative work the English had done in the Sudan, and emphasised our non-interference with any man in the exercise of his religion. With this knowledge in his mind and in theirs he was, he said, able to talk to them candidly and without reservation. He then described to them the condition of Turkey on the eve of and since the overthrow of the Sultan Abdul Hamid--how the men who had arrogated to themselves the direction of affairs had mismanaged the Empire, and had now gone to war with the one Power which by her actions and the sentiments of her people had ever been a true and sympathetic friend to the Moslems and to Islam. "These men--this syndicate of Jews, financiers and low-born intriguers, like broken gamblers staking their last coin, and in deference to the urgent demands of Germany and our enemies," had gone to war. After an argument that England had thus been forced to war by the Turkish adventurers and that it was not her object to gain territory or advantage at the expense of a Mohammedan State, the Address assured the gathering that the world policy of Great Britain would remain unchanged. The sanctity and inviolability of the Holy Places would be maintained and enforced on others. She would shelter and protect all Mohammedan mosques on her borders, as she had done for a hundred and fifty years in India, where she had guarded the interests of 62,000,000 Mohammedans, "many thousands of whom are now fighting alongside their British fellow-subjects against the German Army." The Sudan Sheikhs and Ulema knew the evils of Turkish rule, said the Address, from bitter experience. But they might feel--and Sir Reginald sympathised with them--"a certain sorrow at this war." Some might fear that the result might affect the situation of Mohammedans in other parts of the world. He assured them before God that their fears were groundless. The position of no single Mohammedan in the British Empire would be changed one iota nor a single privilege granted to Islam repudiated. The Address concluded thus:--

Now I ask you at this present time, you, men of religion, learning,
and experience, to give honourable and wise counsels to the people
who will listen to you; for here in the Sudan, as elsewhere in
the world, the fools will listen to the wise, the ignorant to the
learned, and the common people to men of wisdom and education. I
ask you, then, and I rely upon you, to publish true reports, to
be careful and wise in your words, and by your example to allay
baseless and ignorant fears, to contradict false or alarmist
rumours, and by all means in your power to ensure a sane and
reasonable judgment of events by your co-religionists and the
natives of this country.

The Address was received with enthusiasm and many speakers publicly protested their loyalty, among them the Mahdi's eldest son. The document was circulated throughout the country and "it is said there is hardly a noteworthy person in the Sudan who has not written or telegraphed to the Governor-General." Offers of assistance were almost embarrassing in their generosity. Until the end of the year not so much as a whisper of disaffection had reached England from the Sudan--or, if that should prove to be inaccurate, had passed the Censor. Despatches published on December 30 confirmed the unofficial accounts of the satisfactory attitude of all classes of Sudanese.

III. NORTH-EAST AFRICA AND THE PROTECTORATES.

In the _Somaliland_ Protectorate the action at Dul Madoba in August, 1913, had serious consequences and a state of war prevailed throughout 1914. Among Supplementary Estimates submitted to the House of Commons in February was one for 25,000_l._ "to meet additional expenditure entailed upon Somaliland in connexion with the activity of the Mullah." At that time he was believed to be preparing for an attack on Burao, where, however, we had no garrison, the force having been withdrawn after the disaster to Captain Corfield and his camelry. He had been raiding friendly tribes in the interior and there was a risk that he might attack Berbera. Our garrison there consisted of 260 Carnatic infantry and a body of camelry and about the same number at Sheikh. Further troops were on their way from Aden. It appeared that the Secretary of State for the Colonies had ordered the camel corps to be increased from 150 to 300, and this had been done; and in February he ordered a further increase to 500. The policy was to reoccupy Burao, about eighty miles from the coast, and to occupy Sheikh, midway between Burao and Berbera, but not to occupy the interior nor send a punitive force against the Mullah. The forts at Burao and Sheikh would be strengthened and the Indian contingent kept at 400 instead of 200 as before. The estimates for 1914 showed that the recurrent cost of these permanent defence forces--Indians and camelry--would be 58,800_l._ Mr. Harcourt claimed that these measures met the requirements of the men on the spot. The Mullah was an old man, he said, in an advanced stage of dropsy, physically immovable and incapable of leading the Dervish forays. He had no probable or possible successor. Since he had been ex-communicated from Mecca he had been left enfeebled--a robber, but not a prophet. With a little patience and endurance Somaliland might yet be comparatively peaceful. The policy, therefore, was to go no farther than Burao and wait for the death of the Mullah. The Dervish reply to it was an attack in March on Berbera itself, a body of horsemen dashing to within firing distance of the town and making good their escape. In July there were disturbing reports of Dervish activity and it was telegraphed from Aden that more troops had been requisitioned. The war in Europe closed the usual channels of knowledge, but in December the Press Bureau issued a short review of what had occurred. Burao was to be the base of the enlarged camel corps. Major F. A. Cubitt, D.S.O., had been put in command of the troops and had arrived in the Protectorate in August. On November 20 the camelry were patrolling the grazing grounds of the tribesmen at Burao as far as the Ain Valley, and Colonel Cubitt "encountered strong opposition at Shimberberris, where the dervishes were in a strong position." He attacked them and again on the 23rd when all their forts were captured. "The dervishes, overcome by the moral effect of shell fire"--there had been no previous mention of artillery in Somaliland--took to flight and suffered material loss. The forts were demolished as far as practicable. The walls were over six feet thick. One of the British officers--Captain H. W. Symons--was killed and two others wounded. The camelry returned to Burao and the Commissioner reported that "he could not overestimate the excellent effect which this success will have throughout the Protectorate." It appears that naval airmen were employed in these operations--the first time aircraft could have been seen in this region of Africa. The Colonial Office, while not denying the statement, declined to throw any light upon its plans for the future.

_British East Africa_ was at once drawn into the vortex of the war. The Secretary of State for the Colonies announced early in October that during the previous month there had been considerable activity along the Anglo-German border because of attempts to raid British territory and cut the Uganda Railway. All the attempts, with one unimportant exception--a frontier post whose occupation by the enemy it was not at the time convenient to oppose--had been repulsed and the raiding parties forced to retire. The normal garrisons of the Protectorate and also of _Uganda_ had been increased by "a strong body of troops from India and also by mounted and unmounted volunteer forces locally raised; and no anxiety was felt as to the military situation." One of the earliest moves of the enemy was to send a small party under white officers to blow up the Uganda Railway near Maungu, but the party was broken up and its dynamite and outfit captured. At Tsavo on September 6 there was "a hot engagement" between a strong force of the enemy and Indian troops and King's Royal Rifles. The enemy were severely handled and repulsed. The enemy had Maxim guns, which the Punjabis made "a gallant effort to rush with the bayonet," and our losses were not slight. On the 10th there was another engagement with an invading force 400 strong including fifty Europeans. This force occupied Kisi on the 11th, and was attacked on the 12th by a British column which was, however, compelled to retire. On the 13th the enemy abandoned Kisi, which the British occupied, finding there ten dead Germans (Europeans) and six wounded. The Germans had retired to Karungu. Meanwhile German and British steamers on the Victoria Nyanza had been engaged and German dhows sunk. On the 20th the Germans attacked a British post at Campi ya Marabu and after two hours' fighting retired into their own territory, leaving thirteen dead. Lieut. A. C. H. Forster, in command of the King's African Rifles there, was killed. The officer who took over the command reported that the conduct of the King's African Rifles was splendid and that the success had "materially encouraged the Masai who lived in the neighbourhood." The British outpost at Majoreni was attacked on the 23rd, but the enemy again repulsed. On the 25th a German force of thirty-five Europeans and 150 natives, with two maxims, attacked a mounted squadron of the Rifles, and after an hour's bush fighting retreated, leaving eleven dead and many wounded. The next day a strong force of the enemy, including fifty Europeans, attacked the Rifles at Mzirna, but were repulsed, leaving seventeen dead. During November and December the published casualty lists showed that fighting had been actively continued and occasional letters home suggested that it was severe. On November 19 complaint was made in the House of Lords by Lord Curzon of the secretiveness of the Government, which had merely issued "a very extensive list of casualties." Lord Crewe pointed out that German East Africa covered some 350,000 square miles and had a white German population of between 5,000 and 6,000. The German force there had been reinforced by reservists and he believed that some naval force had also been brought from the Far East. The Germans were well provided with weapons and had machine guns and constituted a formidable force. While the white population of British East Africa equalled the German (Lord Crewe was in error here) it had not the same military element in it. The native infantry and police force in the German Protectorate numbered 2,000. In the British there was a considerable force of native police and a military force--the Rifles--which, though not so large, was extremely efficient and well officered. It was clear that at the beginning of the war our position in East Africa could not be altogether secure and it was necessary to send reinforcements at an early date. The fighting had been in a good many parts, with varying results and considerable losses. The total casualties in two months were about 900. It had become necessary to send reinforcements from India. The fate of the German possessions, Lord Crewe pointed out, would depend on the ultimate settlement of the war; but it was necessary to preserve the position of Great Britain as the paramount Power in Central Africa where she would repel the German attacks with all the force she could muster. That was the position of affairs when the year closed. In the earlier months of the year there had been serious trouble in Jubaland Province, owing to an incursion of Somalis, armed with rifles. They had probably been fighting against us in Northern Somaliland. A new post had just been set up at Seremli with Lieut. Lloyd Jones and a few men in charge. The Somalis--of the Marehan tribe--said they had not come to fight and were told that they must give up their rifles, which had apparently been obtained from Abyssinia, which does a large trade in arms and ammunition--a trade which it has been found impossible to keep out of Jubaland and Somaliland as also out of the Sudan border country. The Somalis would not give up their arms and went away, but returned and attacked the station. Lieut. Lloyd Jones was severely wounded. Troops had been telegraphed for through the Italian Marconi station at Bardera and companies of Rifles hurriedly sent from Uganda and Nyasaland. There was severe fighting, the Somalis abandoning their bush tactics and charging down on the troops. They failed to break the square, owing in part to the maxim fire. A midnight attack was also repulsed. Our losses were slight and that of the Somalis heavy. Other operations followed later for the disarmament of the invaders. Two British officers lost their lives in the fighting and the affair illustrated the extreme difficulty of maintaining authority in Jubaland, notwithstanding the co-operation of the Italians on the other side of the Juba. Until the traffic in arms can be stopped Somali incursions could be checked only by a chain of posts or the constant use of a mobile force. The Protectorate was making good progress until the war plunged African affairs everywhere into confusion. One effect of the war was to suspend the agitation at Nairobi and in the settled districts for some form of self-government, beginning with representation on the Legislative Council. Nor has the question of the reservation of the Highlands for European settlement advanced. A Bill was passed without opposition--scarcely without criticism--in the Imperial Parliament guaranteeing a loan of 3,000,000_l._ for the Protectorates of British East Africa, Uganda, and Nyasaland. In East Africa the money was to be disbursed upon harbour works and wharves at Kililundi, on roads and bridges, improvements of the Uganda Railway, additional rolling stock and more steamers for Lake Nyanza; and on roads and railways in Nyasa. Repayment of the loan is to be made within forty years. No charge on the British Treasury was involved.

_Abyssinia_ seems to have had more trouble than usual with her border peoples, especially on the South. The Italians in _Eritrea_ strengthened their forces and this in conjunction with the gathering of Abyssinian troops, sent for the purpose of suppressing border troubles, gave rise to a suspicion that Italy had ambitions hostile to the Emperor Lidj Iassu; but these were dissipated by Signor Martini, the Minister for the Colonies in Rome. Italy's policy, he declared, was restricted to protecting the frontier and holding aloof from Abyssinia's internal affairs. Lidj Iassu has made his father, Ras Michael, King of Wotto and Tigre. Ras Michael is the husband of a daughter of the late Emperor Menelik, and Lidj Iassu is a youth.

Concerning _German East Africa_ the prosperity of 1913 continued up to the outbreak of war, and it appeared that the completion of the trunk line from the coast to Kigoma, on Lake Tanganyika, several months in advance of the scheduled time, stimulated the energies of the administration and the settlers. The effect of this completion on the traffic of the Uganda Railway had not developed and will not be injurious if German Africa passes into British hands as the result of the war. The line is an achievement scarcely less remarkable than the Uganda Railway, and must in any event have great influence upon African commerce. Two trains a week were at first run to the Lake, the journey taking rather less than one hundred hours.

A glance at a map will show that for the trade of Central Africa the German line enters into competition both with the British lines to the south and east and the Belgian Central Railway through the Valley of the Lukuga to the Congo shore of the Lake. The Belgian line was expected to be completed in June; but goods by it must be transhipped before they reach the west coast, whereas the German railway carries them through to the east coast, at Dar-es-Salaam, now one of the best-equipped ports on the continent. In connexion with the completion of this railway the Germans had intended to hold an exhibition at Dar-es-Salaam, the capital, in August and elaborate preparations had been made. German scientists have for many years worked actively in the Protectorate. Dr. Hans Reck, of Berlin University, discovered in the north of the region the skeleton of a man of the diluvial period of Africa. Dr. Reck estimated the age of the skull at 150,000 years. It was found with mammoth fossils and resembled that of the primitive Bushman. The rest of the skeleton was on its way to Europe.

In _Nyasaland_ (British Central Africa) where part of the Lake forms the German frontier, the war had serious consequences. The Germans invaded the country and on September 8 a British force was launched against a body some 400 strong. The enemy evaded this force and attacked the post at Karonga, held by an officer with fifty African Rifles and a few police and civilians. Resistance was kept up until the main body arrived and drove the enemy back. The fighting lasted through the day and the Governor reported to the Colonial Office that "the enemy fought with great determination and had to be dislodged by repeated bayonet charges." They were ultimately driven towards Songwe, the British being too exhausted to pursue. Two field and two machine guns were captured by our force and the enemy lost seven officers killed and two captured. Karonga is the principal station in the north of the Protectorate and Songwe is the German frontier post farther north. On that day (Sept. 13) there was a sharp engagement on the Kisu Kenu Road between the King's African Rifles and about 400 Germans, including fifty whites. The German losses throughout were heavy and of the nineteen officers engaged at Karonga eleven were accounted for, and of those who escaped three were known to have been wounded. The Secretary of State telegraphed "his sincere appreciation of the loyal and valuable assistance rendered by all sections of the community." Later news was lacking. _Zanzibar_, which is now administered by a Resident under the authority of the Governor of British East Africa, had, as far as was known in England, an uneventful year.

IV. NORTH AND WEST AFRICA.

Until the outbreak of war France had pursued with success her policy of consolidating her interests in _Morocco_. Practically all that is known of the condition of the Protectorate since July is that Moorish and Senegalese troops, in numbers not disclosed, were withdrawn and employed in the fighting in France, as were French and native troops in Algeria and Tunis. An indication that the internal state of the country was satisfactory, and that the Turkish Sultan's proclamation of a Holy War had not then had any overt effect in North-West Africa, was afforded--for what it may be worth--by a congratulatory message from the Sultan of Morocco to his troops with the Allies. This applauded them for the help they were giving "against the enemies of humanity, liberty and civilisation," exhorted them to steadfastness and expressed entire confidence in an ultimate triumph. Germans and Austrians were expelled from the Protectorate, and many who were believed to be concerned in hostile intrigues were arrested. A batch of German merchants were accused of plotting for a native rising and were put on trial by court martial, with what result is not known. There had been some native trouble in the Zaian district in June, where a detachment of troops guarding telegraphist workers were attacked between Mekinez and Rabat, and there was evidence that in the mountains of the Middle Atlas there was much tribal unrest. An expedition was sent to reduce the clans to subjection. No particulars were forthcoming of German political activity within the Protectorate, and there is reason to believe that the Zaian difficulties were merely part of the general problem of pacification in the less accessible regions of the country. Substantial progress was made in this direction in May by the French occupation of Taza, which lies, roughly, midway between Fez and the Algerian frontier. Stout resistance had been expected, but the French surprised the tribesmen by a forced night march and the town was seized with little loss. It was believed that this easy mastery of the Beni-Udjam clans would finally pacify the inhabitants of the northern region, who were said to have accepted the situation willingly. There still remained an immense triangular area to the south comprising the Middle and Great Atlas ranges, where chains of military posts had yet to be established; but with the subjugation of the marauding tribes of the North it was assumed that the way was cleared for the railway between Fez and Guersif, on the Algerian frontier, thus linking up Tunis by an unbroken line, _via_ Ujda, to Rabat and Casablanca on the Atlantic. Further fighting was reported, however, in the Taza region late in July, the enemy attacking a strong French force under General Gouraud. They were beaten off, but the French lost fifty killed and ninety wounded. On August 4 the curtain fell and the true condition of Morocco, and the whole of North Africa, is not likely to be ascertainable until Peace. As a consequence of the Franco-Spanish treaty of Madrid there was entire co-operation between the two Powers in Morocco, and the advance on Taza was taken in conjunction with Spanish activity in the Mediterranean zone and after a visit by General Lyantey, the French Resident General, to Madrid. An incidental result of this visit was the abolition of the Capitulations providing for Consular jurisdiction over French and British subjects, who now come under the ordinary tribunals in each Protectorate. The Convention was also ratified for the construction of a railway from Tangier to Fez, and engineers and surveyors were at work in the belief that the tribesmen in that part of the Protectorates were sufficiently pacified to permit of the laying of the rails. There was the usual sporadic fighting in the Riff. In _Algeria_ a financial difficulty arose from a request by the French Government for a contribution to the cost of military defence in France. No demand was made, but it was pointed out that other French colonies contribute, and it was suggested that Algeria could spare 5,000,000 francs. Though acceding to the request on patriotic grounds, the _Delegations Financières_, in view of the heavy development expenses of the country, offered 4,000,000 francs, and to raise this sum additional taxation had to be imposed. Authority was asked for a loan of 55,000,000 francs, secured on the State railways, the money to be expended on improving and extending the system; but the war appears to have put this project in abeyance.

_Tripoli_ and _Cyrenaica_, within the range of the Italian coastal occupation, appear to have continued in the quiescent condition produced by the Italian successes in the early part of 1913. From a Treasury statement issued in Rome the cost of the acquisition was 45,200,000_l._ On the outbreak of war there were reports of a recrudescence of native trouble, which was attributed to German intrigue. Allegations were made against the German Consul in Tripoli, who was arrested, with other Germans, said to be army officers and believed to be engaged in native dealings hostile to Italy. According to Rome newspapers the object of the Germans was to instigate a Holy War. A mysterious incident, conjectured to be in connexion with the affairs of the Tripolitaine, was a visit of a Senussi Sheikh--El Sayed Idris El Senussi, a cousin of the Sheikh El Senussi--to the Khedive at Cairo in June. He was to proceed to Constantinople, and the report was that he sought to arrange with the Porte and Italy a pact under which, by the payment of a tribute to Italy, the hinterland would not be entered by that Power. Whatever the object of the visit the events of August and September made it the more significant. No reports of other activity by the Senussi were forthcoming.

The war had extended but slightly to _Nigeria_ by the end of the year. Small raids by Germans from the Cameroons--presumably with native troops--had been made, but in each case, said the Colonial Office, the parties were either quickly withdrawn or driven back. On November 16 there was a fight near Bakundi in which District Officer Glenny was killed. "The German force was subsequently driven back and dispersed." On the next day there was an encounter near Marna, and Lieutenant A. R. Peel and Mr. M. Percival, a mining engineer who had volunteered, lost their lives. In August the Colonial Office announced temporary reductions in the railway rates and scale of royalties affecting the tin mining industry. A further reduction was possible in 1915. It appeared from the speech of the chairman of the Niger Company (the Earl of Scarborough) that cash trade has now displaced barter trade in all but the outlying districts, and that competing firms, British and foreign, are contesting the commercial supremacy of the Company, especially at Kano. The tin industry has not realised the extravagant expectations of the "boom" period; but there are proved areas which are being worked with success. The Colonial Office issued in December a Report dealing chiefly with the setting up by Sir Frederick Lugard of a native judiciary for the administration of tribal laws. The amalgamation of the North and South Protectorates took effect on January 1, but sufficient time has not yet passed for the full benefits of the unification to be appraised. At the outset His Majesty sent a message of good wishes to the Emirs and chiefs and other inhabitants, and Sir Frederick Lugard replied on their behalf, saying that he had taken steps to communicate the message, and asked the Colonial Secretary to assure His Majesty of an abiding loyalty.

The war was vigorously prosecuted in the _Cameroons_. On August 25 a Nigerian force under Colonel P. Maclear moved out from Yola, crossed the frontier and attacked and occupied Tepe, but lost two officers killed and two wounded. Pushing on to Saratse Colonel Maclear attacked the German station at Garua, but, after capturing a fort, was heavily attacked at dawn, and, after suffering considerable loss, was compelled to retire into British territory. Colonel Maclear and four other officers were killed and two medical officers captured. Meanwhile two other British columns had crossed the frontier and left a garrison at Nsanakang, which on September 6 at 2 A.M. was "suddenly attacked by the enemy, who had received strong reinforcements. This attack was repulsed, but a second one, made at 5 A.M., proved successful after a stubborn resistance. The report of this engagement states that our troops fought magnificently, as even the Germans admitted. The casualties were heavy and Nsanakang was neutralised in order that the wounded might be attended to." Meanwhile French troops from Libreville had landed in Corisco Bay from a warship, which sunk two German auxiliaries, and on September 26 successfully attacked Ukoko; and H.M.S. _Cumberland_ and _Dwarf_, having reconnoitred the mouth of the Cameroons River, landed an Anglo-French force under cover of a bombardment and entered Duala, the capital, and Bonaberi, which both surrendered unconditionally. The joint force was under the command of Brigadier-General C. M. Dobell. The wireless station had been destroyed. Little damage had been done by the bombardment. Forty thousand tons of German shipping was captured in the harbour. The German forces had retreated inland in three directions and the Allies were pursuing. On December 21 the Colonial Office announced the opening of the port of Duala to trade. The German tariff would be enforced for the present, but trade with the enemy was prohibited, and limited to such areas as the military authorities thought fit. The latest news of the fighting was from a French source and showed that there had been severe conflicts at Edea, some fifty-six miles from Duala, on the railway running south-east from that port.

In _Togoland_ the Germans made an unconditional submission. Lieut.-Colonel Bryant, commanding our forces which had passed into Togoland from the Gold Coast, reported on August 24 that the German wireless station at Kamina had been destroyed by the enemy, and that they had sent a flag of truce offering to capitulate if given the honours of war and certain conditions. They were told they were not in a position to ask for terms and must capitulate, which they did after some hours' delay. The Allied force--French native troops acting with a Gold Coast frontier force--thereupon occupied Kamina. The cost of these operations was 60,000_l._ and the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast Colony passed a resolution offering to pay it as "a tangible expression of the widely manifested wishes of the inhabitants to afford their loyal support to His Majesty's Government, and to manifest their sympathy with it in the righteous war in which the Empire is engaged." On December 2 the Governor telegraphed that the Revenue Estimates having disclosed a much more favourable position than was expected he had inserted, "at the earnestly expressed wish of the unofficial members of the Council," a sum of 80,000_l._ as a contribution by the Gold Coast during 1915 to the expenses of the war, this in addition to the Togoland payment. Mr. Harcourt replied that the offer would be gladly accepted "if it should appear that the financial position of the Gold Coast allows of so large a contribution."

From the _Belgian Congo_ news was very scanty, and such fighting as occurred took place on the frontier in mid-Africa, chiefly it seems south of Tanganyika. A report from the Governor-General of Katanga Province spoke of "a complete defeat" of the Germans at Ki Senei, on the Lake. But no sufficient information is yet available to show how far the Congo was affected by the war. The Congo Estimates settled at Brussels in March disclosed a deficit of 856,000_l._ It was expected by M. Renkin, Minister for the Colonies, that the Central Railway would reach Lake Tanganyika in June. Touching the competition of the German line from the Lake to the east coast, he admitted that it would modify transport conditions in the Congo by attracting traffic which would otherwise flow to the west; but he deprecated exaggeration about German influence in Africa and thought it an advantage to Belgium that the Great African lines should meet in the Congo. New railway projects for the Congo, extending over 2,000 miles, were submitted to Parliament; but the war has deferred them indefinitely. Diamonds are now among the exports of the Congo, and the consignments to Brussels, on account of the Société Internationale Forestière et Minère, were reported to be of good quality. German enterprise, in Africa extended to _Portuguese West Africa_ before the war, a powerful financial group entering upon the preliminaries of railway construction from the coast. When war was declared enterprise took the form of a military violation of Portuguese territory, a small body of Germans entering South Angola. Portuguese marines were landed and there was a frontier fight. There were engagements on two other points of the frontier and the Germans were represented to have been defeated. The addition of Portugal to the combatants in Europe was, however, prevented at the time by a formal apology through the German Consul at Loanda, and apparently the incursion over the frontier was a military error outside the limits of German war policy in Africa. It was an obscure incident of the war, especially as fighting was renewed in Angola. On December 22 Portugal resolved to take vigorous measures "for the military defence of the Colonies and also preparations for our intervention in the war in Europe on the side of Great Britain." The Labour difficulty on the coast and the islands brought trouble to a Baptist missionary, the Rev. J. S. Bowskill, who had been active in the native interest. He was arrested at San Salvador, and the Baptist Missionary Society made energetic representations to the Foreign Office. Sir Edward Grey, having received information that Mr. Bowskill was to be tried by the military authorities, telegraphed to Lisbon that it was absolutely essential that a British Consular officer should be present at the trial, and that the trial should be before a properly constituted civil tribunal; and he urged that immediate orders to this effect be sent to the local authorities. The result was that Mr. Bowskill was liberated on parole, pending inquiry.

Except for the visit of a squadron of Austrian battleships in May, and for such changes as the war may have brought, there is little to record concerning _Malta_. It was used as a place of internment for deportees from Egypt.