The Standard and the St. James's Gazette intimate that the
negotiations between Germany and Great Britain about Africa may end in a compromise of which these are the main lines. Germany would stretch her East African dominion from the coast to the frontier of the Congo State, thus acquiring a magnificent territory, including more than half the Victoria Nyanza and the whole of Lake Tanganyika, with a strong chance of ultimately securing the Congo State itself. In return, she would cede Witu, which is a nuisance to the British East Africa Company, and recognise England as pro- tectress or sovereign over the northern shore of the Victoria Nyanza, the whole of the Albert Nyanza from which the Nile debouches, and the kingdom of Uganda, a most valuable possession. Moreover, she would agree to the extension of British dominion from the South from Mashonaland, across the Zambesi to Stevenson's Road between the Nyassa and Tanganyika Lakes, thus conceding the whole of what we may call the " Scotch demand." The radical difficulty of the interruption by German territory of the two halves of British dominion would be met by a guaranteed right of transit without duties. We should accept that offer, which is much more liberal than is apparent at first sight, for reasons stated at length elsewhere. It makes South Africa an Empire in extent, and allows us to go North at discretion from the Albert Nyanza.
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