SLAVERY IN EAST AFRICA.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] SIR,—In connexion with the moral obligation of England to uphold the human rights of the native population in what was German East Africa, I venture to call your attention to a remarkable article by the well-known writer G. S. Gargano in It Marzocco (Florence, August 4th). Signor Gargano relates once more (but it can never be related too often) the awful story of the suppression of the Hereros from the first proclamation of von Trotha (" Every Herero within the German frontier, with or without arms, will be shot"). down to the literal carrying out of the order. He goes on to recall the unspeakable crimes committed by Dr. Peters and other German officials and officers; for instance, the shooting of all the women and children captured on a certain march—an incident recorded by a young Dutchman who accom- panied the expedition. In conclusion, he writes:—
" Now, I ask myself : would it not be an excellent thing if the men of the Entente were to declare that since this war is being fought also for the ends of a higher civilization, the Germans are, by their past, deprived of every right to share with civilized peoples in the task of spreading the seeds of civilization in regions which are still barbarous? Among the objects of our war there should be explicitly included also this one : the interdiction of the German people to colonize."
If England bows to a compromise on this question, she will throw away those "imponderables which," as Bismarck said, "weigh so much heavier than material weights." It has been often said that the British Empire exists by prestige : above all, it exists by moral prestige. I remember an intelligent Syrian saying to me at Baalbek (we had been discussing who was to have Palestine and Syria when Turkish rule came to an end, by all regarded as p near event): "Every thinking man wishes it to be England : whoever can say I am a British subject' has equal human rights with the King." With regard to the particular question of slavery, I will only say that among the civilized nations of Europe the idea that a man could be a slave under the British flag -would ;min incomprehensible. England is not very well understood on the Continent; there have been times when she has not been very much liked. But one great fact in her history has commanded the worship of the world : the liberation of the slaves. Ask any Italian what has England clone for freedom, and he will answer
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