The Congo Conference is advancing fairly well. All the Powers
seem favourable to Free-trade, and there is no attempt to deny English interest in the matter, while the English repre- sentatives apparently approve the delimitation of the coast-line of the "Congo Basin" finally adopted. It should be noted, however, that the International African Association, founded by the King of the Belgians, has been recognised by Germany and France as a Sovereign State with a flag, and that its pre- tensions to a Protectorate are on the eastward side quite indefinite. They may stretch far, for there is nothing beyond them ; and the Conference has settled that the words "Congo Basin" extend to "the eastern coast, subject to existing sovereign rights, as (e.g.) those of Portugal and the Sultan of Zanzibar, and that the boundary in the centre of the continent shall be the watershed of the Congo and its affluents." If, therefore, Germany allies itself—as the Sreuz Zeitung says it is doing—with Zanzibar, and can dominate the International Association, it may secure an African Empire stretching from sea to sea. We see no objection if it does, as it agrees to grant Free-trade ; but that is a big thing, and not unlike Prince Bismarck.
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