General Caprivi, the German Chancellor, made on Thursday
an important speech on African affairs. He maintained that the retirement of Germany from Zanzibar and Witu in favour of the English was wise, as neither position was so valuable as the friendship of England. Moreover, Germany had acquired in return an independent sovereignty over her pos- sessions on the mainland. They would make a fine-tropical colony, and although Baron von Seden, who would rule there, was not optimistic about them, he thought that with time they might be developed through the system of plantations. The Government could not be blind to the bet that slavery would be a great help in such development, but "it would do its best to spare the interests of the natives." That last sentence is ominous of trouble both for the Blacks and Whites. It is hopeless for us to press the Portuguese and the Arabs to abolish slavery, while Germany maintains it ; and there will be endless quarrels, for we shall not surrender escaped slaves. The speech will be a terrible disappointment to those who thought that Englishmen and Germans might have acted together in introducing freedom. of labour into Africa ; and, indeed, the only consolation is, that slavery never looked so firmly rooted as on the day when the slave-owners hung John Brown.
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