Is Great Britain owner of a colony called the "Niger
Basin ?" The community is certainly not aware of it ; but it appears that the sole right to regulate and tax the traffic on the Niger for 600 miles from its mouth, and to protect the tribes upon its banks, has been claimed by Sir E. Malet before the Berlin Con- ference, and the claim will, in all probability, be allowed. He adduced strong evidence as to the priority of British discovery, and as to our sole responsibility for the natives ; and doubtless he is right, but nevertheless his statement will be received in many quarters with something of a shock. We are already over- burdened with duties, some of which we hardly fulfil, and are almost unconsciously acquiring new dominions almost every year. Even under this Government we have occupied Egypt, annexed North Borneo, decreed a Protectorate of New Guinea, and formalised a claim to the protectorate of the Niger basin. If this goes on, we shall need thirty new ironclads instead of three, and ten thousand more sailors and marines besides.
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