234 HISTORY OF THE PROTECTORATE TERRITORIES 



will be some time yet before the greatness of his exploits is thoroughly 

 realised. 



Lugard's return to England caused the whole question of Uganda to 

 be discussed from an Imperial point of view. The East Africa Company 

 was beginning to find that its funds were wholly inadequate for main- 

 taining a large force of armed men in Eastern Africa, keeping the peace, 

 and administering a territory which from ]Mombasa to the \Miite Nile 

 represented an area of something like o()0,()()0 square miles. They gave 

 notice, therefore, of their intention to withdraw. At the same time the 

 French Government had espoused the cause of the French missionaries 

 in Uganda, who. having taken sides with the Catholic party in the 

 civil war. had suffered incidentally from the defeat of that party. The 

 question which really lay with the British Government was whether or 

 not a direct British Protectorate should be established over Uganda, 

 involving the Imperial Government in the responsibility for the main- 

 tenance of law and order on the ^'ictoria Nyanza 800 miles and more 

 from the only possible base of operations, the coast of the Indian Ocean. 

 It was felt that the proclamation of the Protectorate must lead inevitably 

 before long to the serious expense of constructing a railway from iNlombasa 

 to the north-east coast of the Victoria Nyanza. 



Mr. Gladstone's Administration decided to send Sir Gerald Portal as 

 Commissioner to report on the situation in Uganda and the advisability 

 of declaring a British Protectorate. It may almost be said that the 

 verdict was a foregone conclusion. In 1890 the I^ritish Government 

 had distinctly negotiated for the inclusion of Uganda within the British 

 sphere of influence. They had encouraged the Imperial British East 

 Africa Company to advance their responsibilities in that direction, and 

 Sir Gerald Portal was so far convinced beforehand of the need of this 

 Protectorate that he took with him a staff large enough to enable him 

 to leave some of its members behind to assume the political control 

 over Uganda before the creation of a proper Administration. Sir Gerald 

 Portal did not stay long in Uganda, and as a matter of fact does not 

 seem personally to have been very favourably impressed with the country. 

 His brother, Captain Raymond Portal, a most promising officer, who had 

 re-established law and good government in the Kingdom of Toro, died 

 on his return from that country. 



What must have impressed t^ir Gerald Portal himself most unfavour- 

 ably was the appalling transport difficulty, the well-nigh heart-breaking 

 trouble of conveying constant supplies of goods over those 800 miles that 

 separate Uganda from Mombasa. He made an excursion on his homeward 

 journey to report on what use the Tana River might be as a means of 

 })enetrating some distance inland with water transport. He found it was 



