GERMANY. 



363 



the head chief in Bethania, and began mining 

 copper. Bismarck determined to make a test 

 case out of Angra Pequefia, with regard to the 

 right often asserted by English statesmen to 

 prevent other nations from establishing sov- 

 ereign rights over territory in the neighbor- 

 hood of English colonies. Besides the Lude- 

 ritz mining settlement in Angra Pequetta, the 

 establishments of the Rhenish missionary in 

 Hereroland created a German interest in south- 

 west Africa. In 1880 the German Govern- 

 ment propounded the question whether Great 

 Britain claimed any territory on the coast 

 north of the Orange river, and was in the po- 

 sition to afford protection to German settlers, 

 to which a negative answer was returned. In 

 November, 1882, after being informed by Lu- 

 deritz of his intention to establish a factory at 

 Angra Pequefia, the German Government asked 

 if England was prepared to protect the enter- 

 prise. Lord Granville, in February, 1883, de- 

 clared that it was impossible. Count Mtnster 

 then asked if England claimed territorial rights 

 over Angra Pequefla. The question was re- 

 ferred to the Colonial Office, and not an- 

 swered until Nov. 21, 1883. In his reply Lord 

 Granville said that, although British sovereign- 

 ty had not been proclaimed over the entire 

 coast, but only over certain places, such as 

 Walfish Bay and the islands at Angra Pequefia, 

 the British Government would regard the as- 

 sertion of any rights of sovereignty or juris- 

 diction by a foreign power between the bound- 

 ary of the Portuguese possessions at the 18th 

 parallel of south latitude and the boundary of 

 Cape Colony as an invasion of its legitimate 

 rights. The German Government asked what 

 was the nature of the rights claimed, what they 

 were based upon, and what means existed for 

 giving protection to German settlers. To this 

 note of Dec. 31, 1883, no reply was made for 

 several months. It was referred to Lord Der- 

 by, and by him to the Cape Government. On 

 April 24, 1884, Prince Bismarck instructed the 

 German consul at Cape Town to announce of- 

 ficially that the Luderitz settlement was taken 

 under the protection of the German Empire. 

 Count Miinster was directed to inform the 

 English Government on the same day. When 

 pressed for an answer to this communication, 

 and to the note of Dec. 31, 1884, Lord Gran- 

 ville explained that the matter was delayed by 

 a Cabinet crisis at the Cape. On the 3d of 

 June Bismarck, in a letter to Count Munster, 

 said that he was not negotiating with the Cape 

 Colony, but with the English Government, 

 that his inquiry was not whether it might be 

 convenient for Great Britain or Cape Colony 

 to acquire other territory on the coast, besides 

 "Walfish Bay ; that he was aware that England 

 had no territorial rights except at Walfish Bay, 

 and that she exercised no effective jurisdiction 

 even there; that his object was to avoid any 

 opposition of the English Government to the 

 German Government's acceding to the desires 

 of the Bremen settlers by obtaining an official 



declaration that the region was not claimed by 

 Great Britain, which the Foreign Secretary 

 could have convinced himself of by examining 

 the official register of English colonial posses- 

 sions. He declared that, according to his sen- 

 timent, Germany was not treated on a footing 

 of equality, particularly when English states- 

 men announce a Monroe doctrine in Africa, 

 and deny to other nations, and especially to 

 Germany, the right to acquire unclaimed ter- 

 ritory because it lies near Cape Colony. In a 

 conversation with Lord Ampthill, Prince Bis- 

 marck said that the German Government could 

 not deny protection to Germans who acquire 

 lands and found enterprises in territories, 

 whether in Africa or elsewhere, which are res 

 nullius, and that if England were willing to 

 take such establishments under her protection 

 German traders who appealed to the protection 

 of their Government could not be asked to 

 transform themselves into British subjects. 

 The relations of the German Government to 

 such enterprises would be like those of the 

 English Government to the East India Com- 

 pany in its early days ; the settlements would 

 be endowed with rights equivalent to those 

 conferred under a royal charter, such as was 

 granted to the North Borneo Company. 



In Cape Colony counter-claims were set up 

 against those of Herr Luderitz to the coast and 

 islands of Angra Pequefia. When the guano 

 deposits in the small islands were first discov- 

 ered, Sir Philip Wodehouse, the Governor of 

 Cape Colony, issued a proclamation, in 1861, 

 annexing them to Great Britain. They were 

 leased to a firm of Cape merchants, who in 

 1863 obtained a deed of the coast district for 

 seventy miles, including the harbor of Angra 

 Pequefia, from one of the Hottentot chiefs. 

 This chief was shortly afterward killed, and 

 the lands he had sold were taken possession 

 of by his enemies. When Herr Luderitz came 

 in the early part of 1883 to establish his colony, 

 the British merchants disputed his title and an 

 English naval officer was sent to adjust the 

 difficulty. The vigorous assertion of a superior 

 claim by the Bremen merchant and his appeal 

 to the German Government impelled Prince 

 Bismarck to raise the question of sovereignty 

 with the British authorities and to proclaim a 

 protectorate over Angra Pequefia. In June, 

 1884, Lord Granville finally informed Count 

 Herbert Bismarck that the English Govern- 

 ment had no objections to the German pro- 

 tectorate and would only interest itself in the 

 rights of English subjects trading in those re- 

 gions. On the 19th of July the protectorate 

 was officially recognized by the English Gov- 

 ernment in a note of Lord Ampthill'e which 

 asserted the right of Great Britain to the isl- 

 ands at Angra Pequefia as well as to Walfish 

 Bay, and made the recognition conditional 

 upon the acquired rights of English subjects 

 being respected, and upon security being af- 

 forded that no penal colony should be planted 

 on the coast in question. The appointment of 



