CAMEROONS. 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. 123 



English flag at Mapanja, but refused to deliver 

 up Rogozinski, who had been appointed a Civil 

 Commissioner. With the agreement of the Eng- 

 lish official the English flag gave place to the 

 German at Bwassa and various other places 

 where it had been raised by the Polish Teuto- 

 phobe after the Germans had acquired territo- 

 rial rights. A large portion of the Cameroons 

 Mountain, a chain of localities encircling the 

 English protectorate of Victoria, with the con- 

 tiguous possessions of Rogozinski, from Boko- 

 nange to the ocean, was acquired for Germany. 



The Mahin District. The Germans were tempt- 

 ed, by the chicanery of Englishmen on the 

 coast and the "race for the Cameroons Mount- 

 ains," to obtain by similar tactics a footing 

 within the bounds of the long stretch of coast 

 that had been declared English territory by 

 proclamation. Between the Benin mouth of 

 the Niger and Lagos were the petty kings of 

 Mahin and Itebn, who objected to the customs 

 duties and other burdens of English adminis- 

 tration, but were persuaded by a German agent 

 to accept a German protectorate. The Move 

 steamed up to the coast on the 22d of January, 

 and Dr. Nachtigal concluded treaties with the 

 King of Mahin and his brother and vassal, the 

 Chief of Itebu. 



Compromise with England. A controversy over 

 colonial subjects, chiefly the Cameroons ques- 

 tion, was kept up for several months between 

 the two Cabinets in the manner inaugurated 

 in the Angra Paquefla dispute. The diplomatic 

 difficulties were aggravated by recriminations 

 uttered by the ministers in explanations to the 

 respective Parliaments and conveyed in Blue 

 and White Book reports. In a speech of Prince 

 Bismarck in the Reichstag on March 2 he com- 

 plained that confidential conversations were 

 made public, and dispatches published before 

 they were received. He objected to the Eng- 

 lish method of diplomatic intercourse by writ- 

 ing, saying that he had received from the 

 English Government since the summer of 1884 

 as many as one hundred and twenty-eight notes, 

 covering seven hundred or eight hundred pages, 

 which was more than he had received during 

 the twenty-three years of his ministry from all 

 the other governments together. Lord Gran- 

 ville said that, in respect to Egypt, Prince 

 Bismarck had advised England " to take it." 

 The Chancellor declared that, when repeatedly 

 asked to advise or hint a course in Egypt that 

 would not be opposed by Germany, he had 

 refrained on account of the responsibility he 

 felt toward other cabinets, but had said to 

 Lord Ampthill that if he were an English min- 

 ister he would secure the English position in 

 Egypt by agreement with the Sultan and act- 

 ing as his "leaseholder," thus avoiding the set- 

 ting aside of treaties and all cause of offense 

 to other powers. He closed his explanation 

 by saying that he would endeavor " to restore 

 our relations to that footing of calm and friend- 

 ly intercourse which has always subsisted be- 

 tween us and England, and which is natural to 



both countries, neither having vital interests 

 that conflict with those of the other." 



In his note of February 21 Earl Granville, 

 whose proposal of a local commission to mark 

 out boundaries had been agreed to by Prince 

 Bismarck, said that it was only intended to 

 apply to the boundaries between Bimbia and 

 Ambas Bay Settlement, and could not be ex- 

 tended to the west, where there can be no 

 question as to the frontiers. As at the time 

 when the German relations with England were 

 strained on account of Angra Paquefla, Count 

 Herbert Bismarck was dispatched to London 

 to convey his father's views to the English 

 ministers and seek a settlement of the disputed 

 points. As before, Prince Bismarck gained 

 what he desired. The special envoy took back 

 to Berlin a settlement that abandoned to Ger- 

 many the coast of Ambas Bay and the entire 

 Cameroons Mountain district, including the do- 

 main acquired by Rogozinski at Bota and pro- 

 visionally taken under English protection, but 

 not including the English colony of Victoria. 

 In return, Germany agreed to relinquish the 

 protectorate over the Mahin district and not 

 to take advantage of any failure of the English 

 authorities to secure treaties with the natives, 

 but to leave to England the entire coast from 

 the new German boundary northward to La- 

 gos. Germany was to be free to assert sover- 

 eign rights without interference over the coast 

 region, extending from the French boundary 

 of Gaboon to the Rio del Rey, with the excep- 

 tion of Victoria, while Great Britain was to 

 establish without dispute her dominion over 

 the coast-line reaching from Rio del Rey to 

 Cape Three Points, beyond Cape Coast Castle. 



CANADA, DOMINION OF. Cabinet Changes. 

 At the beginning of 1885 the Cabinet was 

 composed as follows : President of the Privy 

 Council, Superintendent - General of Indian 

 Affairs, and Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Sir 

 John Macdonald, G. 0. B.; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Hon. Sir Leonard Tilley, K. C. M. G. ; 

 Minister of Justice, Hon. Sir Alexander Camp- 

 bell, K. 0. M. G. ; Minister of Public Works, Hon. 

 Sir Hector Langevin, K. C. M. G. ; Minister of 

 Railways and Canals, vacant; Minister of Ag- 

 riculture, Hon. John Henry Pope ; Minister of 

 Customs, Hon. Mackenzie Bowell; Minister of 

 the Interior, Hon. Sir D. L. Macpherson, K. C. 

 M. G. ; Minister of Militia, Hon. A. P. Caron 

 (now Sir Adolph Caron, K. C. M. G.) ; Minister 

 of Marine and Fisheries, Hon. A. W. McLelan ; 

 Postmaster-General, Hon. John Carling; Mia- 

 ister of Inland Revenue, Hon. John Costigan; 

 without portfolio, Hon. Frank Smith ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Hon. J. A. Chapleau. In Sep- 

 tember several changes were made in the 

 Cabinet. The portfolio of Minister of Justice 

 was transferred from Sir Alexander Campbell 

 to Judge Thompson, who resigned his seat on 

 the bench to accept the appointment. A con- 

 stituency was opened for Judge Thompson by 

 appointing Mr. Mclsaac, member for Antigo- 

 nish, N. S., an opponent of the Government, 



