294 



FRANCE. 



Cameroons as far as the fifteenth degree of east 

 longitude. Farther east in this region the Ger- 

 mans have not attempted to push their pro- 

 tectorate ; but farther north, in the Shari basin, 

 they are anxious to extend their commercial and 

 territorial influence through Adamawa, and the 

 English on the Benue are endeavoring to extend 

 their empire over the Chad countries, with which 

 the French have attempted to enter into rela- 

 tions both from Senegambia and the Congo. 

 Farther eastward, the Welle country is disputed 

 by France and the Congo State. The extent of 

 the recognized French territory is about 250,000 

 square miles. The population is estimated at 

 6,900,000. Ivory, ebony, rubber, and palm oil 

 are the principal exports. The commerce of 

 1888 was 6,600,000 francs, the imports from 

 France amounting to 1,817,680 francs, and the 

 exports to France to 173,271 francs. The colo- 

 nial budget for 1891 was 1,701,079 francs. The 

 expenditure of the French Government in 1892 

 was set down in the budget as 1,454,397 francs. 



While Dybowsky and Maistre were endeavor- 

 ing to repair the injury sustained by French 

 prestige in the direction of the Shari, M. de 

 Brazza undertook a mission in the Welle region. 

 A French post was established at Wesso, where 

 the Sicoko joins the Sangha river, in 1891. M. de 

 Brazza advanced from there to the upper Sangha, 

 transporting a steamer around the rapids. An- 

 other post was established on the Kotto, a trib- 

 utary of the Mbomu. The French have disputed 

 the right of the Congo State to establish stations 

 on the Ubangi and its affluents, the Welle and 

 the Mbomu, claiming that the territory of the 

 Free State was limited by treaty to the fourth 

 parallel of north latitude. This interpretation 

 of the treaty has been disputed by the Belgians, 

 and districts alleged to lie within the French 

 sphere by international agreement they claim 

 for the Congo State by right of first occupancy 

 and treaties made with native chiefs by Van 

 Gele and Roger in 1890. When the protests of 

 the Free State against the expeditions of de 

 Brazza and others were disregarded, a Belgian 

 expedition was sent to the same region under 

 Capt. Liotard in February, 1892. When the 

 French Cabinet declined to leave the question 

 to arbitration, and demanded simply the evacu- 

 ation of the disputed territory, the difficulty be- 

 came acute. While negotiations were going on 

 in Paris, and an arrangement was being consid- 

 ered that would have given to France compensa- 

 tion on the lower Congo in return for the renun- 

 ciation of French claims in the north, incidents 

 occurred on the frontier toward the end of June 

 that impelled the French minister, M. Ribot, to 

 increase his demands. A new settlement seemed 

 to be in view when negotiations were resumed in 

 the latter part of July, when M. de Poumeyrac, 

 one of M. de Brazza's lieutenants, was shot on 

 the Kotto by a native with a breech-loading nfle, 

 such as were supplied to the Belgian military 

 guards on the Congo. The French Government 

 demanded explanations, and the Free State offi- 

 cials indignantly denied any complicity in the 

 affair, and disclaimed all lesponsibility for acts 

 done by natives in Yakoma, a country over which 

 they exercised no jurisdiction. The French con- 

 tention that the act of Berlin fixed the northern 

 limit of the Congo State at the fourth parallel of 



latitude is rejected by the Congo Administrator 

 which says that no limit was established by that 

 instrument, but that the French Government, on 

 the contrary, bound itself not to go east of the 

 seventeenth meridian by its treaty with the Free 

 State in 1885, and that the events on the Kotto 

 took place therefore in a region to which France 

 has no claim. 



French Iiido-China. Cochin-China, Ton- 

 quin, Annam, and Cambodia have been united 

 in a customs union and placed under the super- 

 vision of a Superior Council. The trade of Indo- 

 China in 1890 amounted to 60,248,460 francs for 

 imports, and 56,995,119 francs for exports. The 

 imports of French products were 11,286,781 

 francs, and the exports to France 2,022,379 

 francs. In Annam, which has an area of 27,020 

 square miles, not including 19,300 square miles 

 of dependent territories, with a population esti- 

 mated at 5,000,000. The entire internal admin- 

 istration is carried on by native officials. The 

 military force is 23,230, of whom 11,830 are na- 

 tives. A French company was organized in 

 1891 to work coal mines at Turane. The ex- 

 ports are cinnamon bark, cotton, sugar, tea, 

 coffee, tobacco, and seeds. 



Cambodia has an area of 38,600 square miles, 

 and about 1,800,000 inhabitants. The revenue 

 in 1888 was 3,275,000 francs; the expenditure, 

 3,059,236. The exports are salt fish, cotton, 

 beans, indigo, cardamom, sugar, and betel. 



French Cochin-China has an area of 23,082 

 square miles, with a population of 1,991,500, of 

 whom 2,537 are French. The military force con- 

 sists of 1,830 French and 2,800 Annamite soldiers. 

 Rice is exported to China to the amount of 40,- 

 000,000 francs a year. Other products are cocoa- 

 nuts, sugar cane, and tobacco. There are 51 miles 

 of railway, and 1,840 miles of telegraph lines. 



Tonquin is 34,740 square miles in extent, and 

 has a population estimated at 9,000,000. Rice, 

 sugar, cotton, fruits, and tobacco are cultivated. 

 The imports for 1890 were valued at 27,734,212 

 francs, and the exports at 13,324,720 francs. 

 There were 11,475 French troops in the country 

 in 1889, besides 6,500 native troops. In the French 

 budget for 1892 the sum of 10,450,000 francs was 

 set apart for Tonquin, of which 450,000 francs 

 were for a submarine cable. 



M. de Lanessan, the Governor-General of Ton- 

 quin, whose administration has been much criti- 

 cised, affirms that he has succeeded in accom- 

 plishing the pacification of the Delta and in 

 fairly securing its borders against inroads of the 

 robber bands of the mountains, and there he be- 

 lieves that his task ends, for the uncultivated 

 hilly region between Tonquin and China has 

 been the abode of brigands for ages. To guard 

 against them numerous outposts connected by 

 well-guarded roads are necessary. In the pop- 

 ulous low country the people are becoming more 

 peaceful and law-abiding. Their condition is 

 more prosperous than it was, and the revenue is 

 rapidly increasing and is more easily collected 

 than formerly. M. de Lanessan's policy has 

 been to seek the co-operation of the native au- 

 thorities, and to intrust the administration as far 

 as possible to natives. The receipts of the Gov- 

 ernment in 1891 were 1,500,000 francs more than 

 in the previous year, and for 1892 a further large 

 increase was anticipated. The. court of Annam 



