FOUNDING THE PROTECTORATE 
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tion of the policy to be pursued. 1 In the autumn of 1888 I was offered and 
accepted the post of Consul to Portuguese East Africa. At the beginning 
of 1889 it was decided by the Foreign Office that I should travel in the interior, 
and report on the troubles which had arisen with the Arabs, and above all with 
the Portuguese; and that in those districts admittedly beyond Portuguese 
jurisdiction I should take measures to secure the country from abrupt seizure 
by other European Powers, by concluding treaties of friendship with the native 
chiefs, in which they bound themselves not to transfer their governing rights 
to any European Power without the consent of Her Majesty’s Government. 
Before starting for my post, however, it was thought by Lord Salisbury that 
I might, by personal intercourse with the Portuguese Authorities at Lisbon, 
suggest some modus vivendi with regard to the settlement of our conflicting 
claims. I, accordingly, spent some six weeks in Portugal, and in conjunction 
with Her Majesty’s Envoy, Mr., now Sir George, Petre, discussed the subject 
of Nyasaland at the Portuguese Foreign Office. A draft arrangement was 
drawn up, which after some modifications was shown to the Portuguese Minister 
for Foreign Affairs, and approved by him. It was then submitted to the 
English Foreign Office, but as it did not provide for the exclusion of the Shire 
Highlands from the Portuguese Sphere it was not deemed acceptable by Her 
Majesty's Government, as the chief object of any such arrangement at that 
time was to secure the work of the English missionaries and planters from 
interference. This arrangement might, however, have been modified in that 
respect without difficulty on the part of the Portuguese, but the fact was that 
the Government felt reluctant to push the matter to an immediate conclusion 
in the face of two obstacles, one being the want of direct water communication 
with the interior beyond the Portuguese Sphere, and the other, the difficulty 
which would be experienced by the Imperial Government at that time, in 
finding funds for incurring the great responsibility of administering the districts 
bordering on Lake Nyasa, a territory that did not then promise much or, indeed, 
any local revenue of its own. Two things now occurred to dispel Government 
anxieties on these accounts : Mr. Rankin announced his discovery of the Chinde 
mouth, and Mr. Cecil Rhodes arrived in England to obtain a Charter for his 
Company. I made the acquaintance of Mr. Rhodes, and found him much 
disposed to interest himself in the extension of British influence across the 
Zambezi. As the result of several conferences Mr. Rhodes was able to assure 
the Foreign Office that his proposed Chartered Company would find at least 
.£10,000 a year, for several years, for the development and administration 
of Nyasaland. Under these new circumstances, therefore, the Government 
felt justified in attempting to secure for Great Britain a reasonable amount 
of political influence over those countries of Central Africa, not claimed by 
Germany, Portugal, or the Congo Free State. The form of Treaty that was 
drawn up was not, however, altered, as it was not intended to proclaim any 
Protectorate, if more indirect means of political supremacy could be attained. 
It should, perhaps, be stated that the attention of Her Majesty’s Government 
had been drawn in the spring of 1889 to the imposing expedition which was to 
be commanded by Major Serpa Pinto in Portuguese Zambezia. 
Explanations had been asked for in Lisbon as to its eventual destination, 
1 What this conception was may be found in an article in the Times of August 22nd, 1 883 , which it 
may be interesting for some persons to re-read now as it was written at a time when such ideas as a British 
dominion, including an establishment on the shores of Tanganyika and through communication between 
the Cape and Egypt had never before been specifically enunciated. 
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