r 9), Lord
Salisbury made the firm but really prudent declaration that the
Government would brook no interference with the treaty rights of a
British company. The pronouncement was timely; for French action at
Bussa, taken in conjunction with the Marchand expedition from the Niger
basin to the Upper Nile at Fashoda (see Chapter XVII.), seemed to
betoken a deliberate defiance of the United Kingdom. Ultimately,
however, the tricolour flag was withdrawn from situations that were
legally untenable. These questions were settled by the Anglo-French
agreement of 1898, which, we may add, cleared the ground for the still
more important compact of 1904.

* * * * *

The limits of this chapter having already been passed, it is impossible
to advert to the parts played by Italy and Portugal in the partition of
Africa. At best they have been subsidiary; the colonial efforts of Italy
in the Red Sea and in Somaliland have as yet produced little else than
disaster and disappointment. But for the part played by Serpa Pinto in
the Zambesi basin, the role of Portugal has been one of quiescence. Some
authorities, as will appear in the following chapter, would describe it
by a less euphonious term; it is now known that slave-hunting goes on in
the upper part of the Zambesi basin owned by them. The French settlement
at Obock, opposite Perim, and the partition of Somaliland between
England and Italy, can also only be named.

The general results of the partition of Africa may best be realised by
studying the map at the close of this volume, and by the following
statistics as presented by Mr. Scott Keltie in the _Encyclopoedia
Britannica_:--

Square Miles.
French territories in Africa (inclusive of
the Sahara) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,804,974
British (inclusive of the Transvaal and
Orange River Colonies, but exclusive
of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan--610,000
square miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,713,910
German. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933,380
Congo Free State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900,000
Portuguese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 790,124
Italian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188,500

These results correspond in the main to the foresight and energy
displayed by the several States, and to the initial advantages whi