[Footnote 432:  Banning, op. cit. pp. 45-50; Parl.  Papers, Africa, No. 3 (1887), pp. 46, 59.]

On the whole, the skill which dispossessed a sovereign of most of his rights, under a plea of diplomatic rearrangements and the advancement of civilisation, must be pronounced unrivalled; and Britain cut a sorry figure as the weak and unwilling accessory to this act.  The only satisfactory feature in the whole proceeding was Britain’s success in leasing from the Sultan of Zanzibar administrative rights over the coast region around Mombasa.  The gain of that part secured unimpeded access from the coast to the northern half of Lake Victoria Nyanza.  The German Company secured similar rights over the coastline of their district, and in 1890 bought it outright.  By an agreement of December 1896, the River Rovuma was recognised by Germany and Portugal as the boundary of their East African possessions.

The lofty hopes once entertained by the Germans as to the productiveness of their part of East Africa have been but partially realised[433].  Harsh treatment of the natives brought about a formidable revolt in 1888-89.  The need of British co-operation in the crushing of this revolt served to bring Germany to a more friendly attitude towards this country.  Probably the resignation, or rather the dismissal, of Bismarck by the present Emperor, in March 1890, also tended to lessen the friction between England and Germany.  The Prince while in retirement expressed strong disapproval of the East African policy of his successor, Count Caprivi.

[Footnote 433:  See the Report on German East Africa for 1900, in our Diplomatic and Consular Reports.]

Its more conciliatory spirit found expression in the Anglo-German agreement of July 1, 1890, which delimited the districts claimed by the two nations around the Victoria Nyanza in a sense favourable to Great Britain and disappointing to that indefatigable treaty-maker, Dr. Peters.  It acknowledged British claims to the northern half of the shores and waters of that great lake and to the valley of the Upper Nile, as also to the coast of the Indian Ocean about Vitu and thence northwards to Kismayu.

On the other hand, Germany acquired the land north of Lake Nyassa, where British interests had been paramount.  The same agreement applied both to the British and German lands in question the principle of free or unrestricted transit of goods, as also between the great lakes.  Germany further recognised a British Protectorate over the islands held by the Sultan of Zanzibar, reserving certain rights for German commerce in the case of the Island of Mafia.  Finally, Great Britain ceded to Germany the Island of Heligoland in the North Sea.  On both sides of the North Sea the compact aroused a storm of hostile comment, which perhaps served to emphasise its fairness[434].  Bismarck’s opinion deserves quotation:—­