Empire in Uganda by undertaking the organisation of this great and fertile colony.  In an interesting paper, read before the Royal Geographical Society in November 1903, he thus characterised his administrative methods:  “To rule through the native chiefs, and, while checking the extortionate levies of the past, fairly to assess and enforce the ancient tribute.  By this means a fair revenue will be assured to the emirs, in lieu of their former source of wealth, which consisted in slaves and slave-raiding, and in extortionate taxes on trade. . . .  Organised slave-raiding has become a thing of the past in the country where it lately existed in its worst form.”  He further stated that the new colony has made satisfactory progress; but light railways were much needed to connect Lake Chad with the Upper Nile and with the Gulf of Guinea.  The area of Nigeria (apart from the Niger Coast Protectorate) is about 500,000 square miles[452].

[Footnote 452:  The Geographical Journal, January 1, 1904, pp. 5, 18, 27.]

The result, then, of the activity of French and Germans in West Africa has, on the whole, not been adverse to British interests.  The efforts leading to these noteworthy results above would scarcely have been made but for some external stimulus.  As happened in the days of Dupleix and Montcalm, and again at the time of the little-known efforts of Napoleon I. to appropriate the middle of Australia, the spur of foreign competition furthered not only the cause of exploration but also the expansion of the British Empire.

* * * * *

The expansion of French influence in Africa has been far greater than that of Germany; and, while arousing less attention on political grounds, it has probably achieved more solid results—­a fact all the more remarkable when we bear in mind the exhaustion of France in 1871, and the very slow growth of her population at home.  From 1872 to 1901 the number of her inhabitants rose from 36,103,000 to 38,962,000; while in the same time the figures for the German Empire showed an increase from 41,230,000 to 56,862,000.  To some extent, then, the colonial growth of France is artificial; at least, it is not based on the imperious need which drives forth the surplus population of Great Britain and Germany.  Nevertheless, so far as governmental energy and organising skill can make colonies successful, the French possessions in West Africa, Indo-China, Madagascar, and the Pacific, have certainly justified their existence[453].  No longer do we hear the old joke that a French colonial settlement consists of a dozen officials, a restaurateur, and a hair-dresser.

[Footnote 453:  See La Colonisation chez les Peuples modernes, by Paul Leroy-Beaulieu; Discours et Opinions, by Jules Ferry; La France coloniale (6th edit. 1893), by Alfred Rambaud; La Colonisation de l’Indo-Chine (1902), by Chailley-Bert; L’Indo-Chine francaise (1905), by Paul Doumer (describing its progress under his administration); Notre Epopee coloniale (1901), by P. Legendre; La Mise en Valeur de notre Domaine coloniale (1903), by C. Guy; Un Siecle d’Expansion coloniale (1900), by M. Dubois and A. Terrier; Le Partage de l’Afrique (1898), by V. Deville.]