Tae vagaries of the Obstructionista in Parliament have had to give way in" measure to the important news of the agreement between England and Germany about the East African possessions, and the settlementarrivedat by Lord Salisbury meets withgeneralapproval, not only fromthe Conservative papers, but even from most of the Liberal papers, the Daily News concluding an article on this subject with the sensible remark that Lord Salisbury has done his best to make the line of deniarcation cuincide with the region covered by Mr. Stanley's engagements with native chiefs, and that is surely as far as we can be fairly expected to go." The Times explains the situation in a leader as follows Recapitulating briefly the heads of the arrangement, as Lord Salisbury puts them, we find that, while England admits the claim of Germany to a certain portion of the "Hi treland " of her coast possessions, the original demand of Germany has been' very large reduced. That demand was for the whole region lying between lat, 1 deg. S. on the north and lat, 11 deg. 8. on the south, as far as the frontier of the Congo State. This hus deen reduced, as has already been explained, by the exclusion of the whole of Nyasaland from the Gern.an sphere of influence, and by the placing of that region, with its commercial and missionary settlements, of the Stevenson Road, and of the settlements at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, indisputably under the control of England On the other hand, we cede to Germany the triangular piece between the northern end of Tanganyika, the south-western shore of Victoria Nyanza,' and a line drawn westward from Kavirondo, permitting Germany here to touch the Con, State. " That is our one great concession; and, great as it is from some points of view, it was, we have more than once explained, claimed from the outset by Germany as the condition without which the negotiations could not go on. Our other concessions are in the South. west, fifteen hundred miles away, in Ngamiland, where we permit Germany to extend her territory from the 20th to the 2ist degree of east longitude, and, to the north, eastward: along the TSth degree of south lati¢ude until strikes the Zanbesi.. This practically saves for us Moremi's country; and considering that we have yet done little but " prospect' in this region, and that there is no sphere of British influence to the immediate north of it, the point may be regarded as of something less than the first importance. There is also w slight rectification of frontier in Togoland, on the Gold Coast. 'The remaining three heads of the agreement are of great importance, and it is to be expected that much will be' said with regard to them in both countries, of praise and blame, of acquiescence and angry rotest, before the final ratification comes, the first place, we take over Wituland and Somaliland—that is, Germany withdraws from the position to the north of the territory of the British East Africa Company, where she would have been a dangerous and uncomfortable com-titer for thetradeof the UpperNile, Sevoudly, Germany formally recognises our proteetorate of Zanzibar, to which the Sultan has already consented. Thirdly, we cede Heligoland, A recent debate in the House of Commons revealed the fact that a number of members of the Opposition—Sir George Campbell, Mr. Labouchere, Mr. 'T. P. O'Connor, und ethers were anxious to give up Heligoland to Germany; not, indeed, for nothing, as Colonel Nolan and' Mr. O'Connor remarked, but for good consideration. Lord Salisbury hus now got his consideration, and it is an adequate one. The British Government has prudently held its unserviceable possession till those who wanted it had something useful to offer in exchange; and now the offer has come.
The St. James's does not appear quite satisfied with the turn that African negus tiations have taken, but it is left to the Daily Chronicle and Star to give jaundiced, hysterical views of the settlement. That
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.