FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION 133 
were to be separated by a line running north from the inter- 
section of the meridian of the Ajarra Creek with the coast. 
Joint delimitation commissions were to be appointed to 
survey and mark out these lines accurately; and some gen- 
eral agreements were reached concerning freedom of trade 
on the rivers and in the interior, and the amount of customs 
duties to be levied. But the western limits of the Lagos- 
Nigeria protectorate were left indefinite north of lat. 9° N.; 
and various other vital matters were not seriously consid- 
ered. 
On March 30, 1892,! Lord Salisbury wrote to the Marquis 
of Dufferin, the British Ambassador at Paris, calling at- 
tention to the history of the relations of France and England 
in West Africa and the unsatisfactory status of affairs 
there, and urging him to secure, if possible, the cooperation 
of the French in completing the boundaries and arriving 
at a complete understanding on the whole subject. The 
question was constantly in the minds of both foreign offices; 
and the pressure to have it adjusted increased steadily, until 
an agreement ? was signed on January 15, 1896, to appoint 
a commission of four, which should determine by an exam- 
ination of the titles and claims the most equitable delimita- 
tion of the French and British possessions on the Lower 
Niger. 
The first session of the delegates lasted from F ebruary 8 
to May 22, 1896, but was discontinued because no definite 
agreement concerning the general line of partition seemed 
possible. The consistent conciliatory policy of M. Gabriel 
Hanotaux and Lord Salisbury, however, triumphed and the 
negotiations were resumed on October 24, 1897.2 René 
Lecomte, First Secretary of the Foreign Office, and M. Louis 
1 Brit. and For. St. Papers, vol. 84, pp. 844-50. And Brit. Parl. Papers, 
1892, Africa No. 7, cd. 6701, No. 1, pp. 1-4 
* Arch. Dip., 1899, part 1, pp. 176-81. 8 Ibid, p. 181,