25 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
Congo was recognized only to Noki. This last provision 
shows Granville’s friendliness for the Congo Association, 
but many feared that the cutting-off of the new state from 
the sea would kill Leopold’s beneficent enterprise. 
Almost instantly serious opposition arose to this treaty, 
not only in the Cortes and in Parliament, but also on the 
Continent. France knew the treaty was directed against 
her; and in Germany a score of chambers of commerce 
appealed to Bismarck for aid. The Woermann Line had a 
monthly service to the Congo and from January, 1883, to 
March, 1884, inclusive, had sold there 1,029,904 pounds of 
powder, 2452 tons of liquor, and 555 tons of weapons and 
rice; and the traffic in intoxicants alone had increased from 
76 tons in January, 1883, to 502 tons in March, 1884. 
There were also many sailing-vessels that visited these 
regions. Bismarck imagined that this trade was threatened. 
The French and German Governments approached each 
other at almost the same time — April 17 to 19 — to as- 
certain one another’s views; and Count Hatzfeldt, German 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote likewise to Holland, 
Spain, Italy, and the United States, while vigorously pro- 
testing against the treaty in Lisbon and London. Granville 
had long recognized the necessity of Continental recognition 
if the treaty were to accomplish its purpose; and, when Bis- 
marck said that it would not be accepted even if Portugal 
made further concessions as to the tariff and substituted an 
international for the dual commission (which was to regulate 
the navigation of the Congo), Granville announced that his 
Government had abandoned the treaty. However, negoti- 
ations were to be continued. Portugal had already made 
the suggestion of an international conference, without 
apparent response. But Bismarck took up the idea — if, 
indeed, he had not already thought of it; and, in order 
to get ahead of Great Britain, the natural power to call such