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,