EUROPE AND AFRICA 
the demands of such far-reaching enterprises, they hesitated 
to push their domains beyond the sea. “I approached the 
matter with some reluctance,” said Bismarck. “I asked 
myself, How could I justify it if I said to these enterprising 
men [Bremen merchants with interests in South Africa], 
that is all very well, but the German Empire is not strong 
enough? It would attract the ill-will of other states.” 
“We wished to hold ourselves free,” wrote Lord Granville 
on May 8, 1882, to Lyons (British Minister to France), con- 
cerning the proposed occupation of Egypt, “if the necessity 
arose, to consider all possible forms of intervention, and to 
choose that which was accompanied by the fewest incon- 
veniences and risks.” 
Motives sufficiently powerful to overcome this timidity 
were soon forthcoming. In the name of humanity it was 
urged that it was the duty of the Christian powers to pen- 
etrate the wilds of Africa, in order to suppress the slave 
trade and to bring the blessings of good government and 
of civilization to the natives. In practically every treaty 
from 1815 to 1900 affecting Africa, slavery and the slave 
trade are mentioned. And King Leopold, speaking of the 
work of the Congo Association, said: ‘Our only program is 
that of the moral and material regeneration of the country.” 
Again, it was argued that for humanity’s sake the Christian 
nations should intervene in states where the peoples were 
oppressed by the misrule of incapable despots or suffered 
from endless internecine wars, until there was no longer any 
protection for life and property or hope of freedom for the 
masses. Lord Granville wrote to Lord Dufferin (British 
political agent in Egypt) on October 5, 1882, that since 
the rebellion was overthrown, it remained for them ‘to re- 
establish on a firm basis the authority of the Khedive, and 
to make provision for the future well-being of all classes of 
the Egyptian people.” 
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