In shaping this wise policy British statesmen have had a
very long and wide African experience to guide them, and in consequence
they have avoided the very dangerous and dubious policies which the
German new-comers have set in motion. Among these not the least
dangerous is to regard the native primarily as raw material to be
manufactured into military power and world power.
[Sidenote: The British Empire asks peace and security.]
In the second place, the objects pursued by British policy on the
African continent are inherently pacific and defensive. It desires no
man's territory; it desires only to live in peace and develop the great
African territories and populations intrusted to its care. And looking
at the future from the broadest points of view, looking at the magnitude
of its material African interests and the future welfare of the vast
native populations, and its difficult task of civilizing the dark
continent; looking further upon Africa as the half-way house to India
and Australasia, the British Empire asks only for peace and
security--international peace and security of its external
communications. It cannot allow the return of conditions which mean the
militarization of the natives and their employment for schemes of world
power; it cannot allow naval and submarine bases to be organized on both
sides of the African coast, to the endangerment of the sea
communications of the empire and the peace of the world. And it must
insist on the maintenance of conditions which will guarantee through
land communications for its territories from one end of the continent to
the other.
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