p. 651 | THE CAMEROONS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 20, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 41.

THE CAMEROONS.

MR. C. A. MOORE, of Los Angeles, has recently returned from the Cameroons country, on the west coast of Africa, and speaks with much indignation of the brutality and many indignities heaped upon the natives. The Germans, under Leist and Wehlan, he says, are the guilty ones, though the English have sometimes been cruel also. The Cameroons country is now seriously agitating the French Chamber of Deputies, and Lord Rosebery, on the part of the English, has just begun to lay down the law to the Germans. The scramble for the Cameroons will, in Mr. Moore's judgment, lead to greater difficulties.

"But anything that can happen," said Mr. Moore, "will be better for the natives than the existing state of affairs under the Germans. They are brutal beyond words. England commenced trading with the Cameroons 150 years ago, and has, by all odds, a better right in the country than the Germans."

"The Cameroons are a very proud race, and have a high sense of honor. I remember, five or six years ago, when I first went to the country, that a white trader, an Englishman, violated an agreement with a native. The native was astonished, as were all other natives who heard of it. They thought it was strange that one of so superior a race would forget his honor."

"No relief was offered the native, however, and so they all joined together, and refused absolutely to trade any more with the Englishman. The Englishman and his allies were fearful of losing trade, still they did not want to give in. Two weeks were consumed in diplomatic movements, but the Cameroons stood as one man for the right and justice of their cause."

"Then the English called up Sir Walter Hewett, and he commanded the natives to drop the matter, and go on trading as before. They wouldn't do it. Two weeks more were consumed, and then the English, who were wrong, and knew they were wrong, gave in to the Cameroons."

"Six or eight years ago, when the desire to possess African territory had seized other great nations, the Germans went to Cameroon, and have since literally grabbed up the country. The natives have rebelled, and that is what all the trouble is about. The Germans desire to drive the French out altogether, who have been there some time, and hope to have the English hold off. Neither nation will yield, and before the Germans get through they will, as now indicated, have very little of the Cameroon country."

"It is a good country, with much the same resources and tropical growth as other parts of the West Coast, and a few years hence is destined to be very rich. I think especially well of the natives, who have as high a sense of honor as any civilized people I ever saw." —San Francisco Examiner.