The British attitude towards French colonisation, 1875 to 1887

Abstract

After the Franco-Prussian War, France acquired many colonial territories. In all these areas, Britain's position as a colonial power was affected. This thesis describes the attitude and policies of successive British governments towards French colonial development from 1875 to 1887, and the effect of overseas difficulties with France on British foreign policy. Anglo-French colonial rivalry in this period was far greater than has usually been supposed. In West Africa, French expansion conflicted with Britain's commercial interests and brought about the Oil Rivers and Niger Protectorates. On the Somali Coast, Britain's concern for the route to India dictated counter-measures to French activities, partly for the same reason, Britain disapproved of the French campaigns in Madagascar, though the English public was more concerned with the missionary factor. British interests were not immediately affected by the French protectorate in Tonkin, but the prospect of overland trade with China and the need to safeguard Lower Burma and India made Britain sensitive about French influence in Indo-China and hastened the annexation of Upper Burma. In the Pacific, there were constant Anglo-French difficulties for which Australian policy was largely responsible; the convict settlement in New Caledonia caused irritation, and Australian pressure prevented an exclusively French regime in the New Hebrides. Only over Tunis was the British Government bound to acquiescence, because of Salisbury's assurances in 1878. The manner in which the Protectorate was achieved, however, provoked strong criticism in England, and the subsequent negotiations regarding consular jurisdiction reveal Granville's determination to protect British interests. The Anglo-French 'alliance' of the 'seventies broke down not only because of Egypt, but because of incompatibility of colonial aims. For Britain, the Mediterranean Agreements of 1887 substituted involvement with the Central Powers for the lost entente with France.