The judgment was appealed against, and,
after successive delays, was reversed in our
merchants' favour (probably as the outcome
of the remonstrances which Lord Salisbury
had been addressing to M. Delcassd on the
subject) on January 20, 1900, nearly a year
later. It was upset on a technical point only

* Which was tnie so far as it went ; but, as has already
been demonstrated, our merchants were justified by all
attendant circumstances to look upon the claims of the
Company as incompatible with the intention of the French
Government, and with the logic of pre-existing &cts.
FIRST OGOWE JUDGMENT 83

— viz., that no one knew what the boundaries
of the Ogowe Company's concession were, the
concession never having been delimitated —
which, of course, was quite true. The larger
question — viz., the right of British merchants
to continue peaceably trading in a district
where they had been settled for years; or,
failing such, the right to claim compensation
for expulsion — remained untouched, and, as
subsequent results proved but too clearly, un-
touched with intent. In the interval between
the rendering of the first and second judg-
ments, the Ogowe Company continued to
harass British trade in every possible way,
which course of action they persevered in,
even after the second judgment was delivered,
notwithstanding protest after protest to the
authorities, and with results which will be
made manifest as the narrative proceeds.
Meanwhile, events were rapidly coming to a
head in the Free-Trade zone.
6—2



CHAPTER VII

In the Maritime Zone, 1900.
