Where England gave of the best of her manhood to establish in daughter states in the four quarters of the globe her ideals of freedom, justice, and fair commerce--that manhood whose inspiration and incentive was their country's honour, but whose guerdon was in many a case a lonely grave or a more imposing monument in the "sun-washed spaces"--the ambassadors of German _kultur_ followed upon a beaten track to seize at the opportune moment the material benefit of the crop where the others had ploughed with the expenditure of their physical energy, sown with the seeds of their intellect, and fertilised with their blood. Casting about between 1882 and 1884 for territory over which to hoist her flag, Germany found that nearly the whole of the world was occupied; and direct action of conquest not being expedient, Germans were busy seeking to accomplish their aims by secret methods of intrigue, always accompanied by deprecation of the infringement of the vested rights of others. Active steps for the acquisition of territory began to be taken in 1884. Under pretext of being interested in the suppression of the slave trade, Germany concerned herself in the affairs of Zanzibar, long subject to the influence of the Portuguese and British; but Germany later abandoned her ambitions in the island on the cession of Heligoland. Africa was the one continent which had not been partitioned, and Germany's quest of territory brought about the "scramble for Africa." Germany had annexed portions of the west coast (Togoland and Kamerun), and the vacillating policy of the British Government during 1882-1883 enabled the Germans to annex an enormous tract of territory north of the Orange River, which became known as German South West Africa. Altogether the German Colonies in Africa acquired in 1884 amounted to over 1,000,000 square miles. By what is known as the "Caprivi Treaty" of the 1st July, 1890, Great Britain and Germany agreed as to their respective "spheres of influence" in Africa. Great Britain assumed protection over the Island of Zanzibar, and ceded to Germany in exchange the Island of Heligoland. This exchange was regarded in Germany generally as a most disadvantageous one; but the possession of Heligoland as a fortress was of inestimable value to Germany--making possible the Borkum-Wilhelmshaven-Heligoland-Brunsbüttel naval position, and the German militarist section craved it in order to forestall France. The territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar on the mainland of Africa was ceded to Germany, with the harbour of Dar-es-Salaam; and the boundaries were so delimited as to include in German East Africa the mountain of Kilima 'Njaro, the German Emperor being supposed to have expressed a wish to possess the highest mountain in Africa as a mere matter of sentiment. The Caprivi Treaty also defined the boundaries of South West Africa.