New Conceptions of French Policy in Tropical Africa

Abstract

W X rHEN I was asked to deliver the Stevenson Memorial Lecture, it did not seem to me inconsistent with the faith and the hope of the man whose memory we honour to suggest considering French views on the vital problem, common to both France and Britain, of policy in Tropical Africa. Whatever the solution, it will have a bearing on the relations between our two countries and will to a large extent set the future for Africa itself. Indeed, in Tropical Africa, France and Great Britain face very similar tasks. Shall we be able, each with our own methods-in the Gold Coast or in Dahomey, in Nigeria or in the Ivory Coast, in Gambia or in French Guinea-to lead towards a better future peoples who put their trust in us? That is the question. Our respective solutions need not necessarily be the same; but they should be efficient and satisfactory for the parties concerned. The main thing is to ascertain whether Africa will develop in harmony-and to some extent in association-with the Western world, or in violent opposition to it. I would like, if I may, to describe the course that France, after longperhaps too long-hesitations, has chosen to follow. You will doubtless find matter both for criticism and for thought in our experience. However, there is someone in this room to whom I do not flatter myself that I shall bring any new information. In agreeing to take the chair today, Lord Hailey has done me an honour for which I am indeed grateful; but at the same time he is subjecting me to a severe test. No one, I believe, is more familiar with the problems of Tropical Africa than the author of the memorable African Survey; no one therefore will be more readily able to see the weak points in my expose; but no one could realize more clearly than Lord Hailey all that is at stake.